Last Week At The FEC: Dismissal Of Co-Publishing Complaint

Andrew H. "Andy" Emerson is an Associate in our Washington D.C. office

Last week the Federal Election Commission met in executive session on Tuesday, March 11, but did not meet in open session. During the week the Commission made public the results of one Matter Under Review (MUR) and three other campaign finance enforcement matters resulting in the assessment of civil penalties.

Deadlock and Dismissal of Book Buying Complaint

The Commission made public the results of MUR 6638, Todd Long for Congress (2010), in which the Commission voted to dismiss a complaint alleging that while running for Congress in 2010, Mr. Long misappropriated campaign funds by buying books from a company with which he had previously entered into a co-publishing agreement on an individual basis.

The Commission initially deadlocked along party lines on a vote to find reason to believe that Mr. Long had violated 2 U.S.C. §439(a) and 11 C.F.R. §113.1(g) by making personal expenditures with campaign funds. Subsequently, Commissioner Ravel joined the Republican-appointed Commissioners to adopt a revised factual and legal analysis and to dismiss allegations of wrongdoing on Mr. Long's part.

Administrative Fines Imposed for Late Filings

The Commission released the results of three Administrative fine cases related to reports that where either not filed or filed late. In AF 2761, the Polish American Leadership PAC was assessed a $4,950 penalty after failing...