Boston Herald: Suffolk Construction fined $34G for Hillary PAC donations

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Federal campaign finance officials have fined the John Fish-led Suffolk Construction Company $34,000 for a pair of improper six-figure donations it made to a pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC, a political finance watchdog said.

The fine and decision were detailed in an 11-page letter, dated Sept. 25, that Federal Election Commission officials sent to the Campaign Legal Center, the non-partisan watchdog group that filed a complaint with the FEC alleging Suffolk improperly donated $200,000 to Priorities USA in two installments in 2015.

The Campaign Legal Center published the letter on its website yesterday, which includes a copy of an agreement signed by the FEC and Suffolk attorney, Elissa Flynn-Poppey. The group, in announcing the fine, said it appears to be the first time the FEC has fined a government contractor a civil penalty for contributing to a super PAC.

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"We applaud the FEC for upholding the integrity of the contractor contribution ban,” Brendan Fischer, a director at the Campaign Legal Center, said in a statement on the group's website. “The reason federal contractors have been banned for 75 years from making political contributions is to prevent pay-to-play in the contracting process. Hopefully this decision by the FEC deters companies with business before the government from attempting to buy influence in the future."

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