FEC Completes Action on Three Enforcement Cases

1.

MUR 5155

RESPONDENTS:

(a)   Friends for a Democratic White House, Jonathon Mosier, treasurer

(b)   Swing States PAC, Marsah McCoy-Pfister, treasurer

(c)   TRKC, Inc.

COMPLAINANT:

Gore 2000, Inc., Gary R. Gruver, treasurer

SUBJECT:

Use of contributor list for solicitation purposes; failure to register and report; fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority

 (a)      No reason to believe*

          [re: failure to register and report; fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority]

(a-c)   Reason to believe, but took no further action*

          [re: use of contributor list for solicitation purposes]

          Sent admonishment letters.

(d)     Reason to believe, but took no further action*

          [re: use of contributor list for solicitation purposes]      

The complaint alleged that Friends of a Democratic White House failed to register and report, that it misrepresented itself as an agent of Al Gore, and that the names used for direct mail solicitations by the two committees were illegally obtained from reports filed by the Gore committee.  The Friends committee stated that it registered with the Commission in November 2000, was not an agent of the Gore committee and denied that they stole reports and used the names to solicit contributions. The Commission found reason to believe that the Friends, Swing States and Mr. DeWald violated the Act by using information from Commission disclosure reports to solicit contributions and sent admonishment letters but took no further action because these possible violations did not warrant the use of additional Commission resources, and because Mr. DeWald had been convicted in state court on related matters.  The Commission found reason to believe that TRKC, Inc. may have violated the law regarding the possible sale of information from FEC disclosure reports, but took no further action after being provided with information suggesting that their activities did not violate the law. The Commission found no reason to believe that the Friends committee violated the law regarding registering and reporting and fraudulent misrepresentation because it properly filed its Statement of Organization and it was not an agent of the Gore campaign.

DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD:

Documents from this matter are available from the Commission’s web site at http://www.fec.gov by entering 5155 under case number in the Enforcement Query System.  They are also available in the FEC’s Public Records Office at 999 E St. NW in Washington.

RESPONDENTS:

(a)   Robert Shrum

(b)   John Kerry For President, Inc., David Thorne, treasurer

COMPLAINANT:

The Gordon Motion Picture Company

SUBJECT:

Contract dispute/not FECA related

(a-c)     Dismiss the complaint

The complainant alleged that Robert Shrum, his political consulting company, Shrum Devine & Donilon, Inc., and Kerry for President breached a contract they entered into with the Gordon Motion Picture Company. The contract involved the terms under which Kerry for President could use footage of a film produced by Gordon.  The Respondents stated that the complaint did not constitute violations under the Act. The Commission decided to dismiss the complaint against all Respondents because the lack of detailed information regarding the contract and any breach thereof and the lack of an actual allegation in the complaint provided no basis for opening an investigation.

DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD:

Documents from this matter are available from the Commission’s web site at http://www.fec.gov by entering 5641 under case number in the Enforcement Query System.  They are also available in the FEC’s Public Records Office at 999 E St. NW in Washington.

RESPONDENTS:

Ashcroft 2000 Committee, Garrett M. Lott, treasurer

COMPLAINANT:

William N. O’Malley

SUBJECT:

Failure to report debts

The complainant alleged that Ashcroft 2000 failed to report debts in connection with potential tax liabilities for its share of federal and state payroll taxes arising from the employment of the complainant in 2000. Ashcroft 2000 responded that its accountant reviewed the records and concluded that there was no tax liability for unpaid taxes as asserted by the complainant. The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter because it was not clear from the documents that the committee had any federal or state tax liability, the amount in question was de minimus in nature and the activity in this case took place more than five years ago which is beyond the Statute of Limitations.

*The Enforcement Priority System (EPS) rates all incoming cases against objective criteria to determine whether they warrant use of the Commission’s limited resources.

DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD:

Documents from this matter are available from the Commission’s web site at http://www.fec.gov by entering 5716 under case number in the Enforcement Query System.  They are also available in the FEC’s Public Records Office at 999 E St. NW in Washington.

1. Receipt of proper complaint

3. “Probable cause” stage

2. “Reason to believe” stage

4. Conciliation stage