FCC/LEGAL: “The Federal Election Commission has levied a fine on three conservatives groups, a rare move for an agency where partisan gridlock in recent years has meant less enforcement of campaign-finance rules.
The commission determined that the American Conservative Union illegally funneled money from a nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors to a super PAC that is supposed to do so. The maneuver hid the true donor of more than $1.7 million given for use in several 2012 House and Senate races, the FEC found.
The FEC ordered the ACU, the nonprofit Government Integrity LLC and the super PAC Now or Never PAC to collectively pay a $350,000 fine, the result of a conciliatory agreement the three entities signed with the commission late last month.
The fine is higher than average. Of 148 matters under review that were closed last year by the FEC, the average penalty for the 30 cases that resulted in a conciliatory agreement was $19,848, FEC statistics show.
The ACU, which is best known for putting on an annual gathering near Washington called the Conservative Political Action Conference, said in a statement that the leaders involved in the transaction five years ago ‘no longer have any affiliation with the organization.’ “
-Julie Bykowicz, “Elections Regulator Fines Conservative Groups Over Finance Infraction,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 20, 2017 04:10pm