AO 2015-04: Use of candidate's name by Collective Actions PAC
Collective Actions PAC (CAPAC), an unauthorized independent expenditure only committee, may not use the name of Sen. Bernard Sanders, a candidate for President, in the names of its various websites and social media accounts supporting the candidate, even if they do not solicit contributions. However, CAPAC is free to promote Sen. Sanders by name within the body of any website or other communication.
Background
CAPAC is an unauthorized independent expenditure only committee (a.k.a., Super PAC) originally organized as "Draft Bernie" to encourage Sen. Sanders to become a candidate in the 2016 Presidential election. On June 15, 2015, CAPAC amended its Statement
of Organization to make itself a non-draft independent-expenditure only committee and changed its name. CAPAC operates a number of websites and social media accounts with names such as BelieveInBernie.com, ProBernie.com, @Bernie_Run and Run Bernie
Run (a Facebook account). CAPAC asks if it may continue to use Sen. Sanders’s name in these websites and social media accounts, as they do not currently solicit contributions for CAPAC, but instead promote Sen. Sanders’s candidacy by providing information
about the candidate and linking to his website.
Analysis
CAPAC may not use Sen. Sanders’s name in the names of its websites and social media accounts. The Act and Commission regulations prohibit the use of a candidate’s name within the name of an unauthorized committee, unless the name is clearly in opposition
to that candidate. 52 USC § 30102(e)(4); 11 CFR 102.14(a); 11 CFR 102.14(b)(3). For purposes of these regulations, the "name" of the committee includes "any name under which [the] committee conducts activities, such as solicitations or other communications,
including a special project name or other designation." 11 CFR 102.14(a). Committees’ online activities are special projects that fall under the scope of this regulation. See AO 1995-09 (NewtWatch).
Because the names of CAPAC’s websites and social media accounts that include Sen. Sanders’s name do not express clear opposition to his election, those sites and accounts are impermissible under 11 CFR 102.14. This prohibition, however, applies only to the titles of these websites and accounts. CAPAC is free to promote any federal candidate by name within the body of its websites or other communications. 59 Fed. Reg. 17628 (April 12, 1994).
Date Issued: July 16, 2015; 9 pages.
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