Week of October 22 – October 26, 2018

Commission meetings and hearings

• On October 23 and 25, the Commission met in executive session.
• On October 25, the Commission held an open meeting.

Advisory Opinions

Advisory Opinion Request 2018-12 (Defending Digital Campaigns, Inc.).

The Commission held over discussion of AOR 2018-12 until the open meeting scheduled for December 13, 2018. The Commission received an extension of time on its response to the request until December 17, 2018. The Commission has made public two drafts of the advisory opinion.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7420

• COMPLAINANT: Dina L. Shingleton
• RESPONDENTS: Gregory for Congress and Jeffrey Casale, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); and Town of Babylon Democratic Committee (Babylon)
• SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that the Committee used space in Babylon’s office but failed to report in-kind contributions or expenditures for its use of the space.
• DISPOSITION: In consideration of its priorities, the Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the allegations against the Committee and Babylon. Since the Committee’s disclosure reports did not indicate any payments or debts owed to Babylon, the Commission reminded the Committee that it must report debts and obligations in a timely manner.

MUR 7431

• COMPLAINANT: George L. Berish
• RESPONDENTS: Honolulu Civil Beat, Inc.
• SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Honolulu Civil Beat, Inc. made an impermissible in-kind contribution to a federal candidate by publishing that candidate’s answers to the newspaper’s questions about political issues before it published responses from nine other candidates.
• DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe that Honolulu Civil Beat, Inc. violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the Act), because it is covered by the media exemption. That exemption excludes from the definitions of "contribution" and "expenditure" costs incurred in covering or carrying a news story, commentary, or editorial by any broadcasting station, newspaper, website, magazine, or other periodical publication unless such facilities are owned or controlled by any political party, political committee, or candidate.

MUR 7426

• COMPLAINANT: Corey J. Romero
• RESPONDENTS: Josh Guillory for Congress and Stephanie Haney, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
• SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that the Committee failed to file a 2018 Pre-Primary Report.
• DISPOSITION: In consideration of its priorities, the Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the allegation. The Commission observed that the Committee filed the 2018 Pre-Primary report five days late.

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 865

• COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
• RESPONDENTS: Rights & Democracy Action and Peri Stockinger, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
• SUBJECT: The Committee failed to file two 24-Hour Reports totaling $31,191.02 to support four independent expenditures originally disclosed on an its amended 2016 30 Day Post-General Report.
• DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to terminate its political committee status by filing a Termination Report with the Commission within 60 days of the effective date of the agreement and to pay a civil penalty of $1,250.

Administrative Fines

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

AF 3353

Jill Stein for President and Steven Welzer in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $2,700.

AF 3354

Jill Stein for President and Steven Welzer in his official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $11,162.

Litigation

• CREW, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 18-1861) On October 19, the Commission filed an Answer to the Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Outreach

• On October 24, Vice Chair Ellen L. Weintraub discussed campaign finance disclosure rules and the role of the Commission with a delegation from Africa that is visiting the United States under the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program.
• On October 24, the four Commissioners and Commission staff attended a presentation at Facebook’s office in Washington, D.C. on Facebook’s worldwide efforts to remove inauthentic accounts, reduce false and fictitious news items, and increase transparency. The presentation was part of Facebook’s ongoing public outreach efforts.
• On October 25-26, Commissioner Steven T. Walther participated in the XIV Conference of the Inter-American Union of Electoral Management Bodies (UNIORE) in Mexico City, Mexico. The event was sponsored by the National Electoral Institute and the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary of Mexico.

Regulations

• Public comments are due by November 16 on the Commission’s Rulemaking Petition on personal use of Leadership PAC funds.

Trainings

• On November 14, the Commission will host a Winding Down the Campaign and Post-General Reporting webinar.

For more information, see the Commission’s Trainings page.

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

• November 8, 2018: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.
• November 14, 2018: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

Meeting dates are subject to change. Please contact the Press Office the week of the scheduled meeting for confirmation.

Upcoming reporting due dates

• December 6: 30-Day Post-General Election Reports are due.

Additional research materials

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

Printed copies of the 2018 edition of Title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) are now available. Contact the Commission's Information Division at (202) 694-1100 or (800) 424-9530 (press 6, when prompted) to order printed copies of the CFR at no charge. You may also email the Information Division to place an order at info@fec.gov.

The 2017 Campaign Guide for Corporations and Labor Organizations is available. Other Campaign Guides are available, as well.

The 2018 Congressional Primary Election Dates list is available.

Federal Elections 2016: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives is available. The data was compiled from the official vote totals published by state election offices. To order a printed copy, please contact the FEC’s Public Records Office at 800/424-9530 (option 2) or 202/694-1120, or send an email to pubrec@fec.gov.

The 2017 edition of 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.

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