For Immediate Release |
Contact: |
Bob Biersack |
March 7, 2008 |
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George Smaragdis |
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Michelle Ryan |
FEC Fines 23 Political Committees for Improper Reporting
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Election Commission (FEC/the Commission) has fined 23 political committees a total of $29,471 in civil penalties for filing late campaign finance reports or failing to file at all.* Most of the cases involved reports filed with the Commission in 2006 and early 2007. Since the Administrative Fine Program’s inception in 2000, the FEC has collected $2,168,904 in civil penalties for 1,619 cases processed under the Program.
The Administrative Fine Program has a two-fold purpose: to free critical Commission resources for more important and complex enforcement efforts, and to reduce the number of financial reports filed late or not at all. The program encompasses a range of fines set high enough to discourage committees from considering them an acceptable “cost of doing business,” but not so high as to be exorbitant.
Fine amounts are based on a formula that includes how late the report was received by the FEC, the amount of financial activity and whether fines were assessed for previous violations. Election sensitive reports (reports and notices filed immediately prior to an election) receive higher penalties. Additional information about the Administrative Fine Program is available on the FEC web site at http://www.fec.gov/af/af.shtml.
The attached table provides summary information on these 23 cases. Publicly available documents for completed Administrative Fine cases are also available in the Commission’s Press and Public Records offices.
Committees and Administrative Fine Information [excel] [pdf]
*Late filers are those committees filing non-election sensitive reports after the due date, but within 30 days of the due date, and/or filing election sensitive reports after the due date, but prior to four days before the election. Non-filers are committees that have either not filed a report or filed a report after the parameters outlined above. Committees included in this release have thus far paid $20,271 of the penalties assessed.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces federal campaign finance laws. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency.
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