Week of May 24-28, 2021

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7347

COMPLAINANT: Committee to Defend the President
RESPONDENTS: Conor Lamb; Conor Lamb for Congress and Marco Attisano, in his official capacity as treasurer (Lamb Committee); End Citizens United and Deanna Nesburg, in her official capacity as treasurer (ECU); and ActBlue and Erin Hill, in her official capacity as treasurer (ActBlue)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that ECU violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the Act), when it disseminated a fundraising solicitation via email that fraudulently misrepresented that it was from Lamb, a 2018 special election candidate for Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District. The complaint also alleged that the solicitation failed to include the appropriate disclaimer, and that Lamb and the Lamb Committee solicited and accepted excessive contributions.
DISPOSITION: On July 23, 2019, the Commission found reason to believe ECU violated the disclaimer requirements of the Act. The Commission found no reason to believe that ECU violated the fraudulent misrepresentation prohibition of the Act. The Commission noted that information in the Commission's possession indicated that Lamb did, in fact, solicit contributions to ECU and the Lamb Committee through the email at issue in the complaint. The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and voted to dismiss the allegations as to Lamb and the Lamb Committee, noting that the solicitation email contained no affirmative solicitation of amounts outside the Act’s contribution limits, and that it appeared that it was not possible for a contributor to contribute an amount beyond the limits on the linked donation webpage. The Commission further found no reason to believe that ActBlue, which administered the webpage through which the contributions were made, violated the Act and closed the file as to ActBlue on July 25, 2019. On March 25, 2021, the Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the complaint as to ECU and closed the file. Chair Shana M. Broussard and Commissioners Ellen L. Weintraub and Steven T. Walther, and Vice Chair Allen Dickerson and Commissioners Sean J. Cooksey and James E. “Trey” Trainor III issued Statements of Reasons.

MUR 7460

COMPLAINANT: Jordan P. Kahle
RESPONDENT: Fair People for Fair Government (Fair People)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Fair People, an entity that has not registered or filed disclosure reports with the Commission, distributed mailers that used misinformation to expressly advocate for the defeat of two 2018 primary candidates for Florida’s 18th Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission closed the file. Chair Broussard, Vice Chair Dickerson, and Commissioners Cooksey, Trainor, Walther and Weintraub issued a Statement of Reasons. In addition, Vice Chair Dickerson and Commissioners Cooksey and Trainor issued a Supplemental Statement of Reasons.

MURs 7536 and 7551
COMPLAINANTS: Mitchell V. Harper; and James R. Holden
RESPONDENT: Coalition for a Safe Secure America (CSSA); and Indiana Democratic Party
SUBJECT: The complaints alleged that (1) CSSA, a non-profit, social welfare organization, paid for mailers attacking Mike Braun, a 2018 candidate for Indiana’s United States Senate seat, without including disclaimers, and (2) the Indiana Democratic Party failed to include proper disclaimers on public communications.
DISPOSITION: The Commission closed the file. Chair Broussard, Vice Chair Dickerson, and Commissioners Cooksey, Trainor, Walther and Weintraub issued a Statement of Reasons. In addition, Vice Chair Dickerson and Commissioners Cooksey and Trainor issued a Supplemental Statement of Reasons.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

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

ADR 957

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Beto for Texas and Gwendolyn L. Pulido, 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 that the Committee failed to timely refund or redesignate $79,051.35 in excessive or prohibited 2018 general election contributions.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to 1) certify closure of its federal account and work with Commission staff to terminate its political committee status and reporting obligations; 2) file a Termination Report within 90 days; and 3) pay a civil penalty of $5,900.

Litigation

Campaign Legal Center v. FEC (Case No. 21-1376) On May 19, Plaintiffs filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Campaign Legal Center, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 20-0730) On May 21, Defendant-Intervenor Right to Rise Super PAC, Inc. filed a Response to Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Brief, and Plaintiffs filed a Reply in Further Opposition to Intervenor-Defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Campaign Legal Center v. FEC (Case No. 21-0406) On May 24, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Default Judgment against the Commission in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Outreach

On May 26, the Commission hosted a webinar for political party committees.

Upcoming educational programs

June 2, 2021: The Commission will host a workshop on understanding contribution limits.

June 9, 2021: The Commission will host a webinar for candidate committees.

June 23, 2021: The Commission will host a FECFile webinar for candidate committees.

August 17-18, 2021: The Commission will host a Regional Hybrid Conference in Denver, CO.

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

Upcoming Commission meetings

June 8, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

June 10, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

June 22, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

June 24, 2021: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming reporting due dates

June 20: June Monthly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2021 Monthly Reporting schedule.

Status of agency operations

See the Commission’s statement on the status of agency operations, updated on April 15, 2021. At this stage, most agency staff remain in telework status and the Commission’s office remains closed to visitors. See also the agency’s Workplace Safety Plan, dated May 6, 2021.

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.

2020 Presidential General Election Results and Federal Elections 2018: Election Results for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives 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.

Additional research materials about the agency, campaign finance information, and election results are available through the Library section of the Commission website.

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 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 currently. The use of the agency’s logo, name, and likeness on other media has not been authorized by the FEC.