FEC - Federal Election Commission
11/29/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/29/2024 13:07
Week of November 25 – 29, 2024
Commission meetings and hearings
No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.
Enforcement
The Commission made public four closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Enforcement Search System.
COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: John James for Senate, Inc. and Bradley T. Crate, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of carrying out its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe the Committee knowingly accepted excessive contributions totaling $578,306.72 and prohibited corporate contributions totaling $9,100.00. James was a 2020 candidate for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat.
DISPOSITION: The Commission entered into a conciliation agreement providing for the Committee to pay a civil penalty of $95,000.
COMPLAINANT: Nicholas Everhart
RESPONDENTS: Merrin for Congress and Natalie Baur, in her official capacity as treasurer (Federal Committee); and Friends of Derek Merrin (State Committee)
SUBJECT: The Complaint alleged that the Federal Committee accepted an impermissible transfer of $1,000 in nonfederal funds from the State Committee, and nonfederal funds totaling $5,250 from various other nonfederal committees. The complaint alleged further that by virtue of the contributions from the nonfederal committees, which exceeded $5,000, the Federal Committee became a political committee before December 31, 2023, but did not file a required 2023 Year-End Report with the Commission. The complaint also alleged that the Federal Committee did not timely file its Statement of Organization and that Merrin, a 2024 candidate for Ohio's 9th Congressional District, did not timely file his Statement of Candidacy.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter.
COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Country Over Party PAC (f/k/a Kinzinger for Congress) and Paul Kilgore, in his official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of carrying out its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe the Committee failed to timely refund, reattribute, or redesignate general election contributions, which resulted in excessive contributions totaling $133,450. Adam Kinzinger was a 2022 primary candidate for reelection to Illinois's 16th Congressional District until October 2021.
DISPOSITION: The Commission entered into a conciliation agreement providing for the Committee to pay a civil penalty of $19,000.
COMPLAINANT: FEC-Initiated
RESPONDENT: Pat Dowell for Congress and Mattie Lacie, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee)
SUBJECT: In the normal course of carrying out its supervisory responsibilities, the Commission initiated proceedings to determine whether there was reason to believe the Committee (1) knowingly accepted excessive contributions for the primary election, (2) knowingly accepted corporate contributions, (3) failed to remedy designated general election contributions totaling $33,400 that were designated for the 2022 General Election after Dowell lost the Primary election for Illinois's 1st Congressional District, (4) accepted contributions from unregistered organizations without ascertaining whether the underlying funds complied with the limitations and prohibitions of the Act, and (5) failed to accurately report its cash on hand.
DISPOSITION: The Commission entered into a conciliation agreement providing for the Committee to pay a civil penalty of $10,000 and work with the Commission's Reports Analysis Division to correct its disclosure reports.
Administrative Fines
The Commission made public 25 closed cases, as follows. For more information, see the case documents in the Administrative Fine Search System.
AF 4702 Agenda PAC and Tariem Burroughs, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $6,046.
AF 4703 Agwan for Congress and Pervez Agwan, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $12,540.
AF 4704 BLAKPAC and Carl A. Marbury, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $155.
AF 4705 Caroline Kane for Congress and Thomas Datwyler, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $274.
AF 4706 Center Street PAC and Matthew O'Brien, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.
AF 4707 Commander Jay Furman for Congress and David Satterfield, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,497.
AF 4708 Dennis Baker for Congress and Dennis Baker, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $782.
AF 4709 Fighting 4 One America PAC and Derek Lewis, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $7,958.
AF 4710 For the Many PAC and Kina Collins, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed no civil penalty.
AF 4711 Frontiers of Freedom Action, Inc. and George Landrith, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $107.
AF 4712 Holly McCormack for Congress and Holly McCormack, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $33,596.
AF 4713 Jennifer Adams for Congress and J. Adams, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $1,729.
AF 4714 John Conyers for Congress and Office of Treasurer, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $8,354.
AF 4715 Love for Texas and Daphne Tenorio, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $832.
AF 4716 Matt Leiv for Illinois and Office of Treasurer, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made final determination and assessed no civil penalty.
AF 4717 Merika Coleman for Congress and Deanna Reed, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $7,958
AF 4718 Phillip Drake Uniting America 2024 and Phil Drake, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $14,146.
AF 4720 Raja Chaudhry Campaign, Inc. and Leon Zeno, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $9,725.
AF 4721 Santos Limon for Congress and Santos Limon, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $832.
AF 4722 Sarah Gad for U.S. Congress and Dante Deseranno, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $4,774.
AF 4723 Sharon Savage for Senate and Sharon Savage, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $415.
AF 4724 Tamie Wilson for US and Kyle Pierce, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $9,649.
AF 4725 Texas Spine and Joint Ltd PAC and Anthony Wahl, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $584.
AF 4726 Travis County Republican Party Federal Committee and Leland Bickers, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission made a final determination and assessed a civil penalty of $683.
AF 4728 Crowl for Congress and Scott Alan Crowl, in official capacity as treasurer. The Commission terminated the proceedings and closed the file.
Regulations and agency procedures
REG 2024-04 (Form 3-Z) Final Rule and Explanation and Justification On November 26, the Commission published in the Federal Register a Final Rule that amends the Commission's regulations by removing the requirement that the principal campaign committee of a candidate with multiple authorized committees must report information on FEC Form 3-Z. The Final Rule is effective February 1, 2025.
REG 2024-08 (Untraceable Electronic Payment Methods) On November 26, the Commission published in the Federal Register a Notification of Availability of a Petition for Rulemaking in response to a Petition filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Petition asks the Commission to amend regulations concerning the use of credit cards to make contributions, addressing the potential use of prepaid cards to circumvent contribution amount limitations and source prohibitions. The Commission seeks comment on the notice. Commenters are encouraged to submit comments electronically via the Commission's website by referencing REG 2024-08. The deadline for comments is January 27, 2025.
Public Disclosure
On November 26, the Office of the Inspector General released its Semi-Annual Report to Congress April 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024.
Litigation
Lewicki, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 24-2505) On November 18, the Commission filed a Partial Motion to Dismiss in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Employment opportunities
The Commission is accepting applications for the position of Attorney-Adviser (Administrative Law) through November 30, 2024.
Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings
December 10, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.
December 12, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.
Upcoming educational opportunities
For more information on upcoming training opportunities, see the Commission's Trainings page.
Upcoming reporting due dates
December 5: 30-Day Post-General Reports are due. For more information, see the 2024 Pre- and Post-General 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 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 X and YouTube
Follow @FEC on X 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.