Week of December 16 - December 20, 2013

Weekly Digest

Week of December 16-20

COMMISSION MEETINGS AND HEARINGS

On December 17, the Commission held an open meeting. Click here for agendas and related documents for open meetings. Click here for audio recordings of selected meetings, hearings and presentations.

On December 17, the Commission held an executive session.

2014 OFFICERS AND CALENDAR

On December 17, the Commission elected Lee E. Goodman as Chairman and Ann M. Ravel as Vice Chair for 2014. The Commission also approved an initial schedule of meeting dates in 2014.

ENFORCEMENT

The Commission made public two closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Enforcement Query System.

MUR 6668
COMPLAINANT: Bruce Buettell
RESPONDENTS: Jay Chen For Congress and Samuel Liu, in his official capacity as treasurer; Jay Chen; America Shining and Tara Geise, in her official capacity as treasurer; Shaw Chen; and Mailing Pros, Inc.
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that America Shining, an independent expenditure-only political committee, made and Chen and Jay Chen For Congress and Liu, in his official capacity as treasurer, (the Chen Committee) accepted impermissible in-kind contributions by coordinating three direct mailings through a common vendor, Mailing Pros, Inc. The complaint alleged further that America Shining made contributions to the Chen Committee with funds raised in unlimited amounts for the purpose of making independent expenditures. Chen was a 2012 candidate for California’s 39th Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe America Shining made and Chen and the Chen Committee accepted prohibited or excessive contributions, or that Mailing Pros, Inc. violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, because the available information does not indicate that America Shining coordinated its communications with the Committee. 

MUR 6684
COMPLAINANT: James R. Holden
RESPONDENTS: Gregg for Indiana; and John Gregg
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Gregg for Indiana, Gregg’s gubernatorial campaign committee, and Gregg used non-federal funds to pay for federal election activity in the form of an advertisement opposing federal candidate Richard Mourdock, who was running for Indiana’s United States Senate seat, as well as Mike Pence, Gregg’s 2012 opponent for the governorship.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the allegation in light of the fact that the advertisement at issue was focused on a race for state, not federal, office.

ADMINISTRATIVE FINES

The Commission made public four campaign finance enforcement matters that were resolved through its Administrative Fines (AF) program, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Enforcement Query System.

AF 2607 – Committee to Elect Wendy Rosen for Congress and Steven D. Rosen, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $4,400.

AF 2619 – Committee to Elect Wendy Rosen for Congress and Steven D. Rosen, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $112.

AF 2631 – Committee to Elect Wendy Rosen for Congress and Steven D. Rosen, in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $330.

AF 2753 – Raye for Congress and Nichi S. Farnham, in her official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AUDITS

Audit Division Recommendation Memorandum on the North Dakota Republican Party. On December 17, the Commission approved the Audit Division Recommendation Memorandum on the North Dakota Republican Party, covering campaign finance activity between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010. The Commission approved findings related to (1) the misstatement of financial activity and (2) the reporting of debts and obligations. The Audit Division will prepare the Proposed Final Audit Report within 30 days.

LEGISLATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS

2013 Legislative Recommendations. On December 17, the Commission unanimously approved eight legislative recommendations for 2013 to be submitted for consideration to Congress: (1) deleting the exclusion of the Commission from eligibility for the Senior Executive Service; (2) making permanent the Administrative Fine program for reporting violations; (3) authorizing the Commission to accept gifts that will assist the Commission in carrying out its functions; (4) requiring electronic filing for all Senate candidates and their authorized committees; (5) requiring electronic filing of reports of electioneering communications; (6) amending the prohibition of the personal use of campaign funds to extend to all political committees; (7) increasing and indexing for inflation certain registration and reporting thresholds in the Federal Election Campaign Act and (8) expanding the prohibitions on fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS

December 20: December Monthly Reports were due. For information on monthly reporting dates, refer to the 2013 Monthly Reporting page of the Commission website.

PUBLIC DISCLOSURE

On December 17, the Commission’s Office of Inspector General made public its Final Audit on the Commission’s Fiscal Year 2013 Financial Statements.

FEDERAL REGISTER

On December 16, the Commission published the Interpretive Rule Regarding the Date of Political Party Nominations of Candidates for Special Primary Elections in New York in the Federal Register.

PRESS RELEASES

FEC Approves Audit Division Recommendation Memorandum and Legislative Recommendations, Elects 2014 Officers and Releases Future Meeting Dates (issued December 17)

FEC Elects Lee Goodman as Chairman for 2014; Ann Ravel to Serve as Vice Chair (issued December 17)

UPCOMING COMMISSION MEETINGS

January 16, 2014: The Commission is scheduled to hold both an open meeting and an executive session.

UPCOMING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

February 11-12, 2014, Tampa, Florida, Regional Conference for House & Senate Campaigns, Political Party Committees and Corporate/Trade/Labor PACs. Additional information is available on the Educational Outreach page of the Commission website.

UPCOMING REPORTING DUE DATES

January 31, 2014: Year-end Reports are due. For more information on reporting dates, refer to the 2013 Reporting Dates page of the Commission website.

OTHER RESOURCES

The August 2013 edition of the Federal Election Commission Campaign Guide for Political Party Committees is available on the Commission’s website.

The 2013 edition of the Combined Federal State Disclosure and Election Directory is available in the Public Records section of the Commission website. This publication identifies the federal and state agencies responsible for the disclosure of campaign finances, lobbying, personal finances, public financing, candidates on the ballot, election results, spending on state initiatives and other financial filings.

The Official 2012 Presidential General Election Results are available in the Library section of the website. This listing was compiled from the official election results published by state election offices.

An index to the Record news articles published in 2013 is available on the Commission website. The Record news page is available in the Publications section of the Commission website. Sign up to receive email notification when new articles are posted.

The FEC Annual Reports from 1975-2006 are now available on the website. Beginning in 2007, the Commission consolidated its Annual Report with its Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) to provide a single account of the agency''''s activities for each fiscal year.

The 2012 edition of Title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations can be downloaded from the website. To order printed copies, call (800)424-9530 (press 6) or send an email to info@fec.gov.

Instructional videos are available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/FECTube?feature=watch. These videos are also available on the Commission''''s E-Learning resources page at http://www.fec.gov/info/elearning.shtml.

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