Week of August 21 – 25, 2023

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7468

COMPLAINANT: FEC-initiated
RESPONDENTS: Progressive Priorities PAC and Matthew Tunstall, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); and Matthew Tunstall
SUBJECT: In the normal course of carrying out its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe that the Committee, an independent expenditure-only political committee, failed to accurately identify its treasurer and whether Tunstall in his individual capacity knowingly and willfully misrepresented the Committee’s actual treasurer.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the allegations against Tunstall and the Committee. The Commission admonished Tunstall and the Committee for misrepresenting the actual treasurer of the Committee. The Commission voted to take no further action regarding the allegations that the Committee fraudulently misrepresented that the Committee was acting for or on behalf of a federal candidate and failed to itemize receipts and disbursements. The Commission administratively terminated the Committee.

MUR 7938

COMPLAINANTS: Brendan M. Fischer; and Campaign Legal Center
RESPONDENTS: Greitens for US Senate and Eric Greitens, in his official capacity as treasurer (Federal Committee); Eric R. Greitens; Greitens for Missouri (State Committee); Dylan Johnson; and Octavian Group, LLC (Octavian Group)
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that (1) Greitens used funds from the State Committee to impermissibly test the waters for his federal campaign, (2) Greitens transferred the State Committee’s website to the Federal Committee, and (3) the Federal Committee misreported the transfer as an in-kind contribution from Greitens. Specifically, the complaint alleged that Greitens made disbursements from the State Committee to Johnson, Greitens’s federal campaign manager, and the Octavian Group, an LLC owned by Johnson, for purposes of testing the waters for Greitens’s federal campaign. Greitens, a former Governor of Missouri, was a 2022 primary election candidate for Missouri’s U.S. Senate seat.
DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe that Greitens, the Federal Committee, the State Committee or Johnson violated the prohibition on using State Committee funds to pay for federal testing-the-waters expenses with respect to the disbursements at issue in the complaint other than those to the Octavian Group or that the Federal Committee failed to report federal testing-the-waters expenses with respect to those disbursements. The Commission further found no reason to believe that Greitens, the Federal Committee, and the State Committee impermissibly transferred the Greitens website from the State Committee to the Federal Committee without paying fair-market value, that the Federal Committee misreported in reports to the Commission the transfer of the website as an in-kind contribution from Greitens, or that Greitens, the Federal and State Committees made, allowed and knowingly accepted a contribution in the name of another in connection with the transfer of the Greitens website. The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the allegations that Greitens, the Federal and State Committees, Johnson and the Octavian Group impermissibly used State Committee funds to pay for federal testing-the-waters expenses with respect to the disbursements to the Octavian Group. The Commission also exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the allegations Greitens and the Federal Committee failed to report federal test-the-waters expenses with respect to the disbursements to the Octavian Group. Chair Dara Lindenbaum, Vice Chairman Sean J. Cooksey, and Commissioners Allen J. Dickerson and James E. “Trey” Trainor, III issued a 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 1103

COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Gosar for Congress and Brett Mecum, 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 disclose additional receipts of $83,282.64 and additional disbursements of $74,277.56 on its original 2022 October Quarterly Report.
DISPOSITION: The Committee agreed to participate in an FEC training program and pay a civil penalty of $6,375.

Administrative Fines

The Commission made public 22 closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Administrative Fine Search System.

AF 4492 Ausman for Congress and Richard Ausman, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $534.

AF 4493 Campaign to Elect Phyllis Harvey-Hall and Miranda Bissoo, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $262.

AF 4494 Charles Graham for Congress and Ian W. McDermott, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,007.

AF 4495 Christine for Congress and Jesus Olivo, Jr., in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $117.

AF 4496 Claudia Zapata for US Congress and Claudia Zapata, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $806.

AF 4497 Committee to Elect Kyle Sinclair to Congressional District 20 and Thomas Datwyler, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $8,991.

AF 4498 Committee to Elect Monte Hodges and Monte Hodges, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $402.

AF 4499 David Roth for US Senate and John Conquergood, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $534.

AF 4500 Erik Olsen W12 and Erik Olsen, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,450.

AF 4501 Friends of Christine Scott and Christine Scott, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $292.

AF 4502 Friends of Cindy Banyai and Stephanie Hoffman, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $806.

AF 4503 Hank for KY and Stephanie Callen, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $806.

AF 4504 Henry Martin for Congress and Ambrosia Ferree, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $238.

AF 4505 Jones, Herb (US House) and Stanton Scott, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $4,624.

AF 4506 Holden for Congress and Julie Holden, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,450.

AF 4507 Iroghama Omere for TX and Iroghama C. Omere, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4508 JHT for Congress and Sache Primeaux Shaw, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,450.

AF 4509 Karen Green for Florida and Karen Green, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4510 Texans for Mikal Williams and Mimi Montgomery, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $806.

AF 4534 Bridge PAC and Patrick Corrigan, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $402.

AF 4542 International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68 Political Action Committee and John Lombardo, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4562 Ben Clark for Congress and Loleta Wilkerson, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

Litigation

Stein, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 21-1213) On August 22, Petitioners filed a Petition for Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Outreach

On August 25-26, Vice Chairman Cooksey was the keynote speaker at the 2023 Republican National Lawyers Association’s Election Law Seminar in Milwaukee, WI.

Employment opportunities

The virtual job fair that was scheduled for September 6 has been postponed to a later date. Please continue to monitor this page for the latest FEC vacancy announcements and job-related events.

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

August 29 and 30, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

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

September 12, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

September 14, 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 Candidate 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

September 20: September 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.