* Obama for America campaign could face six-figure fine
* 2008 campaign overall found mostly in compliance
By Alexander Cohen and Alina Selyukh
WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack
Obama’s 2008 election campaign failed to properly report nearly
$2 million in last-minute donations to the juggernaut that swept
him into the White House, but that was the only violation found
in a Federal Election Commission audit of Obama’s $778 million
campaign.
The audit, posted online on Thursday, shows Obama’s campaign
did not file notifications on time for 1,312 donations totaling
$1,972,266, received before the November vote.
The law requires campaigns to submit notices to the FEC
about contributions of $1,000 or more received less than 20 days
but more than 48 hours before an election.
“Overall, this is a very clean audit report for the Obama
campaign. The FEC spent two years picking over $750 million in
contributions and expenses and found one violation,” said
Michael Toner, a former FEC chairman and now a lawyer at Wiley
Rein in Washington.
According to the FEC tally, Obama’s campaign that year
raised $778 million. It did ultimately report the donations in
question, most of which came through a transfer from the joint
fund it shared with the Democratic National Committee, but not
on time, according to the audit file.
The findings will now go to the FEC general counsel and then
to FEC commissioners to determine whether, and how much, to fine
Obama For America. The FEC administrative fine calculator
estimates a fine of $197,336, or 10 percent of the amount
improperly reported.
For now, the audit only indicates the FEC “may initiate an
enforcement action, at a later time,” but given the size of the
violation, an enforcement is likely, said David Mason, also a
former FEC chairman who now advises campaigns on FEC rule
compliance at Aristotle, a campaign services firm in Washington.
Compliance lawyers said the “Obama For America” campaign
group – which bridges both Obama’s 2008 and 2012 election bids –
would be the recipient of any fine. A fine could be paid out
either from any funds leftover from the 2008 campaign or from
2012 re-election campaign funds.
“The FEC conducted a routine review of the 2008 campaign as
it did with the McCain campaign and many others,” said Ben
LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman. He noted that of all of
donations the FEC only “found one reporting issue involving a
fraction of those contributions.”
The FEC took up the audit voluntarily – such action is
mandatory only for campaigns that rely on public financing.
Obama became the first candidate since the advent of matching
public funds in presidential campaigns to decline them for the
general election, and raise money entirely himself.
Campaigns that accept public money face fund-raising rules
not imposed on those that decline it
During the auditing process, the FEC had notified the Obama
campaign of the apparently missing reports, asking whether it
was an accidental filing error by the campaign’s vendor. The
campaign has not responded, the audit said.
The FEC audit of Obama’s 2008 rival McCain campaign is
pending, and is mandatory because of the McCain campaign’s use
of public funds.
(Reporting by Alina Selyukh and Alexander Cohen; editing by
Todd Eastham)
