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  • Weekly Digests

Week of October 9 – October 12, 2018

October 12, 2018

Commission meetings and hearings

Advisory Opinions

Advisory Opinion Requests

  • AOR 2018-12 (Defending Digital Campaigns, Inc.) On October 11, the Commission discussed a draft advisory opinion in response to a request from Defending Digital Campaigns, Inc. (DDC), a nonprofit corporation. The requestor asks whether it or its private sector sponsors and partners may provide candidate and political party committees with certain free resources and training to protect those committees from cyberattack and infiltration. On October 11, the Commission made public a comment on the draft advisory opinion.
  • AOR 2018-15 (Ron Wyden). On October 11, the Commission made public a comment on the request.

Enforcement

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

MUR 7348

  • COMPLAINANT: Donna Fagan
  • RESPONDENTS: Friends of Michael Grimm and Nancy H. Watkins, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); Michael Caputo; and Caputo Public Relations
  • SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Caputo, a partner in Caputo Public Relations, served as an official spokesperson and advisor for the Committee since at least September 2017 but that the Committee did not report any payments or debts to Caputo or Caputo Public Relations. The complaint further alleged that the Committee either accepted excessive in-kind contributions from Caputo Public Relations or failed to report debts incurred to Caputo or Caputo Public Relations in a timely manner as required by the Act.
  • DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe that the Committee, Caputo, or Caputo Public Relations violated the Act because there was no evidence to suggest that Caputo provided services to the Committee through Caputo Public Relations. In consideration of Commission priorities, the Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the allegation that the Committee failed to report debt in a timely manner. The Commission observed the modest amount at issue and the fact that the Committee had reported relevant payments.

Litigation

Outreach

  • On October 9, Vice Chair Ellen L. Weintraub discussed the role and work of the Commission with students from the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  • On October 10, Vice Chair Weintraub and Press Officer Judith Ingram discussed campaign finance disclosure rules and the role of the Commission with a group of foreign journalists at the Department of State Foreign Press Center.
  • On October 11, Chair Caroline C. Hunter discussed the role and work of the Commission with students from the University of California Washington Center.

Trainings

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

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

  • October 23, 2018: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.
  • October 25, 2018: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

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

Upcoming reporting due dates

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.