FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20463

BEFORE THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

 )

In the Matter of )

) MUR 7943

Common Good Virginia and Lillie Louise Lucas, )

 in her official capacity as treasurer, et al. )

 )

SUPPLEMENTAL STATEMENT OF REASONS OF 

VICE CHAIRMAN SEAN J. COOKSEY

I voted to find no reason to believe that the Respondents in this matter made prohibited inkind contributions through coordinated email communications or violated federal limits on softmoney solicitations.1 And I joined the principal Statement of Reasons with my colleagues 

explaining the Commission’s reasoning for that result, which provided, in part:

While the Commission has found that a mailing list is a valuable asset, nothing in 

the record suggests that Common Good transferred its mailing list to the 

Committee. ... Further, assuming arguendo that the Committee received a small 

value from Common Good, the Committee provided Common Good a similarly 

small value by allowing Common Good to use Demings’s name recognition and 

reputation in an effort to bolster the effectiveness of the solicitations. Under these 

circumstances, we do not believe that Demings’s participation in the email 

solicitation constituted an in-kind contribution from Common Good to the 

Committee, and even if there was a small value, we would find that Common Good 

received adequate consideration from the Committee by way of Demings’s 

participation in the solicitation.2

That is correct, as far as it goes. But I would go further.

Under the Commission’s internet exemption, the emails at issue are exempt from the 

definitions of “electioneering communication” and “public communication,” and as a result, they 

cannot be coordinated communications.3 For the internet exemption to be effective, however, it 

must encompass more than the discrete act and de minimis cost of sending the emails themselves. 

1 Certification (June 22, 2023), MUR 7943 (Common Good Virginia, et al.). 

2 Statement of Reasons of Chair Lindenbaum, Vice Chairman Cooksey, Commissioner Dickerson, and 

Commissioner Trainor at 3–4 (July 21, 2023), MUR 7943 (Common Good Virginia, et al.).

3 See 11 C.F.R. §§ 100.26, 100.29, 109.21(c).

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2

Related expenses—the computer equipment and services, the drafting and design of the content, 

the maintenance or use of a list of email recipients, and so on—must also be exempted from 

treatment as in-kind contributions or expenditures if the communications they support are 

themselves exempted.4

As a result, while I agree with the principal Statement of Reasons’ analysis, I also believe 

it should be broader. I would adopt the reasoning past Commissioners have set out concerning the 

internet exemption’s scope.

5 Even if Common Good Virginia had incurred significant input costs 

to produce and send the coordinated emails—and even if Demings had provided no offsetting 

value—those costs would still not constitute an in-kind contribution because they were incurred in 

support of exempted email communications.

_________________________________ July 24, 2023

Sean J. Cooksey Date

Vice Chairman

4 See, e.g., Factual & Legal Analysis at 4–6 (Sept. 17, 2013), MUR 6657 (Akin for Senate) (concluding that 

coordinated internet communications were not in-kind contributions despite “significant related expenses”); Factual 

& Legal Analysis at 3, 7–8 (July 17, 2012), MUR 6477 (Turn Right USA) (finding no coordinated communication 

because the video uploaded to internet for free was not a “public communication,” despite costing $5,800 to produce). 

See also Advisory Op. 2008-10 (VoterVoter.com) at 7 (“The costs incurred by an individual in creating an ad will be 

covered by the Internet exemption from the definition of ‘expenditure’ as long as the creator is not also purchasing 

TV airtime for the ad he or she created.”).

5 See Statement of Reasons of Vice Chairman Petersen and Commissioner Hunter at 12–18 (Aug. 21, 2019), 

MURs 6940, 7097, 7146, 7160, & 7193 (Correct the Record, et al.). 

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