FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20463

STATEMENT OF REASONS OF COMMISSIONERS 

SHANA M. BROUSSARD AND ELLEN L. WEINTRAUB 

 On July 12, 2022, the Commission found reason to believe that Antone for Congress and 

Dennis Melton in his official capacity as treasurer (the “Committee”) violated 52 U.S.C. § 

30104(b)(5)(A) and 11 C.F.R. § 104.3(b)(4) by misreporting the payee of funds paid to West Coast 

Public Affairs and authorized pre-probable cause conciliation.1 The available information showed that 

during the 2020 election cycle, the Committee reported 20 disbursements totaling $3,309,026 for a 

variety of purposes related to advertising to “WCPA,” whose address the Committee listed as an Illinois 

post office box. WCPA, as it turns out, is in fact West Coast Public Affairs (“West Coast”), a 

corporation providing media services to political, nonprofit, and other organizations, including media 

strategy, production, and time-buying, which is handled through a subvendor. The Illinois address 

reported by the Committee was not associated with West Coast, a California company, in any public 

records.

Referencing press reports, the Complaint and Response asserted that during the 2020 election 

cycle, the DCCC issued an internal policy that amounted to maintaining a “blacklist” of vendors that 

worked with challengers to incumbent Democratic congressional candidates.2

 In March 2021, the 

DCCC announced that it would no longer follow this policy.3

The Act and Commission regulations require political committees to report the name and 

address of each person to whom they make expenditures or other disbursements aggregating more than 

$200 per calendar year, or per election cycle for authorized committees, as well as the date, amount, and 

1

 Certification, MUR 7774 (July 12, 2022). 2

 Compl. at 5 (citing Rachael Bade & David Weigel, Pelosi Endorses Rep. Tlaib in Primary Fight, Moves to Help 

Members of ‘the Squad,’ WASH. POST (July 29, 2020), https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/pelosi-endorses-reptlaib-in-primary-fight-moves-to-help-members-of-the-squad/2020/07/29/028b5692-d1c6-11ea-9038-

af089b63ac21_story.html); Joint Resp. at 3; see also Daniel Marans, DCCC Promises to Blacklist Firms that Work with 

Candidates Challenging Incumbents, HUFFINGTON POST (Mar. 22, 2019), https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dccc-promises-toblacklist-firms-that-work-with-candidates-challenging-incumbents_n_5c95126ae4b01ebeef0ec3ae.

3

 See Ally Mutnick, House Democrats End Controversial Consultant Ban, POLITICO (Mar. 9, 2021), 

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/09/dccc-ban-primary-challengers-474588.

BEFORE THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

In the Matter of

Antone for Congress, et al.

)

 ) 

 ) 

 ) 

 

 

 MUR 7774 

MUR777400147
MUR 7774 (Antone for Congress, et al.)

Statement of Reasons

Page 2 of 3 

purpose of such payments.4 The relevant reporting requirements under the Act and Commission 

regulations are intended to ensure public disclosure of “where political campaign money comes from 

and how it is spent.”5

 Disclosure requirements also “deter[] and help[] expose violations” of the Act 

and Commission regulations.6

The Committee violated the plain language of 11 C.F.R. § 104.3(b)(4), which states that 

committees “shall report the full name and address” of each “person to whom an expenditure in an 

aggregate amount or value in excess of $200 within the election cycle is made by the reporting 

authorized committee to meet the authorized committee’s operating expenses.”7 It matters not whether 

Antone for Congress violated the law intentionally – indeed, conciliation agreements often include 

contention language from Respondents arguing that their violations were inadvertent8 – what matters is 

that the public was deprived of critical information. The use of the acronym and the Illinois address 

would have made it very difficult for a member of the public to identify the recipient of $3,309,026 in 

disbursements — 71% of the Committee’s total disbursements during the 2020 election cycle.9 

Because the Committee violated the plain language of the relevant regulation, and thereby obscured 

West Coast as the payee, the Commission found reason to believe that the Committee violated 

52 U.S.C. § 30104(b)(5)(A) and 11 C.F.R. § 104.3(b)(4) by misreporting the payee of funds paid to 

West Coast.

10 

 In finding reason to believe, the Commission authorized pre-probable cause conciliation with the 

Committee and directed the Office of General Counsel (“OGC”) to prepare a proposed conciliation 

agreement addressing this violation. OGC circulated a draft conciliation just a few weeks later for the 

4

 52 U.S.C. § 30104(b)(5), (6); 11 C.F.R. § 104.3(b)(3)(i), (ix) (political committees other than authorized 

committees); id. § 104.3(b)(4)(i), (vi) (authorized committees); id. § 104.9(a), (b) (all political committees). 

5

 Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 66 (1976); see also Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310, 369-71 (2010) (describing 

importance of disclosure requirements to serve informational interest, because “transparency enables the electorate to make 

informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages”).

6

 SpeechNow.org v. FEC, 599 F.3d 686, 698 (D.C. Cir. 2010) (en banc); see also Buckley, 424 U.S. at 67-68 

(explaining that disclosure requirements “deter actual corruption and avoid the appearance of corruption by exposing large 

contributions and expenditures to the light” and that “recordkeeping, reporting, and disclosure requirements are an essential

means of gathering the data necessary to detect violations” of the Act); McConnell v. FEC, 540 U.S. 93, 196 (2003) 

(concurring with the stated government interests in disclosure requirements described in Buckley — “providing the electorate 

with information, deterring actual corruption and avoiding any appearance thereof, and gathering the data necessary to 

enforce” the Act and Commission regulations). 

7

 11 C.F.R. § 104.3(b)(4), (b)(4)(i); see also 52 U.S.C. § 30104(b)(5)(A) (committee reports shall disclose “the name 

and address” of each person to whom an expenditure in an aggregate amount or value in excess of $200 within the election 

cycle is made by the reporting committee). 

8

 See, e.g., Conciliation Agreement, MUR 7597; Conciliation Agreement, MUR 7586; Conciliation Agreement, 

MUR 7568; Conciliation Agreement, MUR 7470. 

9

 The Committee disclosed $4,650,989.07 in total disbursements during the 2020 election cycle. Campaign Finance 

Data, Antone for Congress, Spending, https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00729582/?cycle=2020&tab=spending.

10 Factual and Legal Analysis, MUR 7774 at 7. We further supported OGC’s recommendations to find reason to 

believe the Committee misreported the payee of funds paid to several other vendors, as well as the purposes of those 

disbursements. See Certification, MUR 7774 (July 12, 2022). When the Commission split on those motions, we were 

willing to proceed on these narrower grounds.

MUR777400148
MUR 7774 (Antone for Congress, et al.)

Statement of Reasons

Page 3 of 3 

Commission’s approval. Yet, when OGC presented the Commission with a draft conciliation 

agreement for approval, our colleagues instead decided to dismiss the matter.

11 As a result, not only 

was the Committee not required to pay any civil penalty for its violation (a penalty that would have 

been the subject of negotiation, factoring in ability to pay), but the Committee was not required to 

comply with the regulation by amending its 2020 disclosure reports, which, to date, remain misleading. 

And we fear that other political actors may take the wrong message from the Commission’s failure to 

pursue this violation and may feel emboldened to file reports that obscure rather than clarify the 

information which the public is entitled to know. 

______________________ __________________________ 

Date Shana M. Broussard 

Commissioner

______________________ __________________________ 

Date Ellen L. Weintraub

Commissioner

11 See Certification, MUR 7774 (Aug. 11, 2022).

September 23, 2022

September 23, 2022

MUR777400149