Omissions violate federal law and Senate rules

WASHINGTON - Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) asked for an investigation into Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama for failing to disclose as much as $150,000 in income on his personal financial disclosure report filed with the Senate Ethics Committee.

Moore told the Alabama Ethics Commission in April that he earned up to $150,000 in speaking fees in 2016, but in June failed to disclose these payments to the Senate Ethics Committee, nor did he disclose any proceeds raised for his own legal defense fund, following his suspension from the Alabama Supreme Court. Moore also may have omitted other compensation earned and liabilities owed.

“Personal financial disclosure reports provide the most basic means by which voters can keep tabs on officials and track and deter payoffs and conflicts of interest, ”said Brendan Fischer, director, federal and FEC reform at CLC. “By failing to accurately report his income and financial interests, Moore is disregarding his basic legal responsibilities as a candidate.”

Moore’s omissions were first reported by the Daily Beast.

On Sept. 21, 2017, CLC issued a complaint requesting an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) into Foundation for Moral Law (FML), a charity Moore founded that was using charitable resources to promote Moore’s run for Senate. 

Suffolk Construction Company pays $34,000 fine, following CLC-D21 complaint; Priorities USA Action refunds the contribution

WASHINGTON – Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) received notification that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) found that the Massachusetts-based Suffolk Construction Company violated campaign finance law by making two $100,000 donations to a Hillary Clinton-affiliated super PAC in 2015, and that the company agreed to pay a $34,000 fine. CLC and Democracy 21 (D21) filed a complaint on July 6, 2016 alleging Suffolk violated the longstanding ban on federal contractors making contributions. This appears to be the first time that the FEC has fined a contractor for contributing to a super PAC.

“We applaud the FEC for upholding the integrity of the contractor contribution ban,” said Brendan Fischer, director, federal and FEC reform at CLC. “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. And we look forward to the FEC taking action on our outstanding complaint against GEO Group for violating the contractor contribution ban with its contribution to a pro-Trump super PAC.”

The law clearly prohibits federal contractors from donating to a political committee while negotiating or performing a federal contract.

“The FEC has been notoriously lax about enforcing the campaign finance laws,” said Donald Simon, general counsel of Democracy 21, “So it is good to see the agency take action at least in the case of a clear violation. The ban on contributions by federal contractors is an important bright-line anti-corruption rule and the contractor here flagrantly violated it by contributing $200,000 to a Super PAC. We are pleased that the agency did not, as it too often does, ignore that violation.”

Suffolk Construction‘s contributions put it among Priorities USA’s top donors in 2015. The FEC found no reason to believe Priorities USA Action knowingly solicited contributions from Suffolk.

WASHINGTON – Campaign Legal Center (CLC) will host an event, “Examining Foreign Interference in U.S. Elections” on Oct. 12, 2017 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Pillsbury Building, 1200 17th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20036.

The event will feature a series of panels and bring together campaign finance, cybersecurity, foreign policy, and other experts to examine lessons learned from the 2016 election and to look towards solutions. Lunch will be served. 

The event is part of a series of events marking CLC’s 15 years of advancing democracy through law, and is sponsored by Democracy Fund. 

Press should RSVP online via this link. 

WHO:  
Campaign finance, cybersecurity, foreign policy, and other experts (full agenda and confirmed speakers listed below) 
 

WHAT: 
“Examining Foreign Interference and Vulnerabilities in U.S. Elections” 

WHERE:
Pillsbury Building, 1200 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036

WHEN: 
10 a.m. EST to 5 p.m. EST 

AGENDA

10:00 a.m. 

Welcome
Trevor Potter, President of the Campaign Legal Center and Former Republican Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission

10:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. 

Foreign Interference in the 2016 Elections: Russia and Beyond 

Panelists: 
Dana Priest, Investigative Reporter, Washington Post
Michael Isikoff, Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo News 

Moderated by Sandhya Bathija, Director, Strategic Communications, Campaign Legal Center 

11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. 
Foreign Interference in the 2016 Elections: The Vulnerabilities of the Law Exposed 

Panelists:
Adav Noti, Senior Director, Trial Litigation and Strategy, Campaign Legal Center 
Joe Lorenzo Hall, Chief Technologist and Director of the Internet Architecture project, Center for Democracy and Technology 
Daniel Petalas, former head of enforcement at FEC and DOJ Public Integrity Section prosecutor

Moderated by Tara Malloy, Senior Director, Appellate Litigation and Strategy, Campaign Legal Center 

12:45 p.m. – 1: 15 p.m. 
Lunch 

1:15 p.m. – 2: 30 p.m.
Addressing Foreign Interference: How Can Disciplines Other than Election Law Inform Our Approach? 

Panelists: 
Max Bergmann, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Dr. Andrew Kuchins, Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Laura Rosenberger, Director, Alliance for Securing Democracy, Senior Fellow, German-Marshall Fund

Moderated by Norman Ornstein, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and contributing editor for The Atlantic

3:45 p.m. – 5 p.m.
The Way Forward: Fixes for 2018 and Beyond 

Panelists: 
David Kolker, Counsel, Campaign Legal Center, and former head of litigation at the Federal Election Commission 
Philippa Scarlett, former White House deputy intellectual property enforcement coordinator 
Douglas Guilbeault, Oxford Internet Institute and Annenberg School for Communication

Moderated by Larry Noble, Senior Director and General Counsel, Campaign Legal Center 

Trevor Potter, President of Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and a former Republican Chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), released the following statement responding to news reports of Facebook releasing Russia-sponsored campaign advertisements to Congress:

“American voters have a powerful and compelling interest in knowing who is seeking to influence their vote. Facebook agreeing to turn over copies of Russia-linked ads to Senate and House intelligence committees is a step in the right direction, but not nearly far enough. Public disclosure of all information related to these 3,000 advertisements is necessary so that all of us can understand how this occurred, and so we can ensure that policies – both at Facebook and from the government – are in place to ensure this does not happen again."

“Facebook also announced that, moving forward, it would take steps to help users obtain more information about who is putting ads on its platform. For years, Facebook has pressured the FEC not to extend existing disclaimer requirements to online political ads, which helped create the secrecy that gave rise to foreign interference in the 2016 elections. Many ads on Facebook did not comply with current FEC regulations on such disclaimers even though Facebook was unable to obtain an FEC exemption from that requirement. We will carefully monitor Facebook’s implementation of this new policy, and hope that Facebook will submit written comments to the FEC next month assisting the agency in drafting and enforcing reasonable disclaimer rules for all digital political ads run on any online platform.”

Read the letter CLC sent to Facebook.

Secretary Price broke with HHS precedent by spending $60,000 for transportation over three days

WASHINGTON – Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to obtain records about Secretary Tom Price’s travel. News reports indicate Price took five chartered flights between September 13 and September 15, 2017, which cost taxpayers upwards of $60,000.  CLC is requesting records on an expedited timetable in order to shed light on the approval processes behind Secretary Price’s exceptionally expensive trips.

“Taxpayers should not be expected to foot the bill for chartered flights when less expensive means of travel are easily accessible,” said Larry Noble, senior director and general counsel at CLC. “Price’s use of chartered planes is consistent with the tone set from the White House on ethics, which lead Steve Mnuchin to attempt to use military aircraft for his European honeymoon. The public deserves to know who approved Secretary Price’s private jet trips on their dime – and how those conclusions were reached.”

MONTGOMERY, AL – Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has requested an immediate investigation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) into an organization run by the wife of Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, which appears to have repeatedly violated the law prohibiting charities from engaging in electoral politics. The group, Foundation for Moral Law (FML), used charitable funds to promote Moore’s Senate candidacy.

CLC’s complaint outlines a series of communications by FML over the past several months promoting Moore’s candidacy, such as FML’s Facebook page posting Moore’s official campaign advertisements and its email newsletter expressly calling for Moore’s election.

Organizations do not qualify for charitable status if they engage in the ‘publication or distribution of written or printed statements on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate.’

“The Foundation for Moral Law has demonstrated a pattern of using charitable resources to promote Roy Moore’s run for Senate,” said Adav Noti, senior director, trial litigation and strategy at Campaign Legal Center (CLC) "The law is clear that charities cannot promote or oppose candidates, and it is surprising that a self-described legal organization would disregard the well-established prohibition on charitable political activity.”

“Charitable organizations are subsidized by taxpayers for their charitable, religious and educational work, not for partisan political activity,” said Brendan Fischer, director, federal and FEC reform at CLC. “Charities play an important role in civil society and their individual members have complete freedom to engage in partisan politics. It is illegal for the organizations themselves to use tax-exempt charitable resources to intervene in political elections, and it is the job of the IRS to ensure it stays that way.”

Read the complaint.