Saturday, October 1, 2005
FEC: Nancy Pelosi's PACs Broke the Law
Two political action committees linked to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have been charged with attempting to circumvent to legal limits on campaign giving, the Federal Election Commission has ruled.
According to the March 2004 FEC finding, Pelosi appears to have violated the same kind of arcane campaign finance regulation that spurred the indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this week.
The San Francisco Chronicle explained at the time:
"The FEC ruled that two Pelosi political action committees created to help Democrats in the 2002 elections were related instead of being independent and therefore violated a rule against giving more than the maximum $5,000 annual contribution."
Mr. DeLay, by then under investigation for his own campaign finance problems, reacted sharply to the news about Pelosi's campaign finance irregularities, saying: "She has violated the law. It's in the facts."
Pelosi operated two PACs: Team Majority and PAC to the Future.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Team Majority reported 16 contributions of $5,000 each from donors who had already given the maximum to Pelosi's other PAC. Five of the donors gave to both PACs on the same day.
Rather than referring the case to the Justice Department for prosecution, however, the FEC allowed Pelosi's two committees to negotiate "conciliation agreements" under which they were fined a total of $21,000.
Two political action committees linked to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have been charged with attempting to circumvent to legal limits on campaign giving, the Federal Election Commission has ruled.
According to the March 2004 FEC finding, Pelosi appears to have violated the same kind of arcane campaign finance regulation that spurred the indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this week.
The San Francisco Chronicle explained at the time:
"The FEC ruled that two Pelosi political action committees created to help Democrats in the 2002 elections were related instead of being independent and therefore violated a rule against giving more than the maximum $5,000 annual contribution."
Mr. DeLay, by then under investigation for his own campaign finance problems, reacted sharply to the news about Pelosi's campaign finance irregularities, saying: "She has violated the law. It's in the facts."
Pelosi operated two PACs: Team Majority and PAC to the Future.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Team Majority reported 16 contributions of $5,000 each from donors who had already given the maximum to Pelosi's other PAC. Five of the donors gave to both PACs on the same day.
Rather than referring the case to the Justice Department for prosecution, however, the FEC allowed Pelosi's two committees to negotiate "conciliation agreements" under which they were fined a total of $21,000.
