February 1998 Federal Election Commission Volume 24, Number 2

Table of Contents

Reports

1 Disclosure Reports Now on Web

1 Additional 1998 Filing Deadlines

for Alabama

2 Survey Shows Potential for

Electronic Filing

4 New York Special General

Election Reporting

Audits

1 Perot ’96 Received Excess

Entitlement

3 Advisory Opinion Requests

3 Federal Register Notice

3 Conferences

3 Index

Reports

(continued on page 3)

Disclosure Reports Now on

the Web

The FEC’s web site now includes

digital images of campaign finance

reports. The move is part of the

FEC’s ongoing commitment to rapid

development of new technology to

enhance public awareness in the

field of campaign finance.

Anyone with access to the

Internet can view reports filed

directly with the Commission.

Currently, that list includes all 1997-

98 cycle reports filed by PACs,

political parties and Presidential and

House campaigns. No Senate

campaign reports are available

because they are filed with the

Secretary of the Senate. (The FEC

receives copies of these reports on

microfilm and cannot achieve the

necessary quality for imaging

purposes from copies made from the

microfilm.)

The web site will be updated

regularly throughout the filing

season, and within 48 hours of the

FEC’s receipt of paper reports sent

in the mail.

Since 1993, the FEC has scanned

into the computer system the reports

filed by PAC, party committees and

Presidential campaigns. Scanned

images of House committee reports

were added in 1996. All of these

(continued on page 2)

Audits

Perot ’96 Received Excess

Entitlement

The FEC has determined that

Perot ’96, the Presidential campaign

committee of Reform Party nominee

Ross Perot, must repay to the U.S.

Treasury $2,310,127 it received in

public funding during the 1996

Presidential election.

The Commission made its

determination after the agency

conducted an audit of the committee, as is required for any authorized

candidate committee that receives

federal funds. 26 U.S.C. §9007(a).

Perot ’96 received a little more than

$29 million from the Presidential

Election Campaign Fund for the

1996 general election.

An audit of Perot ’96 revealed

that the excess entitlement the

committee received resulted primarily from the inclusion of

$1,447,000 in projected litigation

expenses in its Statement of Net

Outstanding Qualified Campaign

Expenses. Perot ’96 had budgeted

that amount to cover expenses it

expected to incur for litigation

allegedly related to the 1996 Presidential election. While the committee argued that the $1.4 million was

directly related to the 1996 campaign, the audit report concluded

that the projected litigation expenses

Additional 1998 Filing

Deadlines for Alabama

 In the event that a primary runoff

election is necessary in Alabama

(to be held on June 30), the

following filing deadlines will be

in effect for the pre-runoff election

report: the close of books will be

June 10, the registered/certified

mailing deadline will be June 15

and the filing date will be June 18.

 See the January Record or the

FEC’s web site—http://

www.fec.gov—for a

comprehensive list of 1998

primary filing deadlines

throughout the United States. The

Record will continue to update

reporting dates as election

information becomes available, so

be sure to check out future issues.
Federal Election Commission RECORD February 1998

2

Federal Election Commission

999 E Street, NW

Washington, DC 20463

800/424-9530

202/219-3420

202/501-3413 (FEC Faxline)

202/219-3336 (TDD for the

 hearing impaired)

800/877-8339 (FIRS)

Joan D. Aikens, Chairman

Scott E. Thomas, Vice Chairman

Lee Ann Elliott, Commissioner

Danny L. McDonald,

 Commissioner

John Warren McGarry,

 Commissioner

John C. Surina, Staff Director

Lawrence M. Noble, General

 Counsel

Published by the Information

 Division

Louise D. Wides, Director

Angela Rucker, Editor

http://www.fec.gov

Reports

(continued from page 1)

Survey Shows Potential for

Electronic Filing

A survey of reporting political

committees has found that, while 85

percent of filers have access to

computers in their committees or

campaign operations, more than half

of all filers still complete FEC

disclosure reports manually.

The survey, conducted by an

independent consulting firm,

contacted 1,000 PACs and party and

congressional committees registered

with the FEC. Sixty nine percent of

those responded to the questionnaire. The survey found that 85

percent of the respondents have

back documents eventually will be

added to the web site’s menu.

To view the digital images, go

the FEC’s web site—http://

www.fec.gov—and click on “View

Financial Reports Filed by Presidential and House Campaigns, Parties,

and PACs.” Then, simply follow

the directions on the screen. Select a

committee by choosing a key word

in its name. Committees also can be

selected by name, state, party or

FEC identification number. The

system will retrieve the requested

report or ask for more detailed

information to conduct another

search. Once the report appears on

the screen, thumb through the pages,

using the “next page” option or

selecting a specific page. Printouts

of the documents will appear with

the same clarity as those images

viewed and printed at the FEC’s

headquarters in Washington, DC. In

addition to two Internet servers, a

back-up system is available in the

event of a system interruption or

slow-down.

Other Viewing Options

The FEC will continue to make

disclosure reports available at its

Public Records Office in Washington, and will continue to maintain its

traditional database, which also can

be downloaded from the web site.

The database includes overall

financial activity of committees

along with details of specific

contributions. The Public Records

Office is located at 999 E Street NW.

Reports also are available for

viewing at these locations:

• The Legislative Resource Center

of the Clerk of the House, B106

Cannon House Office Building,

Washington, DC (House candidate

committees only).

• Public Records Office of the

Secretary of the Senate, 232 Senate

Hart Office Building, Washington,

DC (Senate candidate committees

and the Republican and Democratic senatorial campaign committees only).

• State campaign finance disclosure

offices (committees active in the

state only).

• University of Southern CaliforniaCitizens Research Foundation web

site—http://www.usc.edu/dept/

CRF. ✦

access to computers, 75 percent of

committees have access to computers

with modems and two-thirds of those

committees can reach the Internet.

The results show that a majority

of the filing community has the

basic infrastructure necessary to

take advantage of the FEC’s voluntary electronic filing program.

Nevertheless, 66 percent of filers

continue to prepare their disclosure

reports the old-fashioned way—with

a pen or a typewriter. Nearly half of

the respondents—48 percent—

stated that electronic filing would

give the public easier and more

rapid access to campaign finance

information, and 70 percent believed that electronic filing would

save them time after the initial setup

of the software.

“[T]he results of the FEC Survey

for Electronic Filing illustrate the

variation in computer capabilities

and attitudes within the filing

community,” the report found.

“However, they also underscore the

high level of computerization and

the positive attitude that most FEC

filers have toward the electronic

filing of disclosure reports.”

Transmitting Reports to the FEC

As is the case in the larger realm

of electronic transmissions, security

concerns are an issue with FEC

filers. When asked for their preferences for submitting reports to the

agency, more than half said they

preferred a dedicated modem-based

system in order to dial directly into

an FEC telephone line devoted

solely to receiving such reports. The

other half of respondents said they

either preferred mailing computer

diskettes (the current method for

delivering disclosure reports to the

FEC electronically) or transmitting

their reports to the FEC via Internet

e-mail.

During this month, the FEC’s

Data Division will be developing

the framework for incorporating all

three alternatives, thus giving filers

a choice of filing methods. See

future issues of the Record for
February 1998 Federal Election Commission RECORD

3

details about how these filing

options will work.

Copies of the survey are available

at the FEC’s web site—http://

www.fec.gov—and from the FEC

Press Office (202/219-4155). For

more information about FECFile, the

FEC’s free electronic filing software

that is available now, call the FEC’s

Data Division (202/219-3730). ✦

Audits

(continued from page 1)

were not qualified campaign expenses because they were not

incurred prior to the close of the

expenditure report period—December 5, 1996—and were not valid

winding-down costs. 11 CFR

9004.4(a).

The audit also found (1) excessive contributions in the form of

staff advances by a Perot ’96

campaign worker who paid for the

transportation, travel and campaign

expenses of other individuals using

a personal credit card and (2) a

material number of contributors for

whom occupations and employers

were not disclosed on FEC reports.

The committee stated that it was

unable to locate a credit card

company willing to offer it credit

cards and, therefore, the use of the

individual’s personal credit card was

the only alternative. It would have

been impractical, the committee

said, for Mr. Perot and vice presidential nominee Pat Choate to stand

in hotel cashier lines to pay their

bills. The committee also filed

amendments to its reports to include

the missing contributor information.

This audit report is available

from the FEC’s Public Records

Office by calling 800/424-9530

(press 3) or 202/219-4140. Copies

are also available at the FEC, which

is located in Washington, DC, at

999 E Street, NW. The executive

summary that accompanies this

report is available at the FEC’s web

site—http://www.fec.gov. ✦

Advisory

Opinions

Advisory Opinion Requests

Advisory opinion requests are

available for review and comment in

the Public Records Office.

AOR 1997-27

Use of campaign funds to pay legal

expenses (Congressman John

Boehner, December 19, 1997; 3

pages plus 3-page attachment)

AOR 1997-28

Reinstatement of terminated candidate committee to retire debt to

candidate (W. Ben Bius, December

11, 1997; 1 page plus 17-page

attachment)

AOR 1997-29

Status as state committee of a

political party (The Green Party of

New Mexico, December 16, 1997; 2

pages plus 32-page attachment)

AOR 1998-1

Use of campaign funds to pay legal

expenses of candidate (Congressman

Earl F. Hilliard, January 12, 1998; 4

pages plus 9-page attachment)

AOR 1998-2

Status as national committee of

political party; status of affiliated

state parties as state committees of

political party (The Executive

Committee of the Reform Party of

the United States of America,

January 12, 1998; 9 pages plus 55-

page attachment) ✦

Index

The first number in each citation

refers to the “number” (month) of

the 1998 Record issue in which the

article appeared. The second

number, following the colon,

indicates the page number in that

issue. For example, “1:4” means

that the article is in the January

issue on page 4.

Advisory Opinions

1997-18: Status of committee as

local party committee, 1:14

(continued on page 4)

Federal Register

 Federal Register notices are

available from the FEC’s Public

Records Office.

Notice 1998-1

Filing Dates for the New York

Special Election (63 FR 2240,

January 14, 1998)

FEC 1998 Conference

Schedule

 The FEC will hold three

conferences this year. To register,

call Sylvester Management at 1/

800-246-7277 or send an e-mail

message to:

TSYLVESTER@WORLDNET.ATT.NET.

Washington, DC

For candidate committees

Date: February 23

Location: Madison Hotel

Registration: $175

Hotel rate: $124

Denver

For candidates, political parties and

corporate and labor organizations

Date: March 25-27

Location: Westin Tabor Center

Registration: $180

Hotel rate: $136

Washington, DC

For nonconnected committees

(this includes partnership,

leadership and ideological PACs)

Date: April 27

Location: Madison Hotel

Registration: $175

Hotel rate: $165
FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

999 E Street, NW

Washington, DC 20463

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use, $300

Bulk Rate Mail

Postage and Fees Paid

Federal Election Commission

Permit Number G-31

Printed on recycled paper

Federal Election Commission RECORD February 1998

1997-22: Communicating membership corporation’s endorsements

of federal candidates to members

and their restricted classes, 1:14

Court Cases

FEC v. _____

– National Medical Political Action

Committee, 1:3

– Williams, 1:3

_____ v. FEC

National Committee of the Reform

Party, 1:2

Reports

On FEC web site, 2:1

Pre-Election Reporting Dates: 1998

Primary and Runoff Elections, 1:8

Reports, Alabama Runoff, 2:1

Reports Due in 1998, 1:6, 1:11

Special Election, California, 1:12

Special Election, New York, 2:4

Special Election, Pennsylvania, 1:13

Surveying potential for electronic

filing, 2:2

Index

(continued from page 3) New York Special General Election Reporting

 Committees1 involved in the February 3 Special Election to fill the 6th

Congressional District seat vacated by Congressman Floyd Flake must follow

the reporting schedule below. Note that 48-hour notices are required of

authorized committees that receive contributions (including loans) of $1,000

or more between January 15 and January 31.

Pre-General2

(1997 Activity)

Pre-General2

(1998 Activity)

Post-General

Close of Certified/ Filing

Books Registered Date

Mail Date

Dec. 31, 1997 Jan. 203 Jan. 22

Feb. 23 March 5 March 5

1

 These committees include authorized committees of candidates running in the

election and other political committees that support these candidates and do not file

monthly.

2

 Because reports may not include activity for more than one calendar year, committees must file the Pre-General report on two forms. One form will cover July 1, 1997,

through December 31, 1997, and be labeled “Year-End Report.” The other form will

cover January 1 through January 14 and be labeled “Pre-General Report.” The filing

of these two forms satisfies both Pre-General and Year-End filing requirements.

3

 The mailing date has been adjusted because the computed mail date would have

fallen on a federal holiday.

Jan. 14 Jan. 203 Jan. 22