Week of July 31 – August 4, 2023

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Advisory opinions

Advisory Opinion Request 2023-05 (Alamo PAC) On August 2, the Commission made public Supplemental Information from the requestor and two draft advisory opinions. On August 4, the Commission made public a third draft.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7820

COMPLAINANT: Robert von Sprecken
RESPONDENT: Grey Outdoor, LLC
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that two billboards owned by Grey Outdoor, LLC did not contain proper disclaimers identifying who paid for the advertisements.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter.

Administrative fines

The Commission made public 30 closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Administrative Fine Search System.

AF 4400 Agoda4Congress and Patricia B. King, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $448.

AF 4401 Angel for Maryland and Masonmarie A. Humphrey, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $5,563.

AF 4402 Ashmi for Congress and Even Oberthaler, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $373.

AF 4403 Bah for Congress and Omar Bah, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,346.

AF 4404 Bruce O’Connell for Congress and Sara Swekosky, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4405 Carolyn Rush for Congress and Carolyn Rush, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $120.

AF 4406 Common Sense Policies NYC for Brian Robinson and Lindsey Robinson, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $4,292.

AF 4407 Coram for Colorado and Katie Kennedy, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,346.

AF 4408 Cornicelli for Congress and Douglas Keith Kronenburg, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $4,292.

AF 4409 Corinne Brown for Congress and Corey Bradford, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $7,154.

AF 4410 Egriu for Congress and Janette Rosario, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $373.

AF 4411 Emily Robinson for Congress and Emily Robinson, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $26,827.

AF 4412 Eugene Yu for Congress District 7 and Nathan Lee Jaco, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4413 Fort for Congress and Deidre Brown, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $373.

AF 4414 Friends of Barbara Sharief for Congress and Suzette Spalding, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4415 Friends of Jahmal Cole and Jahmal Cole, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4416 Friends of Jason Mariner and Jason Mariner, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4417 Friends of Reema Rasool and Hassan Miah, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $4,292.

AF 4418 George Mitris for Congress and Office of Treasurer, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $21,462.

AF 4419 Greg Lirette for Congress and Kevin Kitchen, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $16,096.

AF 4421 Holly McCormack for Congress and Holly McCormack, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $15,101.

AF 4423 Jessica Taylor for Senate Inc. and Jessica Taylor, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4424 Jimmy Rodriguez for Congress and Jimmy Rodriguez, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $51,665.

AF 4425 John Conyers for Congress and Benjamin Greger, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $748.

AF 4426 John Porro Texans For and John Charles Porro, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $182.

AF 4427 Josh Barnett for Arizona Congress and Diane Gutierrez, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,346.

AF 4428 Lahmeyer for Senate Inc. and Luke Paulson, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $748.

AF 4429 Michelle Beckley for Congress and Martin Mikes, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $6,953.

AF 4430 Muad for Congress and Youssef Zarrouk, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $2,345.

AF 4431 Murphy for WI and Penelope Formella, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

Regulations and agency procedure

REG 2023-01 (Use of Artificial Intelligence in Campaign Ads On August 3, the Commission made public a Draft Notification of Availability of Petition for Rulemaking submitted on July 13, 2023 by Public Citizen. The Petition asks the Commission to amend its regulation on the fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority to make it clear that the related statutory prohibition applies to deliberately deceptive Artificial Intelligence campaign advertisements.

Litigation

AB PAC v. FEC (Case No. 22-2139) On July 31, the FEC filed an Answer to Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint.

End Citizens United PAC v. FEC (Case No. 22-5176) On August 1, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a Mandate.

Great America PAC v. FEC (Case No. 23-1027) On July 31, Plaintiff filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the Court issued a Minute Order, dismissing the case without prejudice.

Employment opportunities

The Commission is accepting applications for the position of Attorney-Adviser in the Enforcement Division's Office of Complaints Examination and Legal Administration through August 14, 2023.

Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub is accepting applications for the position of Attorney-Adviser in her office through August 14, 2023.

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

August 8, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

August 10, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

August 29, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

August 30, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming educational programs

August 30, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to host a Candidate 101 webinar.

September 27, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to host a full-day Seminar for Separate Segregated Funds at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. In-person attendance is limited, but virtual attendance is also available.

October 25, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to host a full-day Seminar for Candidates and Political Party Committees at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. In-person attendance is limited, but virtual attendance is also available.

For more information on upcoming training opportunities, see the Commission’s Trainings page.

Upcoming reporting due dates

August 20: August Monthly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2023 Monthly Reporting schedule.

Additional research materials

Contribution Limits. In addition to the current limits, the Commission has posted an archive of contribution limits that were in effect going back to the 1975-1976 election cycles.

Federal Elections 2020: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives is now available. The data was compiled from the official vote totals published by state election offices.

FEC Notify: Want to be notified by email when campaign finance reports are received by the agency? Sign up here.

The Combined Federal State Disclosure and Election Directory is available. 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 Presidential Election Campaign Fund Tax Checkoff Chart provides information on balance of the Fund, monthly deposits into the Fund reported by the Department of the Treasury, payments from the Fund as certified by the FEC, and participation rates of taxpayers as reported by the Internal Revenue Service. For more information on the Presidential Public Funding Program, see the Public Funding of Presidential Elections page.

The FEC Record is available as a continuously updated online news source.

Other election-related resources

Videos on protecting U.S. elections. The FBI’s Protected Voices initiative provides videos designed to help political campaigns protect themselves from foreign influence. The 2019 videos offer guidance on ransomware, business email compromise, supply chain, social media literacy, and foreign influence operations. Other videos, released in 2018, include cyber hygiene topics such as social engineering, patching, router hardening, and app and browser safety.

Join the FEC on Twitter and YouTube

Follow @FEC on Twitter to receive the latest information on agency updates, news releases, and weekly activity. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, FECTube: FECConnect on Demand, to watch instructional videos that have been designed to help candidates and committees comply with federal campaign finance laws. Note that the FEC is not currently available through other social media platforms. The use of the agency’s logo, name, and likeness on other media has not been authorized by the FEC.