Week of April 1-5, 2024

Commission meetings and hearings

No open meetings or executive sessions were scheduled this week.

Advisory Opinions

Advisory Opinion Request 2024-05 (Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom) On April 2, the Commission received a comment on the request from Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, which maintains a state political committee and a 501(c)(4) organization and is collecting signatures to place a state constitutional initiative on the 2024 general election ballot. On April 4, the requestor notified the Commission that it had modified its request to ask solely whether federal candidates may solicit funds for the state committee and the 501(c)(4) organization outside the amount limitations and source prohibitions of the Federal Election Campaign Act, and that it had withdrawn its questions concerning whether and how the requestor and a federal candidate may allocate between them the costs of communications that both advocate for the constitutional initiative and expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a federal candidate.

Enforcement

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

MUR 8045

COMPLAINANT: Matthew Schonert
RESPONDENTS: Janice Winfrey for Congress and Bridgette M. Dawson, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); and Janice Winfrey
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that the Committee failed to include a proper disclaimer on its website. Janice Winfrey was a 2022 primary candidate for Michigan’s 12th Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter.

MUR 8058

COMPLAINANT: Campaign Legal Center; and Roger Wieand
RESPONDENTS: SQI Limited, LLC (SQI); Save Missouri Values and Cabell Hobbs, in his official capacity as treasurer (Save Missouri); Herzog Contracting Corp.; Herzog Technologies, Inc.; Herzog Transit Services, Inc.; and Unknown Respondents
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that SQI, a limited liability company, allowed its name to be used to effect a $300,000 contribution to Save Missouri on behalf of a true contributor or contributors.
DISPOSITION: The Commission closed the file. Chairman Sean J. Cooksey and Commissioners Allen J. Dickerson and Dara Lindenbaum issued a Statement of Reasons.

MUR 8102

COMPLAINANT: Amy Vilela
RESPONDENTS: Erica for Us and Erica D. Smith, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); and Erica Danette Smith
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Smith and the Committee failed to continuously report a debt until it was extinguished. Smith was a 2022 candidate for North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter.

MUR 8113

COMPLAINANT: Committee to Defeat the President
RESPONDENTS: Elissa Slotkin for Congress and Janica Kyriacopoulos, in her official capacity as treasurer (the Committee); Elissa Slotkin; and Jerry Hollister
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Hollister and Slotkin made an in-kind contribution to Slotkin and the Committee by renting a personal residence at a price below market value and that the rental, when combined with his additional contributions to Slotkin, exceeded the individual amount limitation and resulted in Slotkin converting campaign funds to personal use. The complaint alleged further that the Committee failed to disclose the in-kind contribution. Slotkin was a 2022 candidate for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission found no reason to believe a violation occurred because Slotkin appears to have rented the property for its fair market value.

MUR 8129

COMPLAINANT: Tiffany Muller, End Citizens United
RESPONDENTS: Marc for US Inc. and Lisa Lisker, in her official capacity as treasurer (Federal Committee); Molinaro for Dutchess (State Committee); and Marcus J. Molinaro
SUBJECT: The complaint alleged that Molinaro, the Federal Committee and the State Committee made and accepted prohibited transfers from the State Committee to the Federal Committee totaling $2,000, which the Federal Committee partially misreported, and that they made, accepted, and failed to report prohibited in-kind contributions totaling $2,604.70 from the State Committee to the Federal Committee. Molinaro, former County Executive for Dutchess County, N.Y., was a 2022 candidate for New York’s 19th Congressional District.
DISPOSITION: The Commission exercised its prosecutorial discretion and dismissed the matter.

Litigation

Campaign Legal Center, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 23-3163) On April 4, Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Summary Judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

National Republican Senatorial Committee, et al. v. FEC, et al. (Case No. 24-3051) On April 4, the Commission filed its Second Brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Outreach

On April 2, the Commission issued the Statistical Summary of 12-Month Campaign Activity of the 2023-2024 Election Cycle.

On April 3 and 4, the Commission hosted FECFile webinars for candidates, PACs and party committees.

Press releases

FEC implements new enforcement case closure procedures (issued April 3)

Employment opportunities

The Commission is accepting applications for the position of IT Specialist (Data Management) through April 22, 2024.

The Commission is accepting applications for the position of Attorney-Adviser (Litigation) through April 22. 2024.

The Commission is accepting applications for the position of Inspector General through April 26, 2024.

Upcoming Commission meetings and hearings

April 16, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

April 18, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

April 30, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session.

May 1, 2024: The Commission is scheduled to hold an open meeting.

Upcoming educational opportunities

April 16-17, 2024: The Commission will host a webinar for corporations and their PACs.

May 7-8, 2024: The Commission will host a webinar for membership and labor organizations and their PACs.

For more information on upcoming training opportunities, see the Commission’s Trainings page.

Upcoming reporting due dates

April 15: April Quarterly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2024 Quarterly Reporting schedule.

April 20: April Monthly Reports are due. For more information, see the 2024 Monthly Reporting schedule.

The Commission has posted the reporting dates for the Colorado 4th District Special Election. For more information, see the Reporting Notice.

Additional research materials

Election Dates. The Commission has posted Preliminary 2024 Presidential and Congressional Primary Dates, which are subject to change.

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 now 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 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. The use of the agency’s logo, name, and likeness on other media has not been authorized by the FEC.