FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20463 

MEMORANDUM 

TO: Patricia C. Orrock ocTiam 

Chief Compliance Officer 

Thomas Hintermister 

Assistant Staff Director 

Audit Division 

FROM: Adav Noti ^ 

Associate General Counsel for Policy 

Lorenzo Holloway 

Assistant General Counsel 

Compliance Advice 

Danita Alberico 

Attorney 

SUBJECT: Draft Final Audit Report on the Kind for Congress Committee (LRA 1018) 

I. INTRODUCTION 

The Office of General Counsel has reviewed the proposed Draft Final Audit Report 

("DFAR") on the Kind for Congress Committee ("Committee"). We concur with the sole 

finding in the DFAR: Untimely Deposit of Receipts. We comment here only to address the 

Conunittee's response to the Interim Audit Report in which it contends that the Federal Election 

Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, ("Act") and Commission regulations are unclear with 

respect to the timeliness of deposits. If you have any questions, please contact Danita Alberico, 

the attorney assigned to this audit. 

II. A COMMITTEE AGENT'S OR EMPLOYEE'S RECEIPT OF A 

CONTRIBUTION IS IMPUTED TO THE TREASURER TO DETERMINE 

TIMELINESS OF DEPOSIT 

This finding concerns contributions that Committee representatives received in 

Washington, D.C. and mailed to its treasurer, located in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to deposit in the 

Committee's bank account. The time between the Committee representatives' receipt of these 
Comments to the Draft Final Audit Report 

Kind for Congress Comminee 

(LRA 1018) 

Page 2 

contributions in Washington and their deposit in La Crosse averaged 26 days. The finding 

concludes that the Committee failed to deposit contributions totaling SS81,719 within 10 days of 

receipt. The Audit staff used the date of the contributor check (plus three days for mailing) as 

the date of receipt because the Committee was unable to provide firm information on the actual 

dates of receipt. We concur with this finding. 

The Committee, however, argues that the Commission's rules, when read together, are 

unclear with respect to the timeliness of deposits, and thus the regulations could be interpreted to 

mean that a treasurer has 20 days within which to deposit contributions. The provisions at issue 

are 11 C.F.R. § 103.3(a), which requires that all receipts by a political committee be deposited 

within 10 days of the treasurer's receipt, and 11 C.F.R. § 102.8(a), which requires every person 

who receives a contribution for an authorized political committee to forward the contribution to 

the treasurer no later than 10 days after receipt. 

The Act and Commission regulations are clear regarding the time frame for depositing 

contributions regardless of whether those contributions are received directly by the treasurer or 

by an individual acting on behalf of the committee. Contributions must be deposited within 10 

days. 11 C.F.R. § 103.3. The Commission has stated that when a committee representative or 

agent receives a contribution, the receipt of that contribution is imputed to the committee's 

treasurer and thus must be deposited within 10 days of the treasurer's or agent's receipt. For 

example, in interpreting Section 102.8, the Commission said that "the date of receipt of 

contributions shall be the date on which the treasurer or any other person acting on behalf of a 

committee obtains possession of the contribution." Explanation and Justification for Section 

102.8 Receipt of Contributions. 45 Fed. Reg. 15080,15084 (Mar. 7,1980) (emphasis added). In 

addition, in an advisory opinion addressing the applicability of Section 103.3(a) and whether the 

10-day deposit period began to run from the treasurer's actual receipt, even though the 

contributions had been received at an earlier date by the committee's employee-agent, the 

Commission explicitly stated that the 10-day deposit period begins running with the date of 

receipt of the contribution by an agent authorized to receive contributions for the committee. 

Advisory Opinion 1992-29 (Holtzman).