Week of March 17 – 21, 2025
Commission meetings and hearings
No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.
Advisory Opinions
Draft Advisory Opinions
Advisory Opinion Request 2025-02 (Democratic Party of Puerto Rico) On March 20, the Commission made public a draft advisory opinion.
Advisory Opinion Request 2025-03 (American Samoa Democratic Party) On March 20, the Commission made public a draft advisory opinion.
Advisory Opinion Request 2025-04 (Government Accountability Institute) On March 20, the Commission made public a draft advisory opinion.
Enforcement
The Commission made public seven closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Enforcement Search System.
COMPLAINANT: Veronica Escobar, Veronica Escobar for Congress
RESPONDENTS: Irene for Congress and Thomas Datwyler, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); Irene Armendariz-Jackson; NJI Sales, Inc.; and Unknown Respondents
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Irene Armendariz-Jackson and the Committee violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the Act), by knowingly accepting a prohibited in-kind contribution in the form of non-commercial air travel from an unknown respondent(s) who paid for Armendariz-Jackson and at least one of her family members to fly roundtrip on a private aircraft from El Paso, Texas to Phoenix, Arizona to give a campaign speech at a demonstration. The complaint included a purported image of the plane, which is owned by NJI Sales, Inc. The complaint also alleged that the Committee violated the Act by failing to properly dispose of, or properly report, excessive and anonymous cash contributions totaling $10,885. Armendariz-Jackson was a 2022 candidate from Texas' 16th Congressional District of Texas.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the complaint.
COMPLAINANT: Joseph Ahearn, AM Strategy Group, LLC
RESPONDENT: J.R. Majewski for Congress and J.R. Majewski, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that the Committee, which was the principal campaign committee of J.R. Majewski, a 2022 candidate for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, violated the Act by failing to report a debt in the amount of $10,000 to AM Strategy Group for fundraising consulting services. According to the complaint, Majewski signed a contract with AM Strategy Group for fundraising consulting services and AM Strategy Group rendered services according to the terms of the agreement. The complaint alleged, however, that despite sending invoices to the Committee on multiple occasions, the Committee failed to pay what it owed and therefore should have disclosed a debt to AM Strategy Group in the amount of $10,000 on the relevant disclosure report.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the complaint.
COMPLAINANT: Geoffrey Simpson, Justice Democrats PAC
RESPONDENT: MartyDolanforCongress and Martin W. Dolan, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that the Committee violated the Act by filing a 2024 April Quarterly Report containing reporting errors, including 1) failing to provide employer and occupation information totaling $14,000; 2) failing to disclose $12 in unitemized ActBlue contributions; 3) failing to provide adequate purpose descriptions for disbursements totaling $34,434.29; 4) failing to properly report $35,000 in loan repayments; and 5) incorrectly listing 2024 candidate Martin Dolan as running in New York’s 16th rather than the 14th Congressional District. Additionally, the complaint alleged that the Committee failed to properly maintain its petty cash fund for $1,500 in cash expenses for canvassers.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the complaint.
COMPLAINANT: Christian Weiss III
RESPONDENTS: The Joshua Super PAC and Kathy Fishel, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Joshua PAC); Bernie Moreno for Senate and Paul Kilgore, in his official capacity as treasurer (Moreno Committee); Kathy Fishel; and Scott Fishel
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that the Joshua PAC, an independent expenditure-only political committee, as well as Kathy Fishel and Scott Fishel in their individual capacities made, and the Moreno Committee knowingly accepted unreported, excessive, and prohibited coordinated in-kind contributions. The Moreno Committee was the principal campaign committee of Senator Bernie Moreno, a 2024 candidate for Senate from Ohio.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the complaint.
COMPLAINANT: M. Zuhdi Jasser, MD
RESPONDENT: Dave Giles for Congress and Douglas Wolfe, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); and David V. Giles
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that the Committee, the principal campaign committee of David V. Giles, a 2024 candidate for Arizona’s 4th Congressional District, did not disclose complete identifying information for several contributors and did not make best efforts to obtain, maintain, and report the same, totaling $8,469, in violation of the Act. The complaint characterized 134 contributions from contributors with the same first and last name and an address outside of Arizona as “suspiciously irregular” and “illegitimate,” alleging that the Committee’s disclosures “appeared to be incomplete” and the contributors’ names appeared to be “inconsistently spelled.”
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the complaint.
COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Federal Political Action Fund and Helen Schaub, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of exercising its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe the Committee failed to properly disclose independent expenditures totaling $1,075,248 on its 2020 Pre-General and 2020 Post-General Reports, and whether the Committee failed to file 24-Hour Reports supporting two independent expenditures totaling $75,500.
DISPOSITION: The Commission entered into a conciliation agreement providing for the Committee to pay a civil penalty of $85,000.
COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Black Voters Matter Action PAC and Kamau Franklin, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of exercising its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe the Committee failed to timely file two 24-Hour Reports supporting three independent expenditures it made totaling $158,018 in connection with the general runoff election for U.S. Senate in Georgia held in December 2022.
DISPOSITION: The Commission entered into a conciliation agreement providing for the Committee to send its compliance staff to Commission-sponsored training for unauthorized committees and to pay a civil penalty of $16,000.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
The Commission made public three closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Alternative Dispute Resolution Search System.
COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Dickinson for Congress Committee and Keith Bauer, in official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of exercising its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe the Committee failed to refund, reattribute, or redesignate 2022 general election contributions, totaling $44,950, within the permissible timeframe after candidate Gerald “Jerry” Dickinson’s loss in the 2022 Pennsylvania 12th District primary election.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to work with Commission staff to terminate its political committee status and pay a civil penalty of $1,000.
COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: One APIA PAC and Eric Jeng, in official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of exercising its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe the Committee failed to timely file three 24-Hour Reports to support nine independent expenditures, totaling $126,893.35, disclosed on its 2020 Year-End Report, and whether there was reason to believe the Committee failed to timely file two 24-Hour Reports to support four independent expenditures, totaling $42,424.56, disclosed on its Amended 2022 Year-End Report.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to 1) develop and certify the implementation and distribution of a policy document to be provided to all staff and compliance vendors detailing independent expenditure reporting procedures to ensure timely and accurate reporting, 2) participate in an FEC training program, and 3) pay a civil penalty of $12,700.
COMPLAINANT: Patricia A. Davis
RESPONDENTS: GrassoforCongress6 and Christen Korzyniewski, in official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); and Gary A. Grasso
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that the Committee misreported candidate loans and cash-on-hand balances on its 2024 October Quarterly Report. Specifically, the complaint alleged that the report disclosed candidate loans totaling $150,000 less than the previous report without reporting any repayments. The complaint further alleged that the 2024 October Quarterly Report disclosed a cash-on-hand balance that was $62,952.67 higher than the previous report, without reporting any receipts. Grasso was a 2022 candidate for the 6th Congressional District of Illinois.
DISPOSITION: The Commission dismissed the complaint.
Litigation
CREW v. FEC (Case No. 22-0035) On March 17, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order granting Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and denying the Commission’s motion for voluntary remand.
Press releases
District Court issues memorandum opinion, order in CREW v. FEC (Case No. 22-0035) (issued March 19)
Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings
March 25 and 27, 2025: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.
March 27, 2025: The Commission is scheduled to hold an audit hearing and an open meeting.
April 29, 2025: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.
May 1, 2025: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.
Upcoming educational opportunities
March 25-26, 2025: The Commission is scheduled to host a webinar for membership and labor organizations and their PACs.
April 2, 2025: The Commission is scheduled to host a FECFile webinar for candidate committees.
April 8-9, 2025: The Commission is scheduled to host a webinar for trade associations and their PACs.
For more information on upcoming training opportunities, see the Commission’s Trainings page.
Upcoming reporting due dates
April 15: April Quarterly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2025 Quarterly Reporting schedule.
April 20: April Monthly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2025 Monthly Reporting schedule.
The Commission has posted the reporting deadlines for the upcoming special election in Arizona’s 7th Congressional District.
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 election results are 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.
Join the FEC on X and YouTube
Follow @FEC on X 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.
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- Myles Martin
- Deputy Press Officer
- Myles Martin