Week of August 8 - August 12, 2011

Weekly Digest

Week of August 8 – 12

COMMISSION MEETINGS

No Commission Executive Sessions or Open Meetings were scheduled this week.

ENFORCEMENT

The Commission made public one closed case and one Statement of Reasons.

MUR 6370
RESPONDENTS: Mulvaney for Congress and Patricia J. Jenkins, in her official capacity as treasurer; and Gardner Gore
COMPLAINANT: Donald L. Curlovic
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Mulvaney for Congress and Jenkins, in her official capacity as treasurer, (the Committee) failed to include disclaimers on various campaign signs. Mick Mulvaney was a 2010 candidate for South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter in furtherance of the Commission’s priorities relative to other matters and in light of publicly available information corroborating that the signs at issue did not belong to the Committee but instead appeared to be part of an independent effort by Gore, who acknowledged responsibility for the signs and took remedial actions to place disclaimers on them. The Commission sent a letter reminding Gore about the Commission’s disclaimer requirements.

MUR 6371 – Friends of Christine O’Donnell and Matthew J. Moran, in his official capacity as treasurer; Christine O’Donnell; and Our Country Deserves Better PAC-TeaPartyExpress.org and Betty Presley, in her official capacity as treasurer. A Statement of Reasons was issued by Vice Chair Caroline C. Hunter and Commissioners Donald F. McGahn and Matthew S. Petersen.

For information regarding each of the above matters, see the case documents in the Enforcement Query System.

ADMINISTRATIVE FINES

The Commission made public two campaign finance enforcement matters that were resolved through its Administrative Fines (AF) program.

AF  2342 – Western Energy Alliance PAC and Kathleen M. Sgamma, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $550.

AF  2464 – The Committee to Elect Dino LaVerghetta and Rose LaVerghetta, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

For more information, see the case documents in the Enforcement Query System.

LITIGATION

Bluman v. FEC (Civ. No. 10-1766 (RMU-BMK-RMC)). On August 8, a three-judge panel in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order and final judgment and Memorandum Opinion granting the Commission''''s motion to dismiss and denying plaintiffs'''' motion for summary judgment. On August 12, the plaintiffs filed a Notice of Appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Schonberg v. FEC (No. 1:10-cv-02040 (RWR)). On August 7, the plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS

August 11: California''''s 36th Congressional District Post Special Runoff Election Reports were due.  For more information on reporting dates for this special election, refer to the Special Election Report Notice of the Commission website.

UPCOMING REPORTING DUE DATES

August 20: August Monthly Reports are due. For more information on monthly reporting dates, refer to the 2011 Monthly Reporting page of the Commission website.

UPCOMING EVENTS

September 7-8, Minneapolis, MN – Regional Conference for House and Senate Campaigns, Party Committees and Corporate/Labor/Trade PACs.  Registration information and schedule are on the 2011 Conference Schedule page of the Commission website.

OTHER RESOURCES

The Record is in the Publications section of the Commission website. Sign up to receive email notification when a new issue of the Record is posted.

The August 2011 Supplements to the Commission’s Campaign Guides are on the Campaign Guides page of the Commission website.

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