ORAL ARGUMENT NOT YET SCHEDULED 

No. 14-5297 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT 

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, 

Plaintiff-Appellee, 

v. 

CRAIG FOR U.S. SENATE; LARRY CRAIG, 

INDIVIDUALLY AND IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY 

AS TREASURER OF CRAIG FOR U.S. SENATE, 

Defendants-Appellants. 

On Appeal from the United States District Court 

for the District of Columbia 

BRIEF FOR THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

Lisa J. Stevenson 

Deputy General Counsel – Law 

Kevin Deeley 

Acting Associate General Counsel 

Harry J. Summers 

Assistant General Counsel 

Robert W. Bonham III 

Senior Attorney 

Kevin P. Hancock 

April 9, 2015 Attorney 

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CERTIFICATE AS TO PARTIES, RULINGS, AND RELATED CASES 

Pursuant to this Court’s Order of December 2, 2014 and D.C. Cir. R. 

28(a)(1), appellee Federal Election Commission (“Commission”) submits its 

Certificate as to Parties, Rulings, and Related Cases. 

(A) Parties and Amici. Craig for U.S. Senate and Larry E. Craig, 

individually and in his official capacity as Treasurer of Craig for U.S. Senate, were 

the defendants in the district court and are the appellants in this Court. The 

Commission was the plaintiff in the district court and is the appellee in this Court. 

No parties intervened or participated as amici curiae in the district court, and no 

parties have requested to intervene or participate as amici curiae before this Court. 

(B) Rulings Under Review. On September 30, 2014, United States District 

Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued an Order and Memorandum Opinion granting 

the Commission’s motion for summary judgment. The district court’s Order and 

Memorandum Opinion can be found in the Joint Appendix at pages 10-51. The 

district court’s Memorandum Opinion is also available at --- F. Supp. 3d ---, 2014 

WL 4823874 (D.D.C. Sept. 30, 2014). 

(C) Related Cases. The case on review was previously before the United 

States District Court for the District of Columbia, captioned as Federal Election 

Commission v. Craig for U.S. Senate, et al., Civ. No. 12-958 (ABJ). The case on 

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review was not previously before this Court. The Commission knows of no 

“related cases” as that phrase is defined in D.C. Cir. R. 28(a)(1)(C). 

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i 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

COUNTERSTATEMENT OF THE ISSUES ...................................................... 1 

STATUTES AND RULES .................................................................................. 1 

COUNTERSTATEMENT OF THE CASE ......................................................... 2 

I. LEGAL BACKGROUND ......................................................................... 2 

A. The U.S. Senate’s Ban on the Personal Use of Campaign Funds ... 2 

B. FECA’s Ban on the Personal Use of Campaign Funds ................... 3 

 

C. The FEC’s Regulation Defining Personal Use and 

Interpretive Guidance ...................................................................... 3 

D. The Commission’s Advisory Opinions Stating When 

Campaign Funds May Be Used for Legal Expenses ....................... 5 

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND .................................................................... 6 

A. The Federal Election Commission .................................................. 6 

B. Larry Craig and the Craig Committee ............................................. 7 

C. Craig’s Arrest for Disorderly Conduct and Guilty Plea .................. 8 

D. Craig Admitted to the Senate Ethics Committee That He 

Was Arrested for Purely Personal Conduct Unrelated to 

the Performance of His Official Senate Duties ............................... 8 

E. Craig Used Campaign Funds to Attempt to Withdraw 

His Guilty Plea ................................................................................ 9 

 

F. Craig Continued Spending Campaign Funds Despite 

Warnings by the Senate Ethics Committee ................................... 11 

G. FEC Administrative Proceedings .................................................. 13 

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H. District Court Proceedings ............................................................ 14 

1. The District Court’s Denial of Craig’s 

Motion to Dismiss ............................................................... 14 

2. The District Court’s Grant of the FEC’s Motion for 

Summary Judgment ............................................................ 16 

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ......................................................................... 18 

ARGUMENT ..................................................................................................... 21 

I. THE DISTRICT COURT CORRECTLY HELD THAT CRAIG 

CONVERTED CAMPAIGN FUNDS TO HIS PERSONAL USE ........ 21 

A. Minnesota v. Craig Involved Allegations Relating to Craig’s 

Personal Misconduct and Not His Officeholder Duties ................ 21 

B. Craig Has Abandoned the Main Liability Argument He Made 

to the District Court and Now Improperly Asserts a Meritless 

New Argument Regarding the Applicable Legal Standard 

That This Court Should Not Consider .......................................... 22 

C. The District Court Correctly Found That It Is Irrelevant 

Whether Craig’s Personal Offense Resulted in Negative 

Consequences That Motivated Him to Try to Withdraw 

His Guilty Plea .............................................................................. 25 

1. The Post-Offense Consequences and Craig’s Subjective 

Motivations Were Not at Issue in His Legal Proceedings .. 27 

2. The Post-Offense Consequences and Craig’s Subjective 

Motivations Were Not Officeholder “Duties” .................... 28 

D. The District Court’s Ruling Is Consistent with the FEC 

Advisory Opinions on Which Craig Now Relies .......................... 30 

 

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II. THE DISTRICT COURT DID NOT ABUSE ITS DISCRETION BY 

ORDERING CRAIG TO DISGORGE THE PROCEEDS OF HIS 

WRONGDOING TO THE UNITED STATES TREASURY AND 

PAY A CIVIL PENALTY ...................................................................... 33 

A. The District Court Did Not Abuse Its Discretion by 

Ordering Craig to Disgorge the Funds He 

Converted to the U.S. Treasury ..................................................... 34 

1. Craig Has Forfeited His Objection to the Destination 

of His Disgorged Funds by Failing to Raise It in the 

District Court ....................................................................... 34 

2. The District Court Reasonably Chose Not to Order 

Craig to Disgorge Funds to the Essentially Defunct 

Craig Committee, Which Craig Controls ........................... 35 

3. The Remedy of Disgorgement Required Craig to 

Give Up His Ill-Gotten Gains, But It Did Not Require 

That Those Funds Be Returned to the Craig Committee .... 39 

4. The District Court’s Disgorgement Order Was Not 

Punitive, But FECA Would Authorize It Even if It Was ... 41 

5. The Disgorgement Order Did Not Violate the 

First Amendment................................................................. 42 

B. The District Court Did Not Abuse Its Discretion by Ordering 

Craig to Pay a Civil Penalty That Was Less Than 12 Percent of 

the Amount the Court Could Have Ordered Defendants to Pay ... 44 

1. The Civil Penalty Is Necessary to Punish 

Craig’s Offense ................................................................... 44 

2. The Civil Penalty Is Necessary to Deter Craig and 

Others from Future Offenses .............................................. 45 

3. The Civil Penalty Is Necessary to Reflect 

Craig’s Lack of Good Faith Effort to Avoid 

a Clear Violation of FECA ................................................. 47 

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4. The Civil Penalty Reflects That Craig Profited .................. 50 

5. The Civil Penalty Reflects Craig’s Ability to Pay .............. 51 

6. The Civil Penalty Reflects That Craig Injured Public 

Confidence in Government and the Campaign 

Finance System ................................................................... 51 

7. The Civil Penalty Reflects That Craig Injured His 

Contributors ........................................................................ 52 

8. The Civil Penalty Is Necessary to Vindicate the 

Authority of the FEC and to Promote 

Conciliation over Litigation ................................................ 52 

III. THE DISTRICT COURT’S CALCULATION OF THE AMOUNT 

CRAIG SPENT IN VIOLATION OF THE STATUTE WAS NOT 

CLEAR ERROR ...................................................................................... 53 

CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 55 

 

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v 

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES 

Cases Page 

Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976) .................................................................... 3 

Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010).................................................... 43 

Corson & Gruman Co. v. NLRB, 899 F.2d 47 (D.C. Cir. 1990) ....................... 22 

FEC v. Am. Fed’n of State, Cnty., & Mun. Employees–P.E.O.P.L.E. 

Qualified, No. 88-3208, 1991 WL 241892 (D.D.C. Oct. 31, 1991) ............. 51 

FEC v. Comm. of 100 Democrats, 844 F. Supp. 1 (D.D.C. 1993) ............... 52-53 

FEC v. Furgatch, 869 F.2d 1256 (9th Cir. 1989) ................................... 34, 50-52 

FEC v. Gus Savage for Congress ’82 Comm., 606 F. Supp. 541 

(N.D. Ill. 1985).............................................................................................. 47 

FEC v. Nat’l Educ. Ass’n, 457 F. Supp. 1102 (D.D.C. 1978) ........................... 47 

FEC v. NRA, 553 F. Supp. 1331 (D.D.C. 1983) ................................................ 52 

FTC v. Febre, 128 F.3d 530 (7th Cir. 1997) ...................................................... 36 

Gabelli v. SEC, --- U.S. ---, 133 S. Ct. 1216 (2013) ..................................... 44-45 

Hampton v. Vilsack, 685 F.3d 1096 (D.C. Cir. 2012) ....................................... 21

Long v. Howard Univ., 550 F.3d 21 (D.C. Cir. 2008) ....................................... 23 

Minnesota v. Craig, No. 27 CR 07-043231, 2007 WL 2892651 

(Minn. Dist. Ct. Oct. 4, 2007) ...................................................................... 8-9 

Nat’l Soc’y of Prof’l Eng’rs v. United States, 435 U.S. 679 (1978) .................. 43 

Official Comm. of Unsecured Creditors of WorldCom, Inc. v. SEC, 

467 F.3d 73 (2d Cir. 2006) ........................................................................... 36 

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Potter v. District of Columbia, 558 F.3d 542 (D.C. Cir. 2009) .................... 22-23 

Richison v. Ernest Grp., Inc., 634 F.3d 1123 (10th Cir. 2011) ......................... 23 

Salazar ex rel. Salazar v. District of Columbia, 602 F.3d 431 

(D.C. Cir. 2010) ............................................................................................ 23 

SEC v. Blavin, 760 F.2d 706 (6th Cir. 1985) .......................................... 36, 40-41 

SEC v. Brody, No. 99-2579, 1999 WL 1425401 

(D.D.C. Oct. 1, 1999) ............................................................................... 36-37 

SEC v. Cavanagh, 445 F.3d 105 (2d Cir. 2006) ................................................ 36 

SEC v. Credit Suisse First Boston Corp., No. 02-0090, 

2002 WL 479836 (D.D.C. Jan. 29, 2002) ..................................................... 36 

SEC v. First City Fin. Corp., 890 F.2d 1215 (D.C. Cir. 1989) .......................... 33 



SEC v. Fischbach Corp., 133 F.3d 170 (2d Cir. 1997) ......................... 35-37, 40 

SEC v. Levine, 517 F. Supp. 2d 121 (D.D.C. 2007) ..................................... 54-55 

SEC v. Lorin, 869 F. Supp. 1117 (S.D.N.Y. 1994) ............................................ 37 

SEC v. One or More Unknown Traders, 825 F. Supp. 2d 26 

(D.D.C. 2010) ............................................................................................... 45 

SEC v. Stern, No. 91-2459, 1993 WL 13380 (D.D.C. Jan. 11, 1993) ............... 37

*SEC v. Whittemore, 659 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2011) ........................... 34, 40, 53-54 

Shirey v. Devine, 670 F.2d 1188 (D.C. Cir. 1982) ............................................ 53

Tull v. United States, 481 U.S. 412 (1987) .................................................. 41, 45 

United States v. ITT Cont’l Baking Co., 420 U.S. 223 (1975) .......................... 46 

 



 Authorities upon which the FEC chiefly relies are marked with an asterisk. 

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United States v. Sussman, 709 F.3d 155 (3d Cir. 2013) .................................... 36 

Statutes and Regulations 

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-155, 

§ 301, 116 Stat. 81 .......................................................................................... 4 

FECA Amendments of 1979, Pub. L. No. 96-187, § 113, 

93 Stat. 1339 (1980) ........................................................................................ 3 

Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. §§ 30101-46 .................................... 3 

52 U.S.C. § 30101(5)-(6) ................................................................................ 7 

52 U.S.C. § 30102(a) ...................................................................................... 7 

52 U.S.C. § 30102(e)(1)-(2)............................................................................ 7 

52 U.S.C. § 30103(d)(1) ................................................................................. 8 

52 U.S.C. § 30104 ......................................................................................... 50 

52 U.S.C. § 30106(b)(1) ................................................................................. 6 

52 U.S.C. § 30107(a) ...................................................................................... 6 

52 U.S.C. § 30107(e) ..................................................................................... 6 

52 U.S.C. § 30108(a)(1)-(2)............................................................................ 6 

52 U.S.C. § 30108(c) ..................................................................................... 6 

52 U.S.C. § 30109 ........................................................................................... 6 

52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(1)-(2)............................................................................ 6 

52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(2) ................................................................................ 13 

52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(4)(A) .......................................................................... 14 

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52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(4)(A)(i) ...................................................................... 42 

52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(5)(A) .......................................................................... 42 

52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(6) ............................................................................ 6, 14 

52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(6)(A) .......................................................................... 42 

52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(6)(B) .................................................................... 18, 33 

52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(6)(C) .......................................................................... 50 

52 U.S.C. § 30114(a)(2) ........................................................................... 23-24 

*52 U.S.C. § 30114(b) ...................................................................... 13, 24, 33 

52 U.S.C. § 30114(b)(2) ......................................................................... 22, 28 

11 C.F.R. § 102.3(a)(1) ........................................................................................ 8 

11 C.F.R. § 111.24(a)(1) .................................................................................... 33 

*11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g) ....................................................................................... 3-4 

11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1)(i) .................................................................................... 3 

11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1)(i)(E) ............................................................................. 29 

11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(ii) ....................................................................................... 4 

Fed. R. App. P. 28(a)(5) ..................................................................................... 53 

Fed. R. App. P. 28(d) ......................................................................................... 13 

Legislative History 

148 Cong. Rec. S1991-02 (daily ed. Mar. 18, 2002) ........................................... 4 

S. Rep. No. 96-319 (1979) ................................................................................... 3 

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Administrative Materials 

AO 1995-23 (Shays), 1995 WL 437686 (July 20, 1995) .................................... 5 

AO 1996-24 (Cooley), 1996 WL 419823 (June 27, 1996) ................................ 31 

AO 1997-12 (Costello), 1997 WL 529598 (Aug. 15, 1997) ........................ 31-32 

AO 1998-01 (Hilliard), 1998 WL 108618 (Feb. 27, 1998) .......................... 31-32 

AO 2001-09 (Kerrey), 2001 WL 844352 (July 17, 2001) ............................ 31-32 

AO 2003-17 (Treffinger), 2003 WL 21894954 (July 25, 2003) ......................... 5 

AO 2005-11 (Cunningham), 2005 WL 2470825 (Sept. 26, 2005) ...................... 5 

*AO 2006-35 (Kolbe), 2007 WL 419188 (Jan. 26, 2007) ............................. 5, 10 

AO 2008-07 (Vitter), 2008 WL 4265321 (Sept. 9, 2008) ...................... 31-32, 48 

AO 2009-10 (Visclosky), 2009 WL 1811018 (June 18, 2009) ........................... 5 

AO 2009-12 (Coleman), 2009 WL 1904617 (June 26, 2009) ............................. 5 

AO 2009-20 (Visclosky for Congress), 2009 WL 2850351 

(Aug. 28, 2009) ............................................................................................... 5 

AO 2011-07 (Fleischmann), 2011 WL 2163318 (May 26, 2011) ....................... 5 

AO 2013-11 (Miller), 2013 WL 6022101 (Oct. 31, 2013) ....................... 5, 30-31 

In re Durkee Conciliation Agreement (Dec. 12, 2014), 

http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/15044365117.pdf ...................................... 39 

In re Free Conciliation Agreement (Sept. 23, 2008), 

http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/28044212013.pdf ...................................... 39 

In re Istook Conciliation Agreement (Sept. 25, 2008), 

http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/28044212385.pdf ...................................... 39 

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In re McCrosson, Jr. Conciliation Agreement (Nov. 8, 2012), 

http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/14044362854.pdf ...................................... 39 

In re Meeks Conciliation Agreement (Feb. 4, 2008), 

http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/000EC959.pdf ........................................... 39 

In re Sohn Conciliation Agreement (July 21, 2010), 

http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/10044274264.pdf ...................................... 39 

*Personal Use of Campaign Funds, 60 Fed. Reg. 7862-01 

(Feb. 9, 1995) ....................................................................................... 4, 24-26 

Statement of Policy Regarding Treasurers Subject to Enforcement 

Proceedings, 70 Fed. Reg. 3 (Jan. 3, 2005) .................................................... 7 

Articles and Treatises 

Craig Resigns Over Airport Bathroom Sex Sting, NBCNews.com 

(Sept. 2, 2007), http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20467347/ns/ 

politics/t/craig-resigns-over-airport-bathroom-sex-sting/ ............................. 9 

James M. Fischer, Understanding Remedies § 51 (2d ed. 2006) ................ 37, 40 

FEC Reports 

Craig for U.S. Senate, 2007 Year-End Report of Receipts and 

Disbursements (Jan. 31, 2008), http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/008/ 

28020050008/28020050008.pdf. .................................................................. 11 

Craig for U.S. Senate, 2008 April Quarterly Report of Receipts and 

Disbursements (Apr. 16, 2008), http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/258 

/28020183258/28020183258.pdf. ................................................................. 11 

Craig for U.S. Senate, 2008 Year-End Report of Receipts and 

Disbursements (Jan. 31, 2009) http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/020/ 

29020081020/29020081020.pdf. ............................................................. 12-13 

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Miscellaneous 

Advisory Opinions, FEC.gov, http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/ 

ao.shtml (last visited Apr. 7, 2015) ................................................................. 6 

Black’s Law Dictionary 209 (2d Pocket Ed. 2001) ........................................... 40 

FEC Candidate and Committee Viewer, http://www.fec.gov/finance/ 

disclosure/candcmte_info.shtml (last visited Apr. 9, 2015) ..................... 7, 39

Help with Reporting and Compliance, FEC.gov, http://www. 

fec.gov/info/compliance.shtml (last visited Apr. 9, 2015) ............................. 6 

Press Release, FEC, FEC Summarizes Campaign Activity of the 

2011-2012 Election Cycle (Mar. 27, 2014), http://www.fec.gov 

/press/press2013/20130419_2012-24m-Summary.shtml ........................ 45-46 

The Censure Case of Thomas J. Dodd of Connecticut (1967), 

U.S. Senate, https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/ 

common/censure_cases/135ThomasDodd.htm (last visited Apr. 9, 2015) .... 2 

The Select Comm. on Ethics, U.S. Senate, 108th Cong., 1st Sess., 

Senate Ethics Manual (2003), http://www.ethics.senate.gov/ 

downloads/pdffiles/manual.pdf (last visited Apr. 9, 2015) ...................... 2, 12 

Standing Rules of the Senate, 113th Cong., 1st Sess., S. Doc. No. 

113-18, R. XXXVIII § 2, (2013), http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ 

pkg/CDOC-113sdoc18/pdf/CDOC-113sdoc18.pdf 

(last visited Apr. 9, 2015) ............................................................................... 2 

 

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GLOSSARY 

AO FEC Advisory Opinion 

FEC Federal Election Commission 

FECA Federal Election Campaign Act 

JA Joint Appendix 

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COUNTERSTATEMENT OF THE ISSUES 

(1) Did the district court correctly find that Larry Craig and his campaign 

committee Craig for U.S. Senate violated FECA, which bars the personal use of 

campaign funds, when Craig had the committee spend $197,535 to pay his legal 

expenses in Minnesota v. Craig, a criminal case of disorderly conduct in an airport 

restroom? 

 (2) Did the district court abuse its discretion by using its broad equitable 

power to order Craig to disgorge the funds it found were converted to personal use 

to the United States Treasury, rather than allowing him to retain control over the 

funds by ordering disgorgement to his campaign committee, which is essentially 

defunct and of which Craig is treasurer? 

 (3) Where FECA authorized the district court to penalize each defendant 

up to the full $197,535 in campaign funds the court found were converted to 

Craig’s personal use, did the court abuse its discretion in fining Craig $45,000 — 

less than 12 percent of the maximum penalties — despite concluding that no facts 

weighed against a penalty and declining to find that Craig acted in good faith? 

STATUTES AND RULES 

The relevant provisions are set forth in the attached addendum. 

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COUNTERSTATEMENT OF THE CASE 

I. LEGAL BACKGROUND 

 A. The U.S. Senate’s Ban on the Personal Use of Campaign Funds 

In 1967, in the “first modern-era Senate ethics case,” the United States 

Senate censured one of its members for spending funds he had raised from 

campaign contributors on his personal expenses. The Censure Case of Thomas J. 

Dodd of Connecticut (1967), U.S. Senate.1

 The Senate concluded that the 

Senator’s misuse of campaign funds was “contrary to accepted morals, derogates 

from the public trust expected of a Senator, and tends to bring the Senate into 

dishonor and disrepute.” Id. The case spurred the Senate the following year to 

adopt its first rules of ethical conduct, id. — including a rule prohibiting the 

personal use of campaign funds, see Select Comm. on Ethics, U.S. Senate, 108th 

Cong., 1st Sess., Senate Ethics Manual 282 (2003).2

 Today, Senate Rule 38.2 

states that “[n]o contribution (as defined in . . . the Federal Election Campaign Act 

. . . ) shall be converted to the personal use of any Member.” Standing Rules of the 

Senate, 113th Cong., 1st Sess., S. Doc. No. 113-18, R. XXXVIII § 2, at 62 (2013).3

 

 

1

 See https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/censure_cases/ 

135ThomasDodd.htm (last visited Apr. 9, 2015). 

2

 See http://www.ethics.senate.gov/downloads/pdffiles/manual.pdf (last 

visited Apr. 9, 2015). 

3

 See http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CDOC-113sdoc18/pdf/CDOC113sdoc18.pdf (last visited Apr. 9, 2015). 

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B. FECA’s Ban on the Personal Use of Campaign Funds 

First enacted in 1971, and substantially amended in 1974, the Federal 

Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. §§ 30101-46, sought “to limit the actuality and 

appearance of corruption resulting from large individual financial contributions.” 

Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 26 (1976) (per curiam) (internal quotation marks 

omitted). Congress further amended FECA in 1979 to state that no campaign 

funds “may be converted by any person to personal use.” FECA Amendments of 

1979, Pub. L. No. 96-187, § 113, 93 Stat. 1339 (1980) (codified as 2 U.S.C. § 439a 

(1980)).4

 With this provision, Congress sought to apply to all federal candidates 

the anti-personal-use “position adopted by the Senate on previous occasions and 

reflected in . . . the Standing Rules of the Senate.” S. Rep. No. 96-319, at 5 (1979). 

C. The FEC’s Regulation Defining Personal Use and Interpretive 

Guidance 

In 1995, the Commission promulgated a regulation defining “personal use.” 

See 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g). It states that the FEC will always consider some 

expenses, such a home mortgage, to be “personal use.” Id. § 113.1(g)(1)(i). Other 

expenses, such as legal expenses, are examined on a case-by-case basis under what 

has been referred to as the “irrespective test”: “Personal use means any use of 

 

4

 Effective September 1, 2014, the provisions of FECA that were codified in 

Title 2 of the United States Code were recodified in a new title, Title 52. This brief 

cites FECA as currently codified. 

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[campaign funds] . . . to fulfill a commitment, obligation or expense of any person 

that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign or duties as a Federal 

officeholder.” Id. § 113.1(g); see also id. § 113.1(g)(ii). 

The FEC also published an Explanation and Justification in the Federal 

Register providing guidance on how to interpret the irrespective test. See Personal 

Use of Campaign Funds, 60 Fed. Reg. 7862-01 (Feb. 9, 1995) (“Explanation and 

Justification”). This guidance explains that “[i]f the candidate can reasonably 

show that the expenses at issue resulted from campaign or officeholder activities, 

the Commission will not consider the use to be personal use.” Id. at 7867. 

Applying that principle to legal expenses, the Explanation and Justification warns 

that legal expenses have not “resulted from” officeholder duties “merely because 

the underlying legal proceedings have some impact on the campaign or the 

officeholder’s status.” Id. at 7867-68. For example, “legal expenses associated 

with a divorce or charges of driving under the influence of alcohol will be treated 

as personal, rather than campaign or officeholder related.” Id. at 7868. 

In 2002, Congress rewrote FECA’s personal-use statute to codify the FEC’s 

regulation, including the irrespective test. See 148 Cong. Rec. S1991-02 (daily ed. 

Mar. 18, 2002); Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-155, 

§ 301, 116 Stat. 81 (codified as amended at 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b) (formerly 2 

U.S.C. § 439a(b))).

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D. The Commission’s Advisory Opinions Stating When Campaign 

Funds May Be Used For Legal Expenses 

In the 20 years since the FEC promulgated the irrespective test, it has issued 

numerous advisory opinions applying the test to legal expenses. Those opinions 

have consistently and repeatedly said that whether campaign funds may be spent 

on legal expenses depends on the allegations of the legal proceeding: Campaign 

funds may be used for legal expenses “incurred in legal proceedings involving 

allegations concerning . . . [one’s] duties as a Federal officeholder.” FEC Advisory 

Op. 2006-35 (Kolbe), 2007 WL 419188, at *2 (Jan. 26, 2007). Conversely, 

campaign funds may not be used for legal expenses incurred in an “inquiry 

regarding other allegations, if any, that do not concern . . . [one’s] duties as a 

Federal officeholder.” Id. at *3; see also AO 2013-11 (Miller), 2013 WL 6022101, 

at *3 (Oct. 31, 2013) (same); AO 2011-07 (Fleischmann), 2011 WL 2163318, at *2 

(May 26, 2011) (same); AO 2009-20 (Visclosky for Congress), 2009 WL 2850351, 

at *2-3 (Aug. 28, 2009) (same); AO 2009-12 (Coleman), 2009 WL 1904617, at *5-

6 (June 26, 2009) (same); AO 2009-10 (Visclosky), 2009 WL 1811018, at *3 (June 

18, 2009) (same); AO 2005-11 (Cunningham), 2005 WL 2470825, at *3 (Sept. 26, 

2005) (same); AO 2003-17 (Treffinger), 2003 WL 21894954, at *3 (July 25, 2003) 

(same); and AO 1995-23 (Shays), 1995 WL 437686, at *1 (July 20, 1995) (same).5

 

 

5

 The FEC’s advisory opinions can also be found on the FEC’s website at 

http://saos.fec.gov/saos/searchao (last visited Apr. 9, 2015). 

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6 

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND 

 A. The Federal Election Commission 

The Federal Election Commission is an independent agency of the United 

States government with exclusive jurisdiction over the administration, 

interpretation, and civil enforcement of FECA. 52 U.S.C. §§ 30106(b)(1), 

30107(a), 30109. The FEC has the authority to investigate possible violations of 

FECA and to initiate civil actions in the federal district courts to enforce FECA. 

Id. §§ 30107(e), 30109(a)(1)-(2), (a)(6). 

The Commission also has the statutory authority to provide guidance to the 

public on how to comply with FECA. See Help with Reporting and Compliance, 

FEC.gov.6

 For example, any person may request an advisory opinion from the 

FEC explaining how FECA applies to a particular factual situation, and the FEC 

must respond in 60 days or less. 52 U.S.C. 

§ 30108(a)(1)-(2); see also Advisory Opinions, FEC.gov.7

 An advisory opinion 

can provide a safe harbor from prosecution for the proposed activities of the 

requesting parties, or any person involved in a materially indistinguishable activity, 

who relied in good faith on the opinion. 52 U.S.C. § 30108(c). 

 

6

 See http://www.fec.gov/info/compliance.shtml (last visited Apr. 9, 2015). 

7

 See http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/ao.shtml (last visited Apr. 9, 2015). 

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7 

B. Larry Craig and the Craig Committee 

Larry Craig was a United States Senator from January 1991 to January 2009. 

(JA 54, 150.) In 2007, Craig was a candidate for reelection in the 2008 election, 

and he authorized Craig for U.S. Senate (“Craig Committee”) to receive and spend 

funds on his behalf as his principal campaign committee. Id.; see 52 U.S.C. 

§§ 30101(5)-(6), 30102(e)(1)-(2). 

Under FECA, every political committee must have a treasurer, who is 

responsible for authorizing the committee’s financial activity. 52 U.S.C. 

§ 30102(a). At the time the FEC filed this suit, the Craig Committee’s treasurer 

was Kaye O’Riordan, and she was named as a defendant in her official capacity. 

JA 52; see Statement of Policy Regarding Treasurers Subject to Enforcement 

Proceedings, 70 Fed. Reg. 3, 4-5 (Jan. 3, 2005). O’Riordan later resigned and 

Craig appointed himself treasurer. (See JA 6, 10 n.1.) Craig is therefore now a 

defendant in both his official and personal capacities. (Id.) 

Craig has not run for office since resigning from the Senate in 2009, and he 

has announced no plans to run in the future. (See JA 39.) According to the Craig 

Committee’s FEC reports, the Committee had $641 at the end of 2014.8

 It has not 

 

8

 Summarized financial data for the Craig Committee can be found on the 

FEC’s website by searching for committee identification number C00115667 at 

http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/candcmte_info.shtml (last visited Apr. 9, 

2015). 

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8 

reported receiving a contribution in at least the last six years, and it spent a total of 

$24 in 2013 and 2014. See supra p. 7, n. 8. The Craig Committee may not 

terminate its registration with the FEC while this litigation is pending. See 52 

U.S.C. § 30103(d)(1); 11 C.F.R. § 102.3(a)(1). 

C. Craig’s Arrest for Disorderly Conduct and Guilty Plea 

 On June 11, 2007, then-Senator Craig was arrested while in a public 

restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where he was awaiting 

a scheduled flight to Washington, D.C. (JA 55-56, 151.) According to the 

complaint in Minnesota v. Craig, Craig was arrested for engaging in behavior 

“often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in sexual conduct.” (JA 

213.) As the Minnesota state district court explained, Craig entered “into an 

occupied stall with his eyes, hand, and foot” for the purpose of solicitation. 

Minnesota v. Craig, No. 27 CR 07-043231, 2007 WL 2892651, at *13 (Minn. Dist. 

Ct. Oct. 4, 2007). Craig was charged with one count of interference with privacy 

and one count of disorderly conduct. (JA 56, 151.) Craig pled guilty to one 

misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct on August 8, 2007. (Id.; JA 217-19.) 

D. Craig Admitted to the Senate Ethics Committee That He Was 

Arrested for Purely Personal Conduct Unrelated to the 

Performance of His Official Senate Duties 

 Craig’s guilty plea became public on August 27, 2007. (JA 225-26.) The 

next day, members of the Senate Republican leadership and others urged the 

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9 

United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics (“Senate Ethics Committee”) to 

investigate whether Craig violated the Senate’s Rules of Conduct. (JA 228-33.) 

Several days later, on September 5, Craig submitted a letter to the Senate Ethics 

Committee arguing that his arrest fell outside its jurisdiction because he was 

arrested for “purely personal conduct unrelated to the performance of official 

Senate duties.” (JA 179-80.) 

E. Craig Used Campaign Funds to Attempt to Withdraw His Guilty 

Plea 

On September 1, 2007, Craig announced at a press conference that he would 

resign from the Senate on September 30. (JA 56, 151.) He also said he would 

nevertheless try to withdraw his guilty plea, explaining: “I have little control over 

what people choose to believe, but clearly my name is important to me.” Craig 

Resigns Over Airport Bathroom Sex Sting, NBC News.com (Sept. 2, 2007).9

 

To handle the effort to withdraw his guilty plea in Minnesota v. Craig, Craig 

hired high-profile attorney Billy Martin, then of Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan 

(“Sutherland”), and the Minnesota-based law firm Kelly & Jacobson as local 

counsel. (JA 56, 151.) Nine days after his resignation announcement, Craig filed a 

motion to withdraw his guilty plea. (Id.) That motion was denied a few weeks 

later on October 4. See Craig, 2007 WL 2892651. Later that day, Craig 

 

9

 See http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20467347/ns/politics/t/craig-resigns-overairport-bathroom-sex-sting/. 

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announced that despite the ruling and his earlier plan to resign, he would serve out 

the remainder of his Senate term and appeal the court’s ruling. (JA 56-57, 151.) 

Also on October 4, 2007, Craig was advised by his co-counsel in this 

litigation, the Brand Law Group, that he could legally spend campaign funds to pay 

them to represent him before the Senate Ethics Committee. (JA 155.) Craig was 

also advised that he could use campaign funds to pay Sutherland and Kelly & 

Jacobson to represent him in Minnesota v. Craig, although Craig was told that 

there were “no directly applicable FEC opinions” that authorized such spending. 

(Id.) 

At this time, Craig was aware of the FEC’s Kolbe advisory opinion (JA 155, 

160), which states that campaign funds may not be used for legal expenses 

incurred in a proceeding regarding “allegations, if any, that do not concern . . . 

[one’s] duties as a Federal officeholder,” Kolbe AO, 2007 WL 419188, *3. Craig 

did not ask the FEC for an advisory opinion on whether he could spend campaign 

funds on his legal expenses in Minnesota v. Craig. (See JA 35.) According to 

Craig, he did not seek such “prior approval” because “the FEC’s business is to 

censor.” (Defs.’ Opp’n to FEC’s Mem. in Supp. of Mot. for Summ. J. (“Craig SJ 

Opp’n”) at 23 (D.D.C. Docket No. 19) (internal quotation marks omitted).) 

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11 

A few weeks later, on October 29, 2007, Craig made the first in a series of 

payments of campaign funds for legal costs in Minnesota v. Craig, in an amount of 

more than $74,000. (See JA 56, 151; Craig SJ Opp’n at 9.) 

F. Craig Continued Spending Campaign Funds Despite Warnings by 

the Senate Ethics Committee 

 Craig appealed the Minnesota trial court’s denial of his motion to withdraw 

his guilty plea. (JA 56, 151.) He also continued to spend campaign funds on that 

effort. In the three-month period from December 2007 through February 2008, 

Craig paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds to Sutherland and 

Kelly & Jacobson. See 2007 Year-End Report of Receipts and Disbursements, 

Schedule B at 7-8 (Jan. 31, 2008);10 2008 April Quarterly Report of Receipts and 

Disbursements, Schedule B at 2, 4 (Apr. 16, 2008).11

 On February 13, 2008, the Senate Ethics Committee issued a “Public Letter 

of Admonition” to Craig for “improper conduct by [him] reflecting upon the 

United States Senate.” (JA 235-37.) Among other things, the letter warned Craig 

that his spending of campaign funds in Minnesota v. Craig might constitute 

personal use. It stated that Craig had “used over $213,000 in campaign funds to 

pay legal . . . fees in connection with your appeal of your criminal conviction” and 

the ethics inquiry. (JA 236.) The Committee then said: 

 

10 See http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/008/28020050008/28020050008.pdf. 

11 See http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/258/28020183258/28020183258.pdf. 

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12 

It appears that some portion of these expenses may not be 

deemed to have been incurred in connection with your official 

duties, either by the Committee or by the Federal Election 

Commission (which has concurrent jurisdiction with the 

Committee on the issue of conversion of a Senator’s campaign 

funds to personal use). 

(Id.) 

 Four months later, Craig asked the Senate Ethics Committee to allow him to 

establish a legal expense trust fund — called the “Fund for Justice” — to collect 

contributions to help pay his legal expenses. (JA 253.) The Senate Ethics 

Committee allows Senators to establish such legal expense trust funds 

“independent of any campaign fund.” Senate Ethics Manual at 155. On July 25, 

2008, the Senate Ethics Committee approved the “Fund for Justice.” (JA 253.) 

But the Committee also warned Craig in a letter that “it ha[d] not approved your 

use of campaign funds for the payment of legal expenses in connection with” 

Minnesota v. Craig, and it reiterated the warning made in its Public Letter of 

Admonition, stating that “‘[i]t appears that some portion of these expenses may not 

be deemed to have been incurred in connection with your official duties.’” (JA 

254.) 

 A little over two months later, on October 5, 2008, Craig used campaign 

funds to pay his lawyers $55,000 for their work in Minnesota v. Craig. 2008 YearUSCA Case #14-5297 Document #1546639 Filed: 04/09/2015 Page 27 of 79
13 

End Report of Receipts and Disbursements, Schedule B at 5 (Jan. 31, 2009);12

see 

also JA 35 (citing FEC Exh. 1 to FEC’s Resp. to Defs.’ Pleading Itemizing and 

Quantifying Legal Expenses (“Craig Invoices”) at “Craig 75” (legal invoice from 

Kelly & Jacobson for legal services provided between Apr. 1, 2008 and Sept. 15, 

2008) (D.D.C. Docket No. 25-1)). 

G. FEC Administrative Proceedings 

On November 10, 2008, the FEC received an administrative complaint 

alleging that Craig and the Craig Committee had violated FECA’s personal-use 

ban. (JA 58, 152.) Craig was notified and he responded.13 (Id.) The Commission 

reviewed the then-available information and voted 5-0 (with one Commissioner 

recused) to find that there was “reason to believe” that the respondents had violated 

what is now 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b). JA 58-59, 152; see 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(2). 

During the FEC’s subsequent investigation, Craig provided the invoices 

from Sutherland and Kelly & Jacobson that he paid for work on Minnesota v. 

Craig. (See Craig Invoices (D.D.C. Docket No. 25-1).) Those invoices included 

in excess of $100,000 that Craig paid via Sutherland to a public relations firm 

called Impact Strategies. (See FEC Summ. J. Exh. 12 at 5-6 (D.D.C. Docket No. 

21-1).) Because the FEC considers public relations fees to be officeholder-duty-

 

12 See http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/020/29020081020/29020081020.pdf. 

13 Unless otherwise noted, the Commission will refer to defendants-appellants 

collectively as “Craig.” See Fed. R. App. P. 28(d). 

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14 

related expenses and not personal use, the FEC excluded this amount from its 

analysis. (Id.) The FEC then asked Craig to identify whether any additional 

portions of the invoices reflected permissible charges for lawyers performing 

public relations work. (See FEC Summ. J. Exh. 13 at 3 ¶ 5 (D.D.C. Docket No. 

21-2).) In response, Craig “decline[d] to respond directly to [the FEC’s] 

questions.” (See FEC Summ. J. Exh. 14 at 1 (D.D.C. Docket No. 21-3).) 

After the investigation, briefing by Craig and the FEC’s Office of General 

Counsel, and a hearing, on February 7, 2012, the Commission voted 5-0 to find 

probable cause to believe that respondents had violated section 30114(b). JA 59, 

152; see 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(4)(A). 

As FECA requires, the Commission then attempted to correct the violations 

through informal methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion with 

respondents for at least 30 days. JA 59-60, 152; see 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(4)(A)(i). 

Unable to secure acceptable conciliation agreements, and having met each of the 

jurisdictional prerequisites to bringing suit, the Commission voted 5-0 to authorize 

this litigation. JA 60, 152; see 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(6). 

H. District Court Proceedings 

 1. The District Court’s Denial of Craig’s Motion to Dismiss 

The FEC filed this action on June 11, 2012, and Craig then moved to 

dismiss. (JA 3.) The district court denied Craig’s motion. (JA 126-49.) 

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15 

The district court concluded that Craig’s spending of campaign funds fell 

“squarely within the statutory definition of a personal use.” (JA 137.) As the court 

explained, Minnesota v. Craig “did not relate[] to his conduct as a legislator, but 

only actions undertaken in the privacy and anonymity of a restroom stall.” (JA 

138.) 

Craig argued that his legal expenses were caused by officeholder duties 

because “at the time of his arrest Senator Craig was engaged in official, Senatesponsored travel,” a claim Craig then described as his “sole, unremarkable claim.” 

(Defs.’ Reply to FEC’s Mem. in Opp’n to Defs.’ Mot. to Dismiss (“Craig MTD 

Reply”) at 2-3 (D.D.C. Docket No. 7).) The district court rejected this argument 

because, even assuming Craig’s travel to Washington, D.C. was an official duty, 

Craig’s “expenses were neither incurred at the time of the travel nor necessitated 

by the travel.” (JA 136.) 

Relying upon the FEC’s Explanation and Justification of its personal-use 

regulation, the district court also rejected the notion that any effect Craig’s arrest 

had on his reputation or status could justify his spending of campaign funds. (JA 

137-38.) Finally, the district court held that Craig’s violation of the personal-use 

ban was not excused by any FEC advisory opinions. (JA 139-48.) On the 

contrary, the court found that Craig had “disregard[ed] clear admonitory language” 

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16 

in the FEC’s Kolbe opinion, which indicated that his spending would be improper. 

(JA 127.) 

2. The District Court’s Grant of the FEC’s Motion for 

Summary Judgment 

Craig filed an Answer admitting the material facts of the Complaint. (JA 

150-53.) In particular, he admitted that the Craig Committee had paid at least 

$216,984 in campaign funds to Sutherland and Kelly & Jacobson for providing 

“legal services” to Craig in connection with his efforts to withdraw his guilty plea. 

(JA 57, 151.) In reliance on that admission, the FEC did not seek discovery of 

facts relating to the precise amount Craig converted to his personal use. (JA 269.) 

Also, in Craig’s discovery responses, he waived any “reliance upon advice of 

counsel” as a defense in this case. (JA 166.) 

The FEC then filed a motion for summary judgment, which the district court 

granted. (JA 10-51.) First, the court held Craig liable for violating the personaluse ban, in light of the analysis in the court’s prior ruling denying Craig’s motion 

to dismiss and the fact that Craig’s Answer admitted the material facts alleged in 

the Complaint. (JA 16-18.) The court evaluated additional facts that Craig 

submitted regarding his post-arrest consequences and motivations, but determined 

that they were irrelevant to his violation, even if true. (JA 18.) As the court 

explained, “[t]hese facts may illuminate why Senator Craig did what he did, but 

they do not change what he did” — his “arrest was personal” and that remains true 

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17 

“even if he either elected to plead guilty or to change course with his public image 

in mind.” (Id.) 

Second, the court determined that Craig spent $197,535 in violation of the 

statute. (JA 21-27.) Craig claimed that some portion of the $216,984 he admitted 

to spending on “legal services” in his Answer was spent on permissible public 

relations work and not legal services. (JA 21.) The court noted Craig’s previous 

failure to respond to the FEC’s request that he identify any amount paid for public 

relations work. (JA 24 n.8.) The court also noted that Craig had failed to keep 

“adequate records” on the issue. (JA 24.) Nevertheless, the court gave Craig “one 

more chance” to identify any permissible expenses in a post-hearing supplemental 

pleading. (Id.) Craig filed that supplemental pleading, but the court found that it 

“still failed to establish what portion” of the $216,984 was for public relations 

work; indeed, the court described Craig’s response to the “order entered for [his] 

own benefit” as “maddeningly cavalier.” (JA 25-27.) The court then performed its 

own “line-by-line analysis of defendants’ legal invoices” in connection with 

Minnesota v. Craig and excluded $19,449 from the amount Craig admitted in the 

Answer to reach the final amount in violation of $197,535. (JA 22; see also id. 41-

50.) 

 Third, the district court ordered Craig to disgorge the $197,535 to the United 

States Treasury. (JA 28.) Disgorgement was necessary, the court explained, to 

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18 

“deprive [Craig] of his ill-gotten gain.” (JA 31 (internal quotation marks 

omitted).) The court ordered Craig to disgorge his funds to the Treasury and not to 

his co-defendant, the Craig Committee. (JA 38-39.) The court explained that if 

the disgorged funds went to the Craig Committee, which is “essentially defunct,” 

Craig “would be solely responsible for the proper disposition of the funds” as the 

Committee’s treasurer and “only staff member.” (JA 39.) The court also pointed 

out that it would be an “empty gesture” for Craig to repay the Craig Committee, 

since the court could then order the Craig Committee to pay a civil penalty to the 

Treasury, resulting in the same outcome. (Id.) 

Finally, the district court imposed a civil penalty of $45,000 on Craig, but no 

penalty on the Craig Committee. (JA 38.) Under FECA, the court could have 

penalized Craig and the Craig Committee up to $197,535 each, since that is the 

amount they illegally spent. (JA 29 (citing 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(6)(B).) The 

Commission had requested a civil penalty of $70,000 each against Craig and the 

Craig Committee, for a total of $140,000. (JA 38.) 

Craig filed a notice of appeal on November 24, 2014. (JA 260.) 

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT 

This Court should affirm the district court’s ruling. For decades, the FEC 

has made clear to federal officeholders that they may not spend campaign funds on 

legal representation in proceedings involving allegations that do not relate to their 

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19 

officeholder duties. The Minnesota v. Craig litigation stemmed from allegations 

about then-Senator Craig’s disorderly conduct in an airport restroom, which plainly 

had nothing to do with his legislative work. The district court was therefore 

correct to conclude that Craig illegally spent nearly $200,000 in campaign funds on 

legal representation in that proceeding. 

 Craig now asserts a series of meritless arguments, some of which this Court 

should not even consider because he did not assert them below. The main 

contention Craig now makes regarding his liability — that his spending was legal 

because his arrest had consequences for his career that motivated him to try to 

withdraw his guilty plea — simply ignores consistent guidance from the FEC 

regarding the personal-use prohibition, including in the Explanation and 

Justification. Craig’s subjective motivations and the effects on his career are 

irrelevant. Minnesota v. Craig did not include allegations about such subsequent 

events, which in any case do not relate to Craig’s officeholder duties. Permitting 

campaign funds to be spent on any legal proceeding that an officeholder 

subjectively believes will affect his career would completely undermine FECA’s 

personal-use restriction. 

This Court should also affirm the district court’s order that Craig disgorge 

his illicit profits to the United States Treasury and pay a $45,000 civil penalty. 

Craig incorrectly claims the court abused its discretion by not ordering that the 

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20 

funds he misused be returned to his own control at his essentially defunct 

campaign committee. But courts commonly order disgorgement to the Treasury, 

including in situations like this one. Disgorgement does not require that funds end 

up in a certain place, but restores the status quo by ensuring that wrongdoers are 

deprived of their ill-gotten gains. That is precisely what the district court did here. 

The court’s $45,000 civil penalty was also well within its discretion. The 

penalty is less than 12 percent of the maximum penalties FECA authorized the 

court to impose against Craig and his committee. In fact, it is less than what Craig 

would have paid in interest had he simply borrowed the funds at an annual interest 

rate of four percent. The civil penalty punishes Craig’s offense while deterring 

him and others from future personal use of campaign funds. The penalty also 

reflects that Craig injured his donors, who thought they were supporting a 

campaign, and injured the public, which should be able to trust the integrity of 

federal officeholders and the campaign finance system. The penalty reflects the 

fact that Craig did not try in good faith to comply with the law. In arguing for no 

penalty, Craig leans heavily on an advice of counsel defense that he waived. In 

fact, Craig had ample reason to know his spending would be illegal, in particular 

because of repeated Senate Ethics Committee warnings. Yet he failed to ask the 

FEC for an advisory opinion, and he continued spending campaign funds on the 

effort to withdraw his guilty plea. 

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21 

 The district court’s ruling should be affirmed in all respects. 

ARGUMENT 

I. THE DISTRICT COURT CORRECTLY HELD THAT CRAIG 

CONVERTED CAMPAIGN FUNDS TO HIS PERSONAL USE 

A. Minnesota v. Craig Involved Allegations Relating to Craig’s 

Personal Misconduct and Not His Officeholder Duties 

This Court should affirm the district court holding that Craig violated 

FECA’s personal-use ban. See JA 16-21; 137-38; see also Hampton v. Vilsack,

685 F.3d 1096, 1099 (D.C. Cir. 2012) (“We review a grant of summary judgment 

de novo.”). In a 20-year-long line of advisory opinions, which Craig admits are 

“due significant deference” (Br. of Appellants (“Craig Br.”) at 29 (Docket No. 

1541674)), the Commission has explained that campaign funds may not be spent 

on legal expenses when the “allegations” of the legal proceeding are “not related” 

to officeholder duties. See supra p. 5. As the district court recognized, the 

allegations of Minnesota v. Craig “did not relate[] to [Craig’s] conduct as a 

legislator, but only actions undertaken in the privacy and anonymity of a restroom 

stall.” JA 138; see supra p. 8. Craig himself admitted as much to the Senate 

Ethics Committee just a month after his arrest. See supra pp. 8-9. And he again 

admits here to the “personal nature of the conduct underlying [his] legal 

expenditures.” (Craig Br. at 25.) That Craig was on an official trip when arrested 

did not change the personal nature of the allegations against him. See, e.g., supra

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22 

p. 15. His resulting legal fees were therefore an expense that existed “irrespective” 

of his “duties as a holder of Federal office.” 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b)(2).14 

B. Craig Has Abandoned the Main Liability Argument He Made to 

the District Court and Now Improperly Asserts a Meritless New 

Argument Regarding the Applicable Legal Standard That This 

Court Should Not Consider 

In his opening brief, Craig does not assert, and thus has waived, his primary 

argument to the district court: That his spending was allegedly legal because he 

was arrested while on an official trip. See supra p. 15; see Corson & Gruman Co. 

v. NLRB, 899 F.2d 47, 50 n.4 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (per curiam) (“[Defendant] never 

raised this issue in its opening brief before us and therefore waived the argument in 

this court.”). 

Craig now improperly asserts a new argument regarding the applicable legal 

standard, which also lacks merit, see infra pp. 24-25, but which this Court should 

not consider in the first place. Although this Court’s “review of the grant of 

summary judgment is de novo, this [C]ourt reviews only those arguments that were 

made in the district court, absent exceptional circumstances,” which Craig does not 

even claim exist here. Potter v. District of Columbia, 558 F.3d 542, 547 (D.C. Cir. 

 

14 Because Craig admitted the material facts of the Complaint, the district 

court’s ruling holding Craig liable and granting the FEC’s motion for summary 

judgment essentially incorporates the comprehensive analysis from the court’s 

ruling denying Craig’s motion to dismiss. (JA 16-17.) The court’s ruling was 

therefore not “cursory” or “truncated,” as Craig alleges. (Craig Br. at 24.) 

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23 

2009). Even if this Court were to review Craig’s forfeited arguments, the district 

court may be reversed on a forfeited ground only if it committed “plain error.” 

Salazar ex rel. Salazar v. District of Columbia, 602 F.3d 431, 434 (D.C. Cir. 

2010). The plain error standard would require Craig to establish that: (1) there was 

an error; (2) the error was plain; (3) the error affected “substantial rights”; and (4) 

the error “seriously affect[ed] the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial 

proceedings.” Long v. Howard Univ., 550 F.3d 21, 25-26 (D.C. Cir. 2008) 

(internal quotation marks omitted). However, Craig “hasn’t even attempted to 

show how his new legal theory satisfies the plain error standard,” a failure which 

“surely marks the end of the road for an argument for reversal not first presented to 

the district court.” Richison v. Ernest Grp., Inc., 634 F.3d 1123, 1130-31 (10th 

Cir. 2011). 

The district court applied the correct legal standard, as articulated in the 

FEC’s Explanation and Justification and advisory opinions. See supra pp. 14-17, 

21-22. Craig now claims that the district court should have applied what he calls a 

“reasonableness standard” (Craig Br. at 6, 21, 23, 24, 26-27), which he has never 

mentioned before in this case. Instead, Craig consistently urged the district court 

to determine if his spending was a permitted “ordinary and necessary expense[] 

incurred in connection with official duties” under 52 U.S.C. § 30114(a)(2). (See, 

e.g., Mem. in Supp. of Defs.’ Mot. to Dismiss (“Craig MTD Br.”) at 6 (“Because 

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24 

that official travel is part of [Craig’s] official duties, legal proceedings arising out 

of that travel are necessarily ‘in connection with’ Senator Craig’s official duties . . . 

. See 2 U.S.C. § [30114](a)(2).”) (D.D.C. Docket No. 3-1); Craig MTD Reply at 3 

(“The question presented here, then, is whether Senator Craig properly used his 

campaign funds ‘in connection with [his] duties as a holder of Federal office.’ 2 

U.S.C. § [30114](a)(2).”) Craig got his wish — the district court applied section 

30114(a)(2), but correctly determined that his spending was not a permitted 

“ordinary and necessary” expense, in addition to finding that it was prohibited 

personal use under section 30114(b). (JA 134-37; see also id. 136 n.7 (concluding 

that defendants “have failed to meet their own test”).) But now, in a remarkable 

about-face, Craig argues that the district court erred by applying the test he asked it 

to apply instead of his newly invented “reasonableness standard.” (Craig Br. at 27; 

see also id. at 19, 21, 26.) 

In any event, there is no “reasonableness standard.” Craig has simply 

invented it by conflating an officeholder’s evidentiary burden with the actual legal 

standard (see Craig Br. at 26-27), based on a line from the FEC’s Explanation and 

Justification: “If the candidate can reasonably show that the expenses at issue 

resulted from campaign or officeholder activities, the Commission will not 

consider the use to be personal use,” 60 Fed. Reg. at 7867 (emphases added). As 

the district court correctly concluded, Craig failed to show — reasonably or 

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otherwise — “any facts that demonstrate that the legal expenses incurred in the 

effort to reopen the criminal case ‘resulted from’ an officeholder activity.” (JA 

136 n.7 (quoting 60 Fed. Reg. at 7867) (emphasis added).) 

C. The District Court Correctly Found That It Is Irrelevant Whether 

Craig’s Personal Offense Resulted in Negative Consequences That 

Motivated Him to Try to Withdraw His Guilty Plea 

 While Craig no longer claims that his official travel justified his 

expenditures, he does now assert a different meritless argument: He claims he did 

not violate FECA because his personal offense had consequences for his career 

that motivated him to try to withdraw his guilty plea. (Craig Br. at 28-31.) The 

district court, however, properly rejected that assertion too. (JA 18, 20, 138.) As it 

explained in both of its opinions, because the allegations of Minnesota v. Craig

related to Craig’s personal misconduct, it “does not matter” if his “conviction may 

have done more harm to the Senator’s reputation than it would have in the case of 

some less prominent individual” or if his “decision to withdraw the guilty plea was 

motivated by political considerations.” (JA 138; see also JA 18 (“[T]he Senator’s 

arrest was personal . . . even if he either elected to plead guilty or to change course 

with his public image in mind.”), JA 20 (finding it immaterial whether “Senator 

Craig’s challenge to his plea stemmed from his desire to counter allegations that he 

believed would be damaging to his public stature as a United States Senator and 

his viability as a future candidate” (internal quotation marks omitted).) In so 

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holding, the district court accepted the interpretive guidance in the FEC’s 

Explanation and Justification, which warns that “legal expenses will not be treated 

as though they are . . . officeholder related merely because the underlying legal 

proceedings have some impact on the . . . officeholder’s status” — such as with 

“charges of driving under the influence of alcohol.” 60 Fed. Reg. at 7868 

(emphases added); see JA 137-38.15

 Craig does not contest that the FEC’s regulation and Explanation and 

Justification are “consistent with the statute,” as the district court found. (JA 138.) 

Nor could he do so, given that Congress codified the FEC’s regulation in 2002. 

See supra p. 4. Instead Craig argues, in direct contradiction to the Commission’s 

consistent interpretation of the statute, that his spending of campaign funds was 

legal due to a litany of impacts his offense allegedly had on his officeholder status. 

Craig asserts that he pled guilty in hopes of hiding his arrest, but that the media 

discovered it anyway, leading to negative coverage as well as professional and 

personal consequences that motivated him to try to withdraw the plea. (Craig Br. 

at 14-16, 18, 28-30.) For two reasons, these alleged facts are all beside the point. 

 

15 By properly finding that the facts Craig presented regarding his post-offense 

consequences and motivations are immaterial, the district court did not 

“disregard[]” or “refuse to weigh” them, as Craig repeatedly asserts. (See, e.g., 

Craig Br. at 23-24.) 

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1. The Post-Offense Consequences and Craig’s Subjective 

Motivations Were Not at Issue in His Legal Proceedings 

The consequences that Craig’s criminal proceeding had on his professional 

life are irrelevant because the proceeding did not involve allegations about any of 

those things. See supra pp. 5, 8. Craig contends that the district court focused too 

much on the “misdemeanor charge,” instead of “subsequent events.” (Craig Br. at 

24.) None of those subsequent events, however, changed the personal nature of the 

misdemeanor charge — including Craig’s decision to attempt to withdraw his 

guilty plea. In fact, Craig himself has acknowledged in this litigation that such 

“collateral attacks on criminal convictions are intertwined with both the original 

criminal proceedings and the underlying incident giving rise to the criminal 

proceedings.” (Craig MTD Reply at 16 (D.D.C. Docket No. 16).) 

The allegations of Minnesota v. Craig likewise did not concern the media’s 

“public disclosure” of his offense, which Craig claims also justifies his 

expenditures. (Craig Br. at 21, 24, 28-29.) This is essentially an argument that 

Craig should have been allowed to use his supporters’ money to try to undo his 

guilty plea because he failed to hide it from them and other members of the public. 

If adopted, such a broad standard would permit an officeholder to use campaign 

funds to defend against any criminal allegation of personal wrongdoing — no 

matter how serious — so long as it was discovered, which would frequently occur 

given the public’s justified scrutiny of its elected officials. 

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2. The Post-Offense Consequences and Craig’s Subjective 

Motivations Were Not Officeholder “Duties” 

The district court was also correct to dismiss the relevance of the 

“subsequent events” related to Craig’s offense because none of those events were 

Craig’s officeholder “duties.” As the court pointed out, section 30114(b)(2) 

“defines an expense as personal if it would exist irrespective of the officeholder’s 

duties, not his status.” (JA 138 (emphases added).) 

Craig recognized the importance of this requirement before the district court, 

where he stressed that his travel on the day of his arrest was a required duty of his 

office. (See, e.g., Craig MTD Br. at 6 (“Because that official travel is part of his 

official duties, legal proceedings arising out of that travel are necessarily ‘in 

connection with’ Senator Craig’s official duties”) (D.D.C. Docket No. 3-1).) But 

now that Craig claims that his expenses relate to the consequences of his arrest — 

such as his guilty plea and reasons for attempting to withdraw it — he does not 

even try to argue that any of those things constitute officeholder “duties.” Indeed, 

it is beyond dispute that hiding an arrest and then trying to undo its negative 

consequences once caught is not a duty of any office. 

The statute’s “duties” requirement also undermines Craig’s contention that 

his subjective motivations for attempting to withdraw his guilty plea are relevant. 

He urges the Court to ignore what he admits is the “personal nature of the conduct 

underlying the legal expenditures” and to focus on “[t]he impetus for [his] 

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expending committee funds.” (Craig Br. at 25 (emphasis added).) If the analysis 

hinged on subjective motivation, however, it would allow officeholders to 

transform every expense of a “personal nature” into one payable with campaign 

funds. For example, it would allow members of Congress to use campaign funds 

to buy homes in Washington, D.C. because they wanted to live near work. But see

11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1)(i) (E) (home mortgage payments are always personal use). 

The correct analysis is therefore an objective one that hinges on the “personal 

nature” of the allegations. See supra p. 5. 

Finally, even if the nature of Craig’s motivations could determine whether 

his use of campaign funds was legal, Craig would fail that test too. Craig now 

claims that he moved to withdraw his guilty plea so that he could stay in office. 

(Craig Br. at 30.) However, Craig announced his resignation only nine days 

before filing that motion, and at that time he said that he was challenging his 

conviction anyway because “his name is important[.]” See supra p. 9. Craig’s 

personal motivations seem to be confirmed by his chief of staff, who submitted 

testimony in this case stating that Craig had sought to withdraw his plea for the 

purpose of “vindicating him[self] personally and professionally.” (JA 223.)16 And 

 

16 The FEC challenged the admissibility of this testimony since it contains 

hearsay (FEC’s Resp. to Defs.’ Statement of Alleged Material Facts in Dispute at 

5-6, ¶¶ 15, 18 (D.D.C. Docket No. 21)), but the district court did not address that 

challenge because the alleged facts are immaterial (see JA 18). 

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during administrative proceedings before the FEC, Craig’s attorney candidly 

admitted that Craig “pled guilty to that [charge] for his own personal reasons.” 

(FEC Exh. B to Opp’n to Mot. to Dismiss at 17 (D.D.C. Docket No. 5-2).) Of 

course, the difficulties involved in such a subjective analysis show why it is not the 

correct standard here. 

D. The District Court’s Ruling Is Consistent with the FEC Advisory 

Opinions on Which Craig Now Relies 

The district court correctly found that five FEC advisory opinions Craig 

cited below did not give him safe harbor from prosecution under 52 U.S.C. 

§ 30108(c), since each was materially distinguishable and Craig did not actually 

rely upon them at the time his campaign funds were spent. (JA 20-21, 139-48.) 

Here, Craig has given up on the safe harbor. (Craig Br. at 29 n.8.) He also no 

longer cites three of the five advisory opinions that he urged were materially 

indistinguishable to the district court. (See JA 146-48 (dismissing Craig’s 

argument that the McDermott, Boehner, and Cunningham advisory opinions are 

relevant to this case).) And one advisory opinion upon which Craig still relies is 

distinguishable because it involves a legal proceeding caused by a person’s 

candidacy, not his personal behavior. (Craig Br. at 12 (citing AO 2013-11 

(Miller), 2013 WL 6022101).) In Miller, which the district court found “has no 

bearing on defendants’ case,” media entities sued a candidate to obtain and 

publicize his employment records because he was a candidate. (JA 20.) As a 

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result, “‘the lawsuit would not have existed irrespective of Miller’s campaign.’” 

(Id. (quoting Miller, 2013 WL 6022101, at *2).) 

Craig now relies primarily upon two advisory opinions he has never cited 

before in this litigation (see Craig Br. at 8 (citing AO 1996-24 (Cooley), 1996 WL 

419823 (June 27, 1996); AO 2001-09 (Kerrey), 2001 WL 844352 (July 17, 2001)) 

and another that he admitted to the district court is “not precisely on point” (Craig 

MTD Reply at 22 n.9 (citing AO 1997-12 (Costello), 1997 WL 529598 (Aug. 15, 

1997) (D.D.C. Docket No. 7))). Nevertheless, Craig newly asserts that these 

advisory opinions show that his use of campaign funds “falls squarely within the 

bounds of the personal use standard established by the FEC.” (Craig Br. at 29 n.8.) 

They do not. The advisory opinions that Craig cites are distinguishable because 

they involve expenses not for legal proceedings, but for public relations work, 

whether performed by public relations professionals or attorneys. See Costello, 

1997 WL 529598, at *3; AO 1998-01 (Hilliard), 1998 WL 108618, at *3-4 (Feb. 

27, 1998); Kerrey, 2001 WL 844352, at *2-4; AO 2008-07 (Vitter), 2008 WL 

4265321, at *4 (Sept. 9, 2008). As these opinions explain, officeholders “may 

receive heightened scrutiny and attention in the news media” because they are 

officeholders. Vitter, 2008 WL 4265321, at *4 (internal quotation marks omitted). 

They may therefore use campaign funds “to respond to media allegations that 

result from this elevated scrutiny,” regardless of what the media’s scrutiny is 

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about. (Id.) Craig calls the distinction between these permissible expenses and his 

impermissible legal expenses “arbitrary” (Craig Br. at 26 n.6), but the facts of this 

case illustrate the simple principle involved: Craig’s elevated media scrutiny was 

caused by his being an officeholder. His arrest for disorderly conduct was not. 

As a result, the Commission has allowed campaign funds to be used for, 

among other things, “legal expenses for preparing press releases and conducting 

press conferences,” Costello, 1997 WL 529598, at *5; “legal expenses for dealing 

with, and responding to, the press,” Hilliard, 1998 WL 108618, at *4; “media 

consulting expenses incurred as a result of media inquiries,” Kerrey, 2001 WL 

844352, at *1; and expenses for when “[c]ounsel consulted with . . . [a] public 

relations professional regarding press management and press statements,” Vitter, 

2008 WL 4265321, at *4.17 

In this case, the $197,535 that the district court found was spent in violation 

of FECA does not include money that Craig directed be paid to public relations 

professionals or attorneys for the purpose of responding to the media, as a result of 

efforts to exclude such expenses by the FEC at the administrative stage and by the 

 

17 Craig protests that the expenses approved in Kerrey and Miller involved 

individuals who were no longer in office or candidates. (Craig Br. at 30.) The 

statute, however, does not require a person to be a candidate or officeholder at the 

time expenses are incurred for those expenses to be related to officeholder duties. 

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district court at the summary judgment stage of this case. See supra pp. 13-14, 17. 

The advisory opinions Craig cites therefore offer him no help. 

* * * 

Because Craig’s legal expenses existed irrespective of his officeholder 

duties, this Court should affirm the district court’s holding that appellants violated 

52 U.S.C. § 30114(b). 

II. THE DISTRICT COURT DID NOT ABUSE ITS DISCRETION BY 

ORDERING CRAIG TO DISGORGE THE PROCEEDS OF HIS 

WRONGDOING TO THE UNITED STATES TREASURY AND PAY 

A CIVIL PENALTY 

 

This Court should also affirm the district court’s order of remedies for 

Craig’s violation. District courts have the “inherent equitable power[]” to order 

disgorgement to remedy unjust enrichment, unless “otherwise provided by statute.” 

SEC v. First City Fin. Corp., 890 F.2d 1215, 1230 (D.C. Cir. 1989) (internal 

quotation marks omitted). FECA provides that district courts may “grant a 

permanent or temporary injunction, restraining order, or other order, including a 

civil penalty which does not exceed the greater of [$7,500] or an amount equal to 

any contribution or expenditure involved” in the violation. 52 U.S.C. 

§ 30109(a)(6)(B); see 11 C.F.R. § 111.24(a)(1). 

 Exercising its discretion under this broad authority, the district court ordered 

Craig to disgorge the $197,535 it determined he illegally spent, to “deprive the 

wrongdoer of his ill-gotten gain.” (JA 31 (internal quotation marks omitted).) The 

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court then imposed a $45,000 civil penalty against Craig in part to punish his 

offense and to “deter not only future misconduct by these defendants, but also the 

misappropriation of campaign funds by others.” (JA 36.) In selecting these 

remedies, the district court did not abuse its discretion. See SEC v. Whittemore, 

659 F.3d 1, 9 (D.C. Cir. 2011) (“[F]ashioning a disgorgement remedy” is reviewed 

for “abuse of discretion.”); FEC v. Furgatch, 869 F.2d 1256, 1258 (9th Cir. 1989) 

(“The district court’s assessment of a civil penalty is reviewed for an abuse of 

discretion.”). 

A. The District Court Did Not Abuse Its Discretion by Ordering 

Craig to Disgorge the Funds He Converted to the U.S. Treasury 

Craig does not contest that the district court had the authority to require him 

to disgorge the funds he converted. Yet he untimely and incorrectly asserts that the 

court was then required to direct those funds to the Craig Committee, which he 

controls, instead of to the U.S. Treasury. (Craig Br. at 31-42.) 

1. Craig Has Forfeited His Objection to the Destination of His 

Disgorged Funds by Failing to Raise It in the District Court 

This Court should disregard Craig’s meritless contention because he failed 

to raise it before the district court. See supra pp. 22-23 (arguments not made to the 

district court are generally forfeited). If reviewed, a forfeited argument cannot be a 

ground for reversal unless the district court committed plain error. See id. Craig 

had ample opportunity before the district court to object to any disgorgement going 

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35 

to the Treasury. The FEC argued in its opening summary judgment brief that the 

district court should order any disgorged funds to the Craig Committee, or 

“[a]lternatively, the Court could order that the converted funds be disgorged to the 

United States Treasury.” (FEC Mem. in Supp. of Its Mot. for Summ. J. at 17 & 

n.12 (pointing out that there were “substantial reasons for doing so”) (D.D.C. 

Docket No. 16); see also JA 38 n.23 (“[T]he FEC proposed in the alternative that 

the funds be paid to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.”).18 In response, Craig 

did not object to any disgorged funds going to the Treasury, either in his 

responsive brief (see generally Craig SJ Opp’n (D.D.C. Docket No. 19)) or during 

the court’s summary judgment hearing, despite defense counsel’s extended 

discussion with the court about disgorgement (JA 291-313). 

2. The District Court Reasonably Chose Not to Order Craig to 

Disgorge Funds to the Essentially Defunct Craig 

Committee, Which Craig Controls 

 Once a district court has ordered disgorgement, “it remains within the 

court’s discretion to determine how and to whom the money will be distributed, 

and the district court’s distribution plan will not be disturbed on appeal unless that 

discretion has been abused.” SEC v. Fischbach Corp., 133 F.3d 170, 175 (2d Cir. 

1997). Craig acknowledges that “courts have ordered disgorgement of illegal 

 

18 The court’s disgorgement order therefore was not “issued counter to the 

FEC’s request,” as Craig claims. (Craig Br. at 31.) 

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profits to the U.S. Treasury.” (Craig Br. at 35 n.10.) Indeed, they have. See, e.g., 

United States v. Sussman, 709 F.3d 155, 164 (3d Cir. 2013) (affirming order that 

excess funds the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recovered from defendants 

“shall be deposited to the U.S. Treasury as equitable disgorgement”); Official 

Comm. of Unsecured Creditors of WorldCom, Inc. v. SEC, 467 F.3d 73, 81 (2d Cir. 

2006) (“[I]f the district court determines that no party is entitled to receive the 

disgorged profits, they will be paid to the United States Treasury.”); SEC v. 

Cavanagh, 445 F.3d 105, 117 (2d Cir. 2006) (“Upon awarding disgorgement, a 

district court may exercise its discretion to direct the money toward victim 

compensation or to the United States Treasury.”); Fischbach Corp., 133 F.3d at 

171, 175-77 (affirming order directing $4 million in disgorged funds “to the United 

States Treasury”); FTC v. Febre, 128 F.3d 530, 537 (7th Cir. 1997) (“To ensure 

that defendants are not unjustly enriched by retaining some of their unlawful 

proceeds . . . the FTC often requests orders directing equitable disgorgement of the 

excess money to the United States Treasury.”); SEC v. Blavin, 760 F.2d 706, 713 

(6th Cir. 1985) (rejecting constitutional challenge to court’s order to disgorge 

funds to the Treasury as “based on the misguided belief that disgorgement is a 

form of restitution”); see also SEC v. Credit Suisse First Boston Corp., No. 02-

0090, 2002 WL 479836, at *2 (D.D.C. Jan. 29, 2002) (“[P]ayment of the 

disgorgement shall be made to the U.S. Treasury.”); SEC v. Brody, No. 99-2579, 

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37 

1999 WL 1425401, at *2 (D.D.C. Oct. 1, 1999) (ordering defendant to “pay a total 

of $87,558.06, representing disgorgement of his gains . . . to the United States 

Treasury”); SEC v. Stern, No. 91-2459, 1993 WL 13380, at *1 (D.D.C. Jan. 11, 

1993) (“Stern shall disgorge $7,000, including prejudgment interest, into the 

Treasury of the United States.”).19 

 As some of the cited cases also state, a district court may in the alternative 

order that disgorged funds be paid as restitution to injured parties. But “restoration 

is not required,” and in certain cases it may be impracticable or otherwise 

inappropriate. James M. Fischer, Understanding Remedies § 51 (2d ed. 2006) 

(citing SEC v. Lorin, 869 F. Supp. 1117, 1129 (S.D.N.Y. 1994)); see also, e.g.,

Fischbach Corp., 133 F.3d at 174-77. 

In this case, the district court had valid reasons for exercising its discretion 

to direct Craig’s disgorgement to the Treasury instead of the Craig Committee. 

First, giving the disgorged funds to the Craig Committee would have essentially 

returned them to Craig’s control. Craig is the “only staff member” for the 

“essentially defunct” Craig Committee, which is now “little more than [his] alterego.” (JA 39.) The FEC requires that the Craig Committee continue to exist for 

purposes of this litigation, but it has virtually no funds, Craig has not run for office 

 

19 In neither Fischbach nor any other cited case did the court’s decision to 

order disgorgement to the Treasury turn on the severity of the offense, as Craig 

incorrectly suggests. (Craig Br. at 35 n.10.) 

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38 

since his resignation in 2009, and he has no stated plans to run in the future. See 

supra pp. 7-8. The Craig Committee had a treasurer, but she resigned during this 

litigation, and Craig then appointed himself treasurer. Id. at 7. As a result, if the 

disgorged funds went to the Craig Committee, Craig “would be solely responsible 

for the proper disposition of the funds,” which he already misused, at a defunct 

campaign committee without a campaign to spend the money on. (JA 39.) 

Second, ordering Craig’s disgorgement to the Craig Committee would have 

been nothing more than an “empty gesture,” because the district court could have 

then ordered the Craig Committee to pay those funds as a civil penalty to the 

Treasury anyway. (JA 39.) Craig does not contest this. But rather than do that, 

the court eliminated the intermediary by ordering Craig’s disgorgement directly to 

the Treasury, as the court was permitted to do.20

 These factors distinguish this case from the FEC administrative enforcement 

matters that Craig cites. (Craig Br. at 38-39.) Those matters all involved refunds 

to committees that unlike the Craig Committee (1) had a current treasurer who was 

not also the person who had spent campaign funds on his or her personal use; and 

(2) were tied to candidates who could have spent refunded amounts on later 

 

20 Accordingly, the passage from oral argument that Craig cites (Craig Br. at 

33) does not show that the court sought to punish Craig. It shows the court’s 

recognition that disgorgement to the Craig Committee would needlessly treat it as 

“just a pass through” since the Court could then penalize the otherwise broke Craig 

Committee. 

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39 

campaigns, because they either did run again and remained in office, later won 

office, or had some likelihood of mounting campaigns in the future.21 In any 

event, the FEC’s choices in the context of administrative conciliation negotiations 

do not constrain the district court’s authority. The court had broad discretion to 

choose among reasonable remedies. 

3. The Remedy of Disgorgement Required Craig to Give Up 

His Ill-Gotten Gains, But It Did Not Require That Those 

Funds Be Returned to the Craig Committee 

Craig incorrectly claims that the district court failed to “actually effect 

disgorgement” by not directing Craig’s misused funds to the Craig Committee. 

(Craig Br. at 33.) On the contrary, the remedy of disgorgement in and of itself 

does not control where the misused funds go once forfeited. Disgorgement is 

simply the “act of giving up something (such as profits illegally obtained) on 

 

21 See In re Durkee Conciliation Agreement at ¶¶ IV.6-8, VI.3 (Dec. 12, 2014), 

http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/15044365117.pdf; In re McCrosson, Jr.

Conciliation Agreement at ¶¶ IV.2, 6, 9, VI.2 (Nov. 8, 2012), http:// 

eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/14044362854.pdf; In re Sohn Conciliation Agreement at 

¶¶ IV.4, VI.3 (July 21, 2010), http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/ 

10044274264.pdf; In re Istook Conciliation Agreement at ¶¶ IV.3, VI (Sept. 25, 

2008), http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/28044212385.pdf; In re Free Conciliation 

Agreement at ¶¶ IV.2, V.1 (Sept. 23, 2008), http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/ 

28044212013.pdf; In re Meeks Conciliation Agreement at ¶¶ IV.2, V.5 (Feb. 4, 

2008), http://eqs.fec.gov/eqsdocsMUR/000EC959.pdf; see also FEC Candidate 

and Committee Viewer, http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/ 

candcmte_info.shtml (summarized financial data for the committees involved in 

the preceding matters can be found at this URL by searching for the committee’s 

name). 

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40 

demand or by legal compulsion.” Black’s Law Dictionary 209 (2d Pocket Ed. 

2001). It is designed “to make sure that wrongdoers will not profit from their 

wrongdoing.” Whittemore, 691 F. Supp. 2d at 204 (internal quotation marks 

omitted). And it achieves that goal by restoring “the defendant to the status quo by 

stripping him of the gains he unjustly obtained by his misconduct.” See Fischer, 

Understanding Remedies § 51. 

Where disgorged funds go is a “distinctly secondary” question. Fischbach 

Corp., 133 F.3d at 175. Disgorgement “does not aim to compensate the victims of 

the wrongful acts, as restitution does.” Fischer, Understanding Remedies § 51 

(internal quotation marks omitted). Instead, it is usually sought by “public 

enforcement agencies,” like the FEC, to obtain “public redress” for statutory 

violations. Id. A district court therefore may order disgorgement regardless of 

whether the funds will then return to their original source. See, e.g., Fischbach 

Corp., 133 F.3d at 176 (“[A] district court may order disgorgement regardless of 

whether the disgorged funds will be paid to [defrauded] investors as restitution.”); 

Blavin, 760 F.2d at 713 (“Once the [SEC] has established that a defendant has 

violated the securities laws, the district court possesses the equitable power to grant 

disgorgement without inquiring whether, or to what extent, identifiable private 

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41 

parties have been damaged by [defendant’s] fraud.”).22 Thus, solely through taking 

funds from Craig, the district court here properly restored the status quo to the 

extent the remedy of disgorgement requires. 

4. The District Court’s Disgorgement Order Was Not 

Punitive, But FECA Would Authorize It Even if It Was 

 The district court’s disgorgement order merely restored the status quo, 

placing Craig in a position that was certainly no worse than if he had never 

violated the law in the first place. But even if the disgorgement order had been 

punitive, it would not have violated FECA, as Craig argues. (Craig Br. at 35-36.) 

 FECA allows a district court to impose punitive remedies. To remedy a 

violation, a court may, among other things, issue any “other order, including a civil 

penalty.” 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(6)(B). A civil penalty is, of course, punitive. Tull 

v. United States, 481 U.S. 412, 422 (1987). Craig gives no reason why, if an 

“other order” that is a civil penalty can be punitive, an “other order” that sends his 

disgorged funds to the Treasury cannot. Craig relies instead on language from a 

separate provision of FECA that is irrelevant because it does not govern the district 

court’s authority: 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(6)(A). (See Craig Br. at 36.) That section 

 

22 Consistent with these principles, the FEC stressed to the district court at oral 

argument that “the importance of disgorgement is just that Mr. Craig does not have 

[the funds] as a result of his violation. Where it goes subsequent to that is 

important, but slightly less important than the fact that Mr. Craig should not profit 

from his violation.” (JA 274). 

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states that if the FEC is “unable to correct or prevent” a FECA violation during its 

administrative process, it may then sue the respondent. 52 U.S.C. 

§ 30109(a)(6)(A). Craig contends that the word “correct” limits the district court 

to only equitable remedies. (Craig Br. at 35-36.) That word, however, does not 

even limit the FEC to equitable remedies, let alone the district court. The same 

subsection of FECA that Craig cites explicitly authorizes the FEC to “correct” 

FECA violations by requiring punitive civil penalties. See 52 U.S.C. 

§ 30109(a)(4)(A)(i) (FEC may “correct or prevent” FECA violations by entering 

into a conciliation agreement); id. § 30109(a)(5)(A) (a conciliation agreement may 

require respondent to “pay a civil penalty”). 

5. The Disgorgement Order Did Not Violate the First 

Amendment 

 Finally, Craig wrongly claims that the First Amendment interests of the 

donors whose funds he converted to his personal use now require that the funds be 

sent back to the Craig Committee, where he would again control them. (Craig Br. 

at 39-42.) However, any injury — First Amendment or otherwise — that Craig’s 

donors have suffered is Craig’s fault. As the district court recognized, Craig’s 

illegal use of their donations harmed them because they “presumably intended that 

their donations be used for lawful, campaign-related purposes.” (JA 36.) In light 

of that illegal use, there is no reason to believe that any of those donors would now 

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43 

want Craig to remain in control of their money. The record contains no such 

evidence. 

 Contrary to Craig’s claim, the disgorgement order also does not violate 

Craig’s or the Craig Committee’s First Amendment rights. The order is not a “de 

facto expenditure limitation.” (Craig Br. at 22). An actual expenditure limitation 

is an “outright ban on . . . political speech.” Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310, 

361 (2010). The court’s order is a permissible remedy for the illegal conversion of 

money. It bans no speech; Craig and his committee are free to raise contributions 

and to (legally) spend those contributions without limit. 

 In fact, Craig’s First Amendment argument proves far too much: If 

disgorgement orders violate the First Amendment simply by depriving lawbreaking campaign committees of funds, then so must all civil penalties, since they 

do the same thing. In fact, under Craig’s theory, every civil penalty that the FEC 

and the courts have imposed on candidates and political committees for violating 

FECA in the last four decades would be unconstitutional. The First Amendment, 

however, does not bar the enforcement of FECA. Cf. Nat’l Soc’y of Prof’l Eng’rs 

v. United States, 435 U.S. 679, 697 (1978) (explaining that although “an injunction 

against price fixing abridges the freedom of businessmen to talk to one another 

about prices,” the First Amendment does not make it impossible to enforce the 

antitrust laws). 

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44 

B. The District Court Did Not Abuse Its Discretion by Ordering 

Craig to Pay a Civil Penalty That Was Less Than 12 Percent of 

the Amount the Court Could Have Ordered Defendants to Pay 

 FECA authorized the district court to impose a civil penalty on each 

defendant of up to the amount in violation, or a total of $395,070. See supra p. 18. 

The FEC requested a total of $140,000 in penalties. Id. Although the district court 

did not find that any of the civil penalty factors it evaluated weighed against a 

penalty, the court ultimately decided not to fine the Craig Committee and to fine 

Craig only $45,000 — less than 12 percent of the overall statutory maximum. (JA 

37-38.) Yet Craig claims that any civil penalty would have been an abuse of the 

court’s discretion. (Craig Br. at 42.) However, that would have failed to promote 

any of the important civil penalty interests the district court identified and it would 

have essentially given Craig the benefit of a long-term interest free loan, rather 

than an incentive to comply with the law.23

 1. The Civil Penalty Is Necessary to Punish Craig’s Offense 

The district court appropriately assessed its civil penalty in part to punish 

Craig’s offense. (JA 36.) See Gabelli v. SEC, --- U.S. ---, 133 S. Ct. 1216, 1223 

 

23 The district court properly found that several factors are relevant to a court’s 

decision to impose a FECA civil penalty: (1) punishment; (2) deterrence; (3) good 

or bad faith; (4) ability to pay; (5) injury to the public; (6) injury to private 

individuals; and (7) vindicating the authority of the responsible agency. (JA 32-

37.) The court, therefore, did not simply “adopt[] a four-factor test used” in 

Furgatch, as Craig claims. (Craig Br. at 43.) Craig does not challenge the 

relevance of any of the district court’s factors. 

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45 

(2013) (explaining that civil penalties “punish, and label defendants wrongdoers”). 

Absent a civil penalty, Craig’s offense would go unpunished, since disgorgement 

requires only that he return the funds he misused. See Tull, 481 U.S. at 422 

(explaining that penalties are “intended to punish culpable individuals,” not to 

“restore the status quo”). Even worse, disgorgement and no civil penalty could 

allow Craig to profit from his offense, since in effect he would have had the benefit 

of an interest-free loan of $197,535 in campaign funds. 

2. The Civil Penalty Is Necessary to Deter Craig and Others 

from Future Offenses 

The district court also recognized that it was necessary to impose a 

significant civil penalty to deter future personal-use violations. See SEC v. One or 

More Unknown Traders, 825 F. Supp. 2d 26, 33 (D.D.C. 2010) (“The purpose of a 

civil penalty is to . . . deter future violations.”). The need for deterrence here is 

particularly great given the vast amounts of money that are contributed to 

campaign committees. In the 2012 election cycle alone, presidential and 

congressional candidates received more than $3.25 billion. Press Release, FEC, 

FEC Summarizes Campaign Activity of the 2011-2012 Election Cycle (Mar. 27, 

2014).24 More than $216 million of those funds remained unspent after the 

 

24 See http://www.fec.gov/press/press2013/20130419_2012-24mSummary.shtml. 

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46 

election, see id., creating significant opportunity and temptation for those in 

control of campaign funds to misuse them. 

A civil penalty lower than $45,000 would not act as a sufficient deterrent. 

To be effective, a civil penalty must be large enough so that potential offenders 

will not regard it as “nothing more than an acceptable cost of violation.” United 

States v. ITT Cont’l Baking Co., 420 U.S. 223, 231 (1975). If too low, Craig’s 

penalty would become functionally equivalent to low interest on a loan of 

campaign funds. (See JA 38.) As it is, since $45,000 is 22.8% of $197,535, the 

district court imposed a penalty that is lower than the interest on a loan of the 

amount in violation taken at an annual rate of four percent over the relevant time 

period. 

 The need for a civil penalty was not obviated by the “severe professional and 

personal consequences” Craig states he suffered as a result of his arrest for 

disorderly conduct. (Craig Br. at 22, 42.) The district court’s civil penalty serves 

to deter not that offense, but his personal use of campaign funds. Additionally, as 

the district court explained, a penalty is needed here not only to deter future 

misconduct by Craig, but also by others. (JA 36.) If courts declined to impose 

sanctions on this ground, as Craig urges, it would essentially give free rein to 

scandal-plagued officeholders to raid their campaign accounts for legal fees on 

their way out of office. 

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 The need for a civil penalty has also not been eliminated because Craig 

allegedly “continues to incur legal costs in this matter.” (Craig Br. at 42.) Craig 

provides no citation to the record for that claim. Even if true, if paying legal fees 

in one case to contest liability for failing to pay them in another were the only 

“penalty,” it would fail to deter personal use and encourage litigation over 

conciliation, since a roll-of-the-dice in court would never result in a civil penalty.25 

3. The Civil Penalty Is Necessary to Reflect Craig’s Lack of 

Good Faith Effort to Avoid a Clear Violation of FECA 

 The district court correctly found that Craig’s contentions that he attempted 

to comply with FECA in good faith were “largely unavailing.” (JA 33.) At the 

time Craig started to spend campaign funds on Minnesota v. Craig on October 29, 

2007, there should have been no question in his mind that his spending would be 

illegal. He was aware of the FEC’s Kolbe advisory opinion, which contains “clear 

admonitory language” stating that campaign funds may not be used for legal 

expenses in proceedings regarding allegations not relating to officeholder duties. 

 

25 In both of the cases that Craig cites (Craig Br. at 42), the district court 

imposed a civil penalty on the defendant despite its legal costs. In FEC v. Gus 

Savage for Congress ’82 Committee, the court ordered the defendant to pay a 

$5,000 civil penalty even though he had hired an attorney and accountant. 606 F. 

Supp. 541, 542, 545 & n.8 (N.D. Ill. 1985). In FEC v. National Education 

Association, the district court penalized the NEA by requiring it to pay for a courtapproved plan to refund contributions to its members, despite the fact that the NEA 

presumably also incurred legal fees in the case. 457 F. Supp. 1102, 1108, 1112 

(D.D.C. 1978). 

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See supra pp. 5, 10, 15-16. And Craig had just told the Senate Ethics Committee 

one month earlier that he was arrested for “purely personal conduct unrelated to the 

performance of official Senate duties.” Id. pp. 8-9. 

Craig argues that the Vitter advisory opinion shows that the personal-use 

standard was “ambiguous” and thus makes it “unreasonable” to punish him. (Craig 

Br. at 43.) However, the FEC did not issue Vitter until 11 months after Craig 

started to illegally spend campaign funds in October 2007, and so it could not have 

affected his decision making. See Vitter, 2008 WL 4265321. In any event, in the 

Vitter opinion, the FEC did not approve Senator Vitter’s request to use campaign 

funds to pay his legal expenses arising out of a proceeding that related to an 

alleged personal indiscretion, see 2008 WL 4265321, at *4, ¶ 3, and so the routine 

debate among the FEC’s Commissioners leading up to that opinion (see Craig Br. 

at 10-11) could not have created any ambiguity for Craig, especially in light of his 

knowledge of Kolbe. 

 If Craig still had any doubt, he could have asked the FEC for an advisory 

opinion and received a written response in 60 days or less. See supra p. 6. But 

Craig did not — “forgo[ing] what would have been a significant demonstration of 

good faith.” (JA 35.) Even worse, Craig admitted to the district court that he did 

not seek an advisory opinion because he suspected that the FEC would say no to 

his spending, see supra p. 10, an understandable fear given the Commission’s 

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49 

consistent application of section 30114(b) to legal expenses for allegations of 

personal wrongdoing, see supra p. 5. Instead, Craig proceeded to spend 

approximately $200,000 in campaign funds. In effect, he appears to have gambled 

that he would not be pursued for his violation, or if he were, that he would manage 

to prevail in court. This conduct may reflect hope in Grace Hopper’s famous 

observation that it is often easier to seek forgiveness than permission. But it does 

not reflect much effort to comply with federal law. 

Craig continued to spend an additional $55,000 in campaign funds after 

being warned twice by the Senate Ethics Committee that some portion of his 

Minnesota v. Craig expenses “may not be deemed to have been incurred in 

connection with your official duties, either by the Committee or by the Federal 

Election Commission.” See supra pp. 11-13. These warnings should have, at the 

very least, given someone with concern for following the law some pause — 

especially given that the Senate’s personal-use ban was the inspiration for FECA’s, 

see supra pp. 2-3, and given that the Senate Ethics Committee is a “bipartisan” 

entity, as Craig points out (Craig Br. at 44 n.20). Craig’s quibbles about the 

specificity of the Senate Ethics Committee’s warnings and the separate trust fund 

(id.) are not the complaints of someone who was eager to comply with the law. 

 All these facts showing Craig’s lack of good faith cannot be overcome by 

the advice from counsel Craig received. (Craig Br. at 44.) Not only that, but Craig 

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50 

explicitly disavowed (and thus waived) any reliance upon an advice of counsel 

defense in this case. JA 166; see supra p. 16. Craig contends that the advice he 

received shows that he did not “deliberately” violate FECA. (Craig Br. at 45.) But 

the FEC has not accused Craig of a deliberate violation, and so the range of civil 

penalties he faced already reflects that fact. Had Craig knowingly and willfully 

violated the personal-use ban, the district court would have had the authority to 

impose a civil penalty twice as large. See 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(6)(C) (authorizing 

a civil penalty of “an amount equal to 200 percent of any . . . expenditure 

involved” (emphasis added)). 

Finally, Craig’s reporting of his illegal spending to the FEC also fails to 

demonstrate good faith (Craig Br. at 45), since not reporting those expenditures 

would have been a separate violation of FECA, see 52 U.S.C. § 30104. Craig’s 

personal-use violation is no less blameworthy because he did not also illegally hide 

his conversion of campaign funds. 

4. The Civil Penalty Reflects That Craig Profited 

Craig’s civil penalty is also justified since Craig profited from his FECA 

violation. See Furgatch, 869 F.2d at 1258 n.1 (stating that a district court may 

consider “the desire to eliminate the benefit derived from the [FECA] violation” 

(internal quotation marks omitted)). Because Craig was able to spend nearly 

$200,000 in campaign funds for his legal expenses, his own funds remained 

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51 

available for other personal purchases and expenses. (See FEC’s Statement of 

Material Facts at 9-10, ¶¶ 35.b., 35.d.ii (reflecting that in 2010 Craig bought a 

5,000-square-foot home on two acres of land and a boat) (D.D.C. Docket No. 16).) 

5. The Civil Penalty Reflects Craig’s Ability to Pay 

The district court also properly took into account Craig’s ability to pay. See, 

e.g., Furgatch, 869 F.2d at 1258. Craig admitted to the district court that he had 

the ability to pay the $70,000 civil penalty the FEC requested (in addition to 

making a full disgorgement), and so “there is no question” that Craig could pay the 

$45,000 “reduced total” the court imposed. (JA 37.) 

6. The Civil Penalty Reflects That Craig Injured Public 

Confidence in Government and the Campaign Finance 

System 

 

Craig’s civil penalty is also justified since the misuse of campaign funds 

injures the public’s confidence in federal officeholders and the campaign finance 

system. See Furgatch, 869 F.2d at 1258 (courts may consider the “injury to the 

public”). “‘[T]here is always harm to the public when FECA is violated.’” (JA 36 

(quoting FEC v. Am. Fed’n of State, Cnty., & Mun. Employees–P.E.O.P.L.E. 

Qualified, No. 88-3208, 1991 WL 241892, at *2 (D.D.C. Oct. 31, 1991)).) 

Violations of the personal-use ban are particularly harmful. When elected officials 

misappropriate contributions, it deters citizens from supporting candidates and 

leads to greater distrust of elected officials. See, e.g., supra p. 2 (describing the 

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52 

Senate’s censure of Senator Thomas Dodd, which found his personal use of 

campaign funds “contrary to accepted morals . . . [and] the public trust expected of 

a Senator”). 

7. The Civil Penalty Reflects That Craig Injured His 

Contributors 

 As discussed above, and as the district court found, Craig’s illegal use of his 

contributors’ funds harmed those contributors because they “presumably intended 

that their donations be used for lawful, campaign-related purposes.” JA 36; see 

supra p. 42. 

8. The Civil Penalty Is Necessary to Vindicate the Authority of 

the FEC and to Promote Conciliation over Litigation 

Finally, Craig’s civil penalty promotes the FEC’s authority and the prelitigation settlement of FECA violations. See JA 36; Furgatch, 869 F.2d at 1258 

(stating that a district court may consider “the necessity of vindicating the authority 

of the responsible federal agency”). Voluntary conciliation during the FEC’s 

administrative process is the “preferred method of dispute resolution under 

FECA.” See FEC v. NRA, 553 F. Supp. 1331, 1338 (D.D.C. 1983). If district 

courts do not impose civil penalties for violating FECA that are generally higher 

than those that would be arrived at through conciliation, it would create an 

incentive for respondents to forego meaningful efforts at conciliation in favor of 

litigation to delay liability and achieve a lesser civil penalty. Cf. FEC v. Comm. of 

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53 

100 Democrats, 844 F. Supp. 1, 7 (D.D.C. 1993) (“Individuals must be deterred 

from using the [FECA] conciliation process as a ruse and from using the courts as 

a mechanism for delay.”). That would undermine the FEC’s ability to enforce the 

law through conciliation. And such an outcome would increase the workload of 

courts, which benefit from FECA’s policy of encouraging pre-litigation settlement. 

III. THE DISTRICT COURT’S CALCULATION OF THE AMOUNT 

CRAIG SPENT IN VIOLATION OF THE STATUTE WAS NOT 

CLEAR ERROR 

 In the course of incorrectly claiming that disgorged funds cannot go to the 

Treasury, Craig asserts that the court’s calculation of the disgorgement amount 

“illustrates its punitive intent.” (Craig Br. at 34-35.) It is unclear whether Craig is 

actually attempting to challenge that calculation, particularly given that Craig does 

not mention the calculation in his “Statement of Issues Presented for Review” (id.

at 1-2), as required by Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(a)(5). As a result, 

this Court should decline to address the issue. See Shirey v. Devine, 670 F.2d 

1188, 1191 n.7 (D.C. Cir. 1982) (stating that “[a]lthough we shall seldom consider 

arguments not clearly presented in the statement of issues” required by Rule 28(a), 

the Court has the discretion to do so). 

In any event, the district court’s calculation of the $197,535 amount Craig 

spent in violation of FECA was not clearly erroneous. See Whittemore, 659 F.3d at 

7 (“Our review of the district court’s disgorgement calculation is for clear error.”). 

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54 

The disgorgement amount need only be a “reasonable approximation of profits 

causally connected to the violation.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). That 

is because “separating legal from illegal profits exactly may at times be a near 

impossible task.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). 

Craig himself did much to obstruct completion of this already challenging 

task. Craig admitted in his Answer that he spent $216,984 on “legal services” for 

Minnesota v. Craig, as the FEC had alleged based on its own review of Craig’s 

somewhat opaque law firm bills. See supra pp. 13-14, 16. He later contradicted 

his Answer by arguing at summary judgment that he spent some portion of that 

$216,984 on permissible public relations services. Id. at 17. Despite his Answer, 

and even though Craig had turned down an opportunity to further segregate his 

public relations costs in the FEC’s administrative proceeding, the district court 

gave Craig “one more chance.” Id. It permitted him to file a post-hearing 

pleading, which Craig filed, but which again failed sufficiently to evidence his 

public relations costs. Id. The district court described Craig’s responses as 

“maddeningly cavalier.” Id. There was no requirement that Craig be rescued from 

any error resulting from these repeated failures, or that any ambiguity be resolved 

in his favor. Quite the contrary. See SEC v. Levine, 517 F. Supp. 2d 121, 128 

(D.D.C. 2007) (“Any risk of uncertainty in calculating disgorgement should fall on 

the wrongdoer[] whose illegal conduct created that uncertainty.” (internal 

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55 

quotation marks omitted)), aff’d, 279 F. App’x 6 (D.C. Cir. 2008). Nevertheless, 

the district court engaged in its own exhaustive “line-by-line analysis” of Craig’s 

invoices (detailed in the opinion’s appendix) to determine the disgorgement 

amount. See supra p. 17. This resulted in a reduction in Craig’s disgorgement 

figure of nearly $20,000. Id. 

Despite the district court’s extraordinary efforts to determine a fair 

disgorgement amount, Craig argues here that its “aim was to punish” him (Craig 

Br. at 35), and he nit-picks over the judgment calls the court had to make due to his 

own conduct (id. at 34 (complaining about the categorization of time spent with 

“office staff” and on an “ACLU brief”).) None of that makes the district court’s 

“reasonable approximation” of the amount Craig converted to personal use clearly 

erroneous. 

CONCLUSION 

 For the foregoing reasons, the district court’s ruling should be affirmed in all 

respects. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Lisa J. Stevenson 

Deputy General Counsel – Law 

lstevenson@fec.gov 

Kevin Deeley 

Acting Associate General Counsel 

kdeeley@fec.gov 

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56 

Harry J. Summers 

Assistant General Counsel 

hsummers@fec.gov 

Robert W. Bonham III 

Senior Attorney 

rbonham@fec.gov 

/s/ Kevin P. Hancock 

Kevin P. Hancock 

 Attorney 

 khancock@fec.gov 

FOR THE APPELLEE 

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

999 E Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20463 

April 9, 2015 (202) 694-1650 

USCA Case #14-5297 Document #1546639 Filed: 04/09/2015 Page 71 of 79
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE 

This brief complies with the type-volume limitation of Fed. R. App. P. 

32(a)(7)(B)(i) because the brief contains 13,326 words, excluding the parts of the 

brief exempted by Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(7)(B)(iii) and D.C. Circuit Rule 32(a)(1). 

The brief also complies with the typeface requirements of Fed. R. App. P. 

32(a)(5) and the type-style requirements of Fed. R. App. P 32(a)(6) because the 

brief uses the proportionally spaced typeface Microsoft Word 14-point Times New 

Roman. 

/s/ Kevin P. Hancock

Kevin P. Hancock 

Attorney 

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

 

USCA Case #14-5297 Document #1546639 Filed: 04/09/2015 Page 72 of 79
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on April 9, 2015, I electronically filed the brief for 

appellee Federal Election Commission with the Clerk of the United States Court of 

Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by using the Court’s CM/ECF system. 

Service was made on the following through the CM/ECF system: 

Andrew D. Herman, Esq. 

Miller & Chevalier Chartered 

655 Fifteenth Street, NW, Suite 900 

Washington, DC 20016 

aherman@milchev.com 

Stanley M. Brand, Esq. 

Brand Law Group 

923 15th Street, NW 

Washington, DC 22015 

 I further certify that I also will cause the required number of paper copies of 

the brief to be filed with the Clerk. 

 

/s/ Kevin P. Hancock 

 Kevin P. Hancock 

 Attorney 

 FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

 

USCA Case #14-5297 Document #1546639 Filed: 04/09/2015 Page 73 of 79
ADDENDUM TABLE OF CONTENTS 

 Page 

52 U.S.C. § 30114, Use of contributed amounts for certain purposes ...................i 

11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1), Definitions; Personal Use ...............................................iii 

USCA Case #14-5297 Document #1546639 Filed: 04/09/2015 Page 74 of 79
i 

52 U.S.C. § 30114, Use of contributed amounts for certain purposes 

(a) Permitted uses 

A contribution accepted by a candidate, and any other donation received by an 

individual as support for activities of the individual as a holder of Federal office, 

may be used by the candidate or individual— 

(1) for otherwise authorized expenditures in connection with the campaign for 

Federal office of the candidate or individual; 

(2) for ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in connection with duties of 

the individual as a holder of Federal office; 

(3) for contributions to an organization described in section 170(c) of Title 26; 

(4) for transfers, without limitation, to a national, State, or local committee of 

a political party; 

(5) for donations to State and local candidates subject to the provisions of 

State law; or 

(6) for any other lawful purpose unless prohibited by subsection (b) of this 

section. 

(b) Prohibited use 

(1) In general 

A contribution or donation described in subsection (a) shall not be converted by 

any person to personal use. 

(2) Conversion 

For the purposes of paragraph (1), a contribution or donation shall be 

considered to be converted to personal use if the contribution or amount is used 

to fulfill any commitment, obligation, or expense of a person that would exist 

irrespective of the candidate’s election campaign or individual’s duties as a 

holder of Federal office, including— 

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ii 

(A) a home mortgage, rent, or utility payment; 

(B) a clothing purchase; 

(C) a noncampaign-related automobile expense; 

(D) a country club membership; 

(E) a vacation or other noncampaign-related trip; 

(F) a household food item; 

(G) a tuition payment; 

(H) admission to a sporting event, concert, theater, or other form of 

entertainment not associated with an election campaign; and 

(I) dues, fees, and other payments to a health club or recreational facility. 

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iii 

11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1), Definitions; Personal Use 

 (g) Personal use. Personal use means any use of funds in a campaign account of a 

present or former candidate to fulfill a commitment, obligation or expense of 

any person that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign or duties 

as a Federal officeholder. 

(1)(i) Personal use includes but is not limited to the use of funds in a campaign 

account for any item listed in paragraphs (g)(1)(i)(A) through (J) of this 

section: 

(A) Household food items or supplies. 

(B) Funeral, cremation or burial expenses except those incurred for a 

candidate (as defined in 11 CFR 100.3) or an employee or volunteer of 

an authorized committee whose death arises out of, or in the course of, 

campaign activity. 

(C) Clothing, other than items of de minimis value that are used in the 

campaign, such as campaign “T-shirts” or caps with campaign slogans. 

(D) Tuition payments, other than those associated with training campaign 

staff. 

(E) Mortgage, rent or utility payments— 

(1) For any part of any personal residence of the candidate or a member 

of the candidate’s family; or 

(2) For real or personal property that is owned by the candidate or a 

member of the candidate’s family and used for campaign purposes, 

to the extent the payments exceed the fair market value of the 

property usage. 

(F) Admission to a sporting event, concert, theater or other form of 

entertainment, unless part of a specific campaign or officeholder 

activity. 

(G) Dues, fees or gratuities at a country club, health club, recreational 

facility or other nonpolitical organization, unless they are part of the 

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iv 

costs of a specific fundraising event that takes place on the 

organization’s premises. 

(H) Salary payments to a member of the candidate’s family, unless the 

family member is providing bona fide services to the campaign. If a 

family member provides bona fide services to the campaign, any salary 

payment in excess of the fair market value of the services provided is 

personal use. 

(I) Salary payments by a candidate’s principal campaign to a candidate in 

excess of the lesser of: the minimum salary paid to a Federal 

officeholder holding the Federal office that the candidate seeks; or the 

earned income that the candidate received during the year prior to 

becoming a candidate. Any earned income that a candidate receives 

from salaries or wages from any other source shall count against the 

foregoing limit of the minimum salary paid to a Federal officeholder 

holding the Federal office that the candidate seeks. The candidate must 

provide income tax records from the relevant years and other evidence 

of earned income upon the request of the Commission. Salary shall not 

be paid to a candidate before the filing deadline for access to the 

primary election ballot for the Federal office that the candidate seeks, as 

determined by State law, or in those states that do not conduct 

primaries, on January 1 of each even-numbered year. See 11 CFR 

100.24(a)(1)(i). If the candidate wins the primary election, his or her 

principal campaign committee may pay him or her a salary from 

campaign funds through the date of the general election, up to and 

including the date of any general election runoff. If the candidate loses 

the primary, withdraws from the race, or otherwise ceases to be a 

candidate, no salary payments may be paid beyond the date he or she is 

no longer a candidate. In odd-numbered years in which a special 

election for a Federal office occurs, the principal campaign committee 

of a candidate for that office may pay him or her a salary from 

campaign funds starting on the date the special election is set and 

ending on the day of the special election. See 11 CFR 100.24(a)(1)(ii). 

During the time period in which a principal campaign committee may 

pay a salary to a candidate under this paragraph, such payment must be 

computed on a pro-rata basis. A Federal officeholder, as defined in 11 

CFR 100.5(f)(1), must not receive salary payments as a candidate from 

campaign funds. 

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v 

(J) A vacation. 

(ii) The Commission will determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether other 

uses of funds in a campaign account fulfill a commitment, obligation or 

expense that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign or duties 

as a Federal officeholder, and therefore are personal use. Examples of such 

other uses include: 

(A) Legal expenses; 

(B) Meal expenses; 

(C) Travel expenses, including subsistence expenses incurred during travel. 

If a committee uses campaign funds to pay expenses associated with 

travel that involves both personal activities and campaign or 

officeholder-related activities, the incremental expenses that result from 

the personal activities are personal use, unless the person(s) benefiting 

from this use reimburse(s) the campaign account within thirty days for 

the amount of the incremental expenses, and 

(D) Vehicle expenses, unless they are a de minimis amount. If a committee 

uses campaign funds to pay expenses associated with a vehicle that is 

used for both personal activities beyond a de minimis amount and 

campaign or officeholder-related activities, the portion of the vehicle 

expenses associated with the personal activities is personal use, unless 

the person(s) using the vehicle for personal activities reimburse(s) the 

campaign account within thirty days for the expenses associated with 

the personal activities. 

USCA Case #14-5297 Document #1546639 Filed: 04/09/2015 Page 79 of 79