State GOP agrees to fine for absent donor data

BOISE – The Idaho Republican Party has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and to boost internal accounting procedures after a federal audit found numerous irregularities and violations of campaign contribution reporting regulations during the 2002 election year.

The Federal Election Commission announced the negotiated settlement with the Idaho GOP Monday, although the agreement was signed in December after it was approved in August 2005 by the members of the federal commission that oversees political campaign contribution laws.

The FEC said it was making the case public now because it was part of a handful of recent cases that were closed through the commission’s alternative dispute resolution program, which is intended to speed up enforcement actions through mediated settlements. Some of the personal information in the case file had to be redacted before it was made public.

“The alternative dispute resolution circumvents a full process and allows respondents who say, ‘Yeah, I guess we did violate these laws’ to settle the case quickly,” said Ian Stirton, a spokesman for the FEC in Washington.

The Idaho Republican Party was audited by FEC investigators after financial misstatements and missing information were noticed in the 2002 election year disclosure reports the state party is required to file with the federal government.

FEC auditors found that party records for contributions received during the 2002 campaign did not disclose occupations or employers for 31 percent of the donors for a total of more than $98,000 in contributions. Federal law requires political committees to disclose occupations and names of employers of anyone donating more than $200 within the calendar year. Treasurers of the political committee must attempt to make a “best effort” to gather the employment and occupation data if it is not included with the contribution.

The FEC audit found 90 percent of contribution entries listed on reports by the party headquarters included the notation “information requested” but the party could not prove it had made any follow-up request to donors for the missing occupation and employer information.

According to enforcement case documents released Monday by the FEC, Idaho GOP officials blamed the failure to obtain contributor information on staff turnover and the lack of a full-time professional staff member familiar with reporting requirements. The party has since contracted with professional reporting staff, has created new internal accounting procedures and is sending follow-up letters to 2002 contributors whose information is still missing.

Besides the $10,000 civil penalty imposed by the FEC, the party agreed to determine whether all data from contributions is accounted for before the money is spent by the party and to file amended 2002 campaign finance reports disclosing the occupations and employers of contributors.

Idaho Republican Party officials did not immediately return calls to the Associated Press on Monday seeking comment.