Legal Filings

Sep 21, 2009

CREW FILES 9TH CIRCUIT AMICUS BRIEF SUPPORTING PROHIBITION AGAINST CONDUIT CONTRIBUTIONS

On September 21, 2009, CREW filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit supporting the Justice Department’s interpretation of the provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act that makes it a crime for an individual to evade the Act’s contribution limits by utilizing conduits or straw donors. The Justice Department had prosecuted prominent California trial attorney Pierce O’Donnell for violating the Act’s prohibition on conduit contributions by reimbursing thirteen employees of his law firm for making a total of $26,000 in contributions to the presidential campaign of former Senator John Edwards (D-NC). A federal court in California had dismissed the indictment on the grounds that the Act only prohibited “making a contribution and providing a false name, not asking others to make contributions in their names and reimbursing them for it.”

This interpretation of the Act is counter to nearly 40 years of precedent and, if allowed to stand, would have a disastrous impact on the ability of the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission to enforce federal campaign finance laws. In October 2007, on the basis of a complaint filed by CREW, the FEC imposed the second largest fine in its history - $1 million – against MZM, Inc. and its former CEO, Mitchell Wade, for making conduit contributions. CREW also has an FEC complaint pending against Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) for reimbursing employees of his car dealerships for contributions to his 2006 congressional campaign. If the O’Donnell decision stands, people like Wade and Buchanan will get away with violating campaign contribution limits.

Read CREW's amicus brief.

CREW Praises 9th Circuit Decision Upholding Prohibition on Straw Donors in Federal Elections