McSally failed to report employer and occupation information for donors who contributed over $284,000
McSally has a long and troubling history of violations with the FEC
End Citizens United (ECU) today filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ). The complaint states that the McSally campaign violated election law by failing to report the employer and occupation information for at least 627 contributors in McSally’s October quarterly report. The 627 individuals contributed over 1,000 times and collectively contributed over $284,000 worth of contributions to McSally during the third quarter of 2019.
The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 requires candidates to publicly report the identity of a donor who contributes more than $200 per election cycle. The identification must include the donor’s employer and occupation. Senator McSally’s campaign is required to use its “best efforts” to ensure that the required information is collected and reported. Given the unusually high rate of noncompliance, McSally appears to have failed to meet legal requirements.
“Martha McSally has no regard for the law,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United. “We recognize that her opponent is significantly outraising her, but cutting corners and breaking the law is not the solution. There are clear cut rules in place aimed at preventing foreign interference and illegal money from entering our politics. If Senator McSally can’t follow simple rules, she’s not fit to serve in the U.S. Senate. The FEC should immediately investigate this violation.”
The Violation:
This Complaint is filed pursuant to 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(1) against Martha McSally, McSally for Senate, Inc. (the “Committee”), and Paul Kilgore, in his official capacity as the Treasurer of the Committee (collectively the “McSally Respondents”). In short, the McSally Respondents have apparently violated the Act’s reporting requirements by failing to disclose the employer and occupation of at least 627 contributors on the Committee’s most recent quarterly campaign finance report (the “FEC Report”).
The failure to collect donor’s employer and occupation information is the latest in a long history of violations by Senator McSally. During the 2018 election cycle, ECU filed a complaint against McSally for breaking FEC dual candidacy rules by fundraising into two active campaign accounts and transferring nearly $1 million from an active House campaign to an active Senate campaign. During the 2014 cycle, over a quarter of McSally’s donors were missing the required employer and occupation information. In 2015, the problem became exponentially worse with more than half of individual donors missing the required information. In 2017, ahead of McSally’s Senate announcement, she once again got herself in hot water for polling for a possible Senate run without filing as a candidate, violating federal election laws. In April 2018, the FEC approved an audit of McSally’s campaign and found she failed to properly disclose finances and failed to collect employment information 2018 for over 1,200 campaign donations.
Click here to read the FEC complaint.
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