Week of July 24 - 28, 2023

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Enforcement

The Commission made public three closed cases and one separate Statement of Reasons, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Enforcement Query System.

MUR 7957

COMPLAINANT: Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust
RESPONDENTS: Marie Newman; Marie Newman for Congress and Holly Giarraputo in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); and Iymen Chehade
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Newman, a 2020 candidate for Illinois’s 3rd Congressional District, and the Committee converted campaign funds to personal use when the Committee made payments to Chehade, an academic and artist. The Committee disclosed the payments as salary, but the complaint alleged that the Respondents converted the funds to personal use because their true purpose was to settle a lawsuit Chehade brought against Newman. The lawsuit concerned a contract in which Newman allegedly agreed to hire Chehade to her congressional staff, a contract that was also the subject of an open ethics inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives. The facts alleged by the complaint also suggested that the Committee may have reported inaccurate purposes for the disbursements to Chehade.
DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe that the Committee, Newman, or Chehade converted campaign funds to personal use. The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the allegations that the Committee reported improper purposes of disbursement and closed the file. Chair Dara Lindenbaum, Vice Chairman Sean J. Cooksey, and Commissioners Allen J. Dickerson and James E. “Trey” Trainor, III issued a Statement of Reasons.

MUR 7943
COMPLAINANTS: Americans for Public Trust
RESPONDENTS: Common Good Virginia and Lillie Louise Lucas, in her official capacity as Treasurer (CGVA); Val Demings for U.S. Senate and Lauren Decot Lee, in her official capacity as Treasurer (the Committee); and Val Demings
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that CGVA made and the Committee accepted prohibited and excessive in-kind contributions when Demings approved of and participated in email solicitations paid for by CGVA. Demings was a 2022 candidate for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat.
DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the Act), or Commission regulations occurred in connection with the allegations in the complaint. Chair Lindenbaum, Vice Chairman Cooksey and Commissioners Dickerson and Trainor issued a Statement of Reasons, and Vice Chairman Cooksey issued a Supplemental Statement of Reasons.

MUR 7964

COMPLAINANT: Michelle Kuppersmith, Campaign for Accountability
RESPONDENTS: White Coat Waste PAC and Janna Rutland, in her official capacity as treasurer (WCW PAC); White Coat Waste Project, Inc. (WCW Project); Anthony Bellotti; and Justin Goodman
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that WCW PAC, which registered with the Commission as a nonconnected multicandidate political committee in 2017, is financially supported and controlled by WCW Project, a section 501(c)(3) corporation, and that WCW PAC is therefore a separate segregated fund under the Act and Commission regulations.
DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe that WCW PAC violated the Act by failing to include the name, address, relationship, and type of its connected organization in its Statement of Organization or by failing to include in its name the full name of its connected organization, WCW Project. The Commission further found no reason to believe that WCW PAC violated the Act by soliciting individuals outside of its connected organization’s restricted class. The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the allegations that WCW Project made and WCW PAC accepted prohibited in-kind corporate contributions. Chair Lindenbaum, Vice Chairman Cooksey and Commissioners Dickerson and Trainor issued a Statement of Reasons.

MURs 7724 and 7752 (Johnny Teague for Congress Campaign Committee and James Poullard, in his official capacity as treasurer; Church at the Cross; and Dr. Johnny Mark Teague) On July 24, Commissioner Trainor issued a Statement of Reasons.

Administrative Fines

The Commission made public 14 closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Administrative Fine Search System.

AF 4271 Friends for Mike Webb and Mr. Major Mike Webb, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4385 Committee to Elect Kelly Garrett and Cornell Batie, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $248.

AF 4386 John Conyers for Congress and Benjamin Greger, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $897.

AF 4387 Reed for Missouri and Christina Lynch, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $7,948.

AF 4459 Plumbers Local 519 Political Action Committee and Jeffrey Penniston, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $308.

AF 4460 Reset DC and Chris Hardy, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,346.

AF 4461 Support American Leaders PAC and Matthew Nelson Tunstall, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.

AF 4462 Texans for Mikal Williams and Mimi Montgomery, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $2,996.

AF 4463 The Billy Prempeh for Congress Committee and Billy Prempeh, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $3,032.

AF 4464 Together We Thrive and Christopher Zullo, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $19,870.

AF 4465 Vote Local Vote Blue and Thomas Pickard, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $378.

AF 4466 We Believe We Vote and Kent Clausen, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,682.

AF 4467 Women Vote Smart and Amy S. Kremer, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $23,844.

AF 4644 Committee to Elect Kyle Sinclair for Congressional District 20 and Thomas Datwyler, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $6,648.

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

August 8, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

August 10, 2023: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

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

August 30, 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.

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

Upcoming reporting due dates

July 31: Mid-Year Reports are due. For more information, see the 2023 Semi-Annual Reporting schedule.

August 20: August 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.