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REPOH'r OF TIlE AUDIT DIVISION

ON THE

BLACK VO'l'ERS FOR REPUBLICAN CONGRESS

I. Backqround

1\. Overview

This report is based on an audit of the Black Voters

For Republican Congress ("the Committee"), undertaken by the

Au(1.i t Division of the Federal Election Commission in accordance

with the Commission's audit policy, to determine whether there

hi1~; been compliance wi th the provisions of the Federal Election

Campaign Act of 1971, as amended ("the J\ct"). The audit was

conducted pursuant to Section 438(a) (8) of Title 2, United States

Code, which directs the Commission to make from tiMe to time

audits and field investigations with respect to reports and

st~tements filed under the provisions of the Act.

The Committee registered with the u.s. House of

Hcprcsentatives on September 16, 1974 as a political committee

organized for the purpose of encouraging black voters to support

Republican candidates for the U.s. House of Representatives.

The Committee maintains its headquarters in San Antonio, 'rexas.

The audit covered the period January 1, 1977 through

I ~) Jun0 30, 1979. The Committee reported a beginning cash balance

at ,lanuary 1, 1977 of $2,062.93, total receipts for the

period of $73,595.92, total expenditures for the period of

$74,130.74, and a closing cash balance on June 30, 1979 of

$1,528.11.

This audit report is based on documents and working

p;lpcrs supporting each of its factual statements. They form

part of the record upon which the Commission based its decisions

011 the m3tters in this report and were available to Commissioners

~lnd appropriate staff for rcvic\v.
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B. Kev Personnel

The principal officers of the Committee during the

period covered by the audit were Hr. Donald R. Druid, National

Chairman, and r1r. Clay Claiborne, Treasurer.

The audit included such tests as verification of total

reported receipts and expenditures and individual transactions;

review of required supportinq documentation; analysis of Committee

debts and obligations; and such other audit procedures as deemed

necessary under the circumstances.

II. Audit Findings and Reconmmndations

A. Rctpntion of Sup!"'orting Documentation

for Expenditures

Durinq the period covered by the audit Section 432(d) of

'I'i tIe 2, United States Code, in part, required the treasurer to

ohtain and keep a receipted bill for pvery expenditure made by a

political committee in excess of $100 in amount, and for any

expenditure aggregating in excess of $100 to the same person within

a calendar year.

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Durinq the period covered by the audit Section 102.9(c) (~)

and (e) of Title 11, Code of Federal Regulations, in part, provided

that when a receipted bill is not available, the treasurer may keep:

(i) the cancelled check; and (ii) the bill, invoice or other

contemnoraneous memorandum to support the expenditure as well as • use his or her best efforts to obtain the reauired information. If

there is a showing that best efforts have been made, the committee

~;h;}ll be deemed to be in compliance with this section.

As a result of our review of the Committee records,

it was determined that the Committee did not maintain adequate

~)\lpporting documentation for 36 (29~;:;) of 126 expenditures; each in

excess of or aqqregating in excess of $100. These 36 expenditures

totaled $22,038.57, which represented 30"5 of the total dollar

amount of expenditures requiring supporting documentation.

On November 28, 1979, the Committee submitted copies

of docu~cnt;}tion for 12 items and provided evidence that best

efforts have been made to obt;}in the required information for

the other 24 unsupported expenditures. The Committee did maintain

t:~~: cancelled chcc}:s for ~ll expenditures in this category.

HL.... commenda t ion

The Audit staff rccor~ends no further action be taken

on this matter.

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