WASHINGTON -- The Federal Election Commission recently completed action on two matters previously under review (MURs).
In MUR 5547, the Martin Frost Campaign Committee paid a $6,000 civil penalty for failing to include adequate disclaimers on printed communications. The Commission determined that the Committee’s disclaimers did not include all required elements. Respondents agreed not to commit similar violations in the future.
In MUR 5776, the Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the complaint against the Talent for Senate Committee, James M. Talent and an unknown respondent. The complaint centered on an anonymously placed newspaper advertisement expressly advocating the election of James Talent. The Commission found no evidence of coordination and concluded that since this case involved only a nominal advertising expenditure, it did not warrant use of the Commission’s limited resources for further investigation.
This release contains only disposition information.
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MUR 5547 |
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RESPONDENTS: |
Martin Frost Campaign Committee, Bonnie Breazeale, treasurer |
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COMPLAINANT: |
Chris Homan |
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SUBJECT: |
Disclaimers |
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DISPOSITION: |
Conciliation Agreement: $6,000 civil penalty*
The complaint alleged that the Martin Frost Campaign Committee distributed three commercial mailings with inadequate disclaimers, lacking sufficient type size and a printed box. The Commission determined that the disclaimers were clearly readable, but found reason to believe that the respondents violated the Act by failing to place each disclaimer in a printed box set apart from the content of the communication. |
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DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
Documents from this matter are available from the Commission’s web site at http://www.fec.gov by entering 5547 under case numbers in the Enforcement Query System. They are also available in the FEC’s Public Records Office at 999 E St. NW in Washington.
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2. |
MUR 5776 |
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RESPONDENTS: |
(a) Talent for Senate Committee, Shirley J. Simmons, treasurer
(b) James Matthes Talent
(c) Unknown Respondent |
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COMPLAINANT: |
Corey Dillon |
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SUBJECT: |
Disclaimers |
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DISPOSITION: |
(a-c)Dismiss the matter**
An advertisement appeared in the St. Louis Metro Sentinel Journal expressly advocating the election of Senator Jim Talent. The complaint alleged that the advertisement lacked an appropriate disclaimer. The complainant further claimed that the ad could have been produced in conjunction with the Talent for Senate Committee since it failed to denote who paid for the message. The Committee denied any knowledge, authorization or coordination of the ad. The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the complaint. |
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DOCUMENTS ON PUBLIC RECORD: |
Documents from this matter are available from the Commission’s web site at http://www.fec.gov by entering 5776 under case numbers in the Enforcement Query System. They are also available in the FEC’s Public Records Office at 999 E St. NW in Washington.
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*There are four administrative stages to the FEC enforcement process:
1. Receipt of proper complaint |
3. “Probable cause” stage |
2. “Reason to believe” stage |
4. Conciliation stage |
It requires the votes of at least four of the six Commissioners to take any action. The FEC can close a case at any point after reviewing a complaint. If a violation is found and conciliation cannot be reached, then the FEC can institute a civil court action against a respondent.
**The Enforcement Priority System (EPS) rates all incoming cases against objective criteria to determine whether they warrant use of the Commission’s limited resources.
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