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FEDlRAl EllCTION CO~'f\\lSSION

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REPORT OF THE AUDIT DIVISION

ON THE

WILEY FOR CONGRESS - PRIMARY ELECTION COMMITTEE

AND THE

WILEY FOR CONGRESS - GENERAL ELECTION COMMITTEE

I. Background

A. Overview

This report is based on an audit of the Wiley For

Congress - Primary Election Committee and the Wiley For Congress - General Election Committee undertaken by the Audit Division of

the Federal Election Commission in accordance with the Commission's audit policy to determine whether there has been

compliance with the provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (lithe Act"). The audi t was conducted

pursuant to Section 438(a)(8) of Title 2, United States r.ode,

which directs the Commission to make from time to time audits and

field investigations with respect to reports and statements filed

under the provisions of the Act.

The Primary Election Committee reQistered with the

Federal Election Commission on May 7, 1976 in support of

Charles w. Wiley, C~ndidate for the office of Representative from the 15th Congressional District of New Jersey and maintained

its headquarters in Piscataway, New Jersey. The ~enera1 Election

Committee registered with the Federal Election Com~ission on

July 28, 1976 in support of Charles W. Wiley, Candidate for the

office of Representative from the 15th Conqressional District

of New Jersey and maintained its headquarters in Sayreville, Ne\'1 Jersey •

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The audit covered the period from April 12, 1976, the

inception date of the Primary Election Committee through June

30, 1977, the final covcraqe date of the latest report filed by the General Election Committee. The Primary Election Committee

reported an op~ning cash at April 12, 1976 of ~-O-, total receipts

for the period of $5,058.00, total expenditures for the period of $5,058.00, and a closing cash balance of S-O-. The General

Election Committee reported an opening cash balance at July 14,

1976 of ~-O-, total receipts for the period July 14, 1976 to Occcmb~r 31, 1976 of $10,054.48, total expenditures for the

period July 14, 1976 to December 31, 1976 of ~9,884.28, and a

closing cash balance at Oecember 31, 1976 of $170.20. 11

This audit report is based on documents and working

papers which support each of the factual statements. They form

part of the record upon which the Commission based its decisions

on the matters in the report and were available to Commissioners

and appropriate staff for review.

B. Key Personnel

The principal officers of the Primary Election Committee

for the period of the audit were Theodore F. Munday, ChairMan,

Robert F. Costello, Vice Chairman and Secretary, and Joseph ~.

lynch, Treasurer. The principal officers of the ~eneral Election

Committee for the period of the audit were Kathleen Buchanan, .. Ca111 pa i g n Man aq c r ", '5:./ and Eli zabe t h L. Pop 0 vic h, Trea sur er .

c. Scope

The audit included such tests as verification of

reported receipts and expenditures and individual transactions~

rev i e\'/ 0 f r equi red sup rOt" t i flfl doc umen tation; a na1.Y sis 0 f Co IIIIII itte e

debts and obligations; and. such other audit procedures as deemed

necessary under the circumstances.

II. Auditor's StateMent and Oescrintion of Findings PrTmary-('-ec-t-, on l~0,'1i~ffI~~-eIt is the opinion of the Audit staff, based upon examination

of the reports and st~tpments filed and the records presented, that

the rep 0 r t sand s tat eIn en t s 0 f the 1-1 i 1e.v for Con 9 res 5 - Pr i rn ar y

Election Committee fairly present the financial activities of the

C0l111'1 ittee for the peri 0 d c0 vere d by the audit. No 1'1 ate ria 1 pro b1ern 5

in comnlyinq with th~ frdcral flection CampaiQn Act were discovered

during'the course of the audit.

!/ The General [-lecfio., COI'lmittee \"/as exemot from filinq disclosure

reports for the first two ouarters of 1~77. A FEe Form 3a and

a letter were filed on April 18,1977 and "lune 30,1977.

'fl According to the Candidatp, the term Campaign ~'anager, was

sy nonyIn 0 U S \'/ i t h the t e rm Chairman .

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General Election Committee

It is the opinion of the Audit staff, based upon examination

of the reports and statements filed and the records presented, that, except for the deficiencies noted below, the reports and

statements of the Wiley for Congress - ~eneral Election Committee

fairly present the financial activities of the Committee for the

period covered by the audit. Further, except as noted below, no

material problems in complying with the Federal Election Campaign Act were discovered during the course of the audit.

A. Disclosure of Expenditures

Section 434(b){9), (10), and (11) of Title 2, United

States Code, require that each report shall disclose the identification of each person to whom expenditures have been made by the

Committee in a calendar year in an aggregate amount or value in

excess of $100, the amount, date and purpose of each such expenditure; the identification of each person to whom an expenditure for

personal services, salaries, and reimbursed expenses in excess of

$100 has been made and is not otherwise reported, including the

amount, date and purpose of such expenditure; and the total sum

of expenditures made by such committee during the calendar year.

During the course of the audit our comparison of the

Committee's reports and bank records revealed that the Committee

did not report expenditures totaling 54,333.94 (43.85~ of total

expenditures). The treasurer explained that fundraisinq expend- itures were not included in the Committee's reports because the

Committee reported on FEe Form 6B (Short Form) which does not

specifically indicate that fundraising expenditures are to be

reported (i.e., neither the instructions on the reverse side of

the form nor the type of expenditure box on the face of the form

make any reference to the reporting of fundraising expenditures). Further, our review of expenditure records revealed that the

Committee did not itemize 26 fundraising expenditures totaling $5,610.21 (56.76~ of total expenditures requiring itemization).

Since the amount of the expenditures, which the Committee

failed to itemize, exceeds the amount not reported in any fashion,

it is apparent that some of the 26 expenditures had been included

in the reported unitemized amounts. However, the Committee did

not record which expenditures were included in their unitemized

balances, making it impossible to determine which of the 26

fundraising expenditures had been disclosed as unitemized, and

whi ch had not bee n rep 0 r ted as ei the r i t enli zed 0 run i t em i zed.

At our request on November 15, 1977, the Committee filed an

amended report itemizing the 26 fundraising expenditures and adjustin~ the unitemized balance so that the total reported expenditures equal the total expenditures shown on Committee

bank records.

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Recommendation

In view of the fact that the Committee's failure to disclose

fundraising expenditures may have resulted from ambiguities in

FEe forms, and in view of the fact that appropriate amendments

have now been filed, the Audit staff recommends no further action

on this matter.

B. Disclosure of Receipts

Section 434(b)(3} and (6), Title 2, United States Code,

states that each report shall disclose the total sum of individual

contributions made to or for such committee during the reporting period; and not reported as itemized individual contributions

under Section 434(b}{2}; and the total amount of proceeds from

the sale of tickets to each dinner, luncheon, rally and other

fundraising event.

During the course of the audit, it was determined that

the Committee did not report contributions totalling 52,120.00

(20.95% of total receipts). The Candidate explained that contributions resulting from fundraising events were not included in

the Committee's reports as a result of the treasurer's belief

that fundraising expenditures were not to be included in the

reports, and therefore the resulting contributions were to be

treated in the same way.

The total amount of contributions not reported is

comprised of $1,860.00 from the sale of tickets at a fundraising dinner and $260.00 of unidentifiable contributions at the same

fundraising dinner.

On November 15, 1977, the General Election Committee filed

an amendment reporting these contributions.

Recommendation

While the Committee did fail to comply with the disclosurp. requirements, we note that it has filed appropriate amendments

in accordance with the initial findings of the Audit staff, and

we therefore recommend no further action.

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CONGRESSIONAL AUDIT REPORT

Candidate/Committee: CHARL[S WILEY/WILEY FOR CONGRESS

State: NEW JERSEY

. District: 15

Location: MIDDLESEX &UNION COUNTIES

Political Party Affiliation: REPUBLICAN

Major Opponent(s}: ED PATTEN (0)

Other Candidates Audited: PATTEN

Votes Cast: General Election - PATTEN 106,170

Primary Election - WILEY UNOPPOSED

Total Receipts for Period: $15,112.48

Total Expenditures for Period: $14,942.28

First Elected (if applicable): N/A

WILEY 54,487

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