Federal Election Commission Main Page
July 29, 1977
AO 1977-16
Mr. Robert Eaton
Iowa 1980 U.S. Senate
Campaign Committee
Post Office Box 117
West Des Moines, Iowa 50265
Dear Mr. Eaton:
This refers to your advisory opinion request of
April 4, 1977, concerning application of the Federal
Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended ("the Act"),
to the proposed activities of the Iowa 1980 U.S. Senate
Campaign Committee ("the Committee"), which has registered
with the Commission as a political committee.
Your request indicates that the Committee intends to
function initially as a search committee "for the purpose
of selecting the best Republican candidate" for the 1980
Senate election in Iowa. At the time the candidate is
selected in 1979, you anticipate that the Committee would
become the candidate's principal campaign committee. You
state that in searching for a candidate the Committee will
raise money, conduct surveys, identify campaign workers,
pay expenses, build a campaign organization, and eventually
select the 1980 Republican Senate candidate it wishes to
support. You further state that the campaign organization
and contributions received by the Committee will "accrue
fully to the candidate" upon his or her selection. During
the search phase of the Committee's activities it will
receive contributions and regard itself as subject to the
same limits of the Act which apply to a candidate and his
or her principal campaign committee. Furthermore, the
Committee will keep records and report pursuant to 2 U.S.C.
SS 432 and SS 434. When a 1980 Senate candidate is selected
by the Committee, all contributions previously received
by the Committee will be reviewed; refunds will be made
in any case where a contributor has exceeded the relevant
limits of 2 U.S.C. SS 441a because of contributions made to
or on behalf of the selected candidate before his or her
selection by the Committee.
You request an opinion as to whether the Committee
may be operated as a principal campaign committee without
a candidate for the initial period of its existence and
subsequently become a principal campaign committee when
a candidate is selected. Furthermore, you ask whether the
contributions accumulated before the Committee selects
its candidate may, upon selection, be retroactively regarded
as contributions to the candidate without applying the
contribution limits "to the total transfer of funds raised
for the candidate." 1/
The Commission concludes that the Committee may be
established and operate as a "political committee" under
the Act and subject to the contribution limits which
generally apply to political committees. See 2 U.S.C.
SS 441a(a)(1)(C) and SS 441a(a)(2)(C); also see 2 U.S.C.
SS 441a(a)(3). Furthermore, if desired, the Committee may
operate under the contribution limits applicable to
contributions which are made to a principal campaign committee.
In stating the above conclusion the Commission
recognizes that principal campaign committees come into
legal existence under the Act only when designated as
such by a candidate for Federal office. See 2 U.S.C.
SS 431(n), 432(e). However, the Commission does not find
any legal basis for barring a political committee from
operating under a self-imposed restriction on the amount
of contributions it will accept which restriction coincides
with the limits applicable to contributions to a candidate
or principal campaign committee (or other authorized
committee) of a candidate. In the event the Committee
operates under the contribution limits applicable to the
authorized campaign committee(s) of the candidate eventually
selected, it may be retroactively designated by the selected
candidate as his or her principal campaign committee; also,
the accumulated contributions would not be regarded as a
separate contribution from the Committee to the selected
candidate who designates the Committee as his or her
principal campaign committee. The foregoing discussion
is subject to the following conditions which are made a
part of this opinion.
1/ We note that an actual transfer of funds is not anticipated.
Rather, by designating the Committee as his or her principal
campaign committee, the selected candidate will assume
constructive control over the funds and they will be combined
with any contributions which were received by or on behalf of
the candidate before his or her selection by the Committee.
At the time the Committee selects a candidate who then
authorizes the Committee as his or her principal campaign
committee, all previous payments received and made are
retroactively regarded as contributions accepted and
expenditures made by the Committee as principal campaign
committee of the selected candidate. When the selected
candidate authorizes the Committee as his or her campaign
committee all contributions previously received by the
Committee, as well as those received by or on behalf of
(includes those received by any agent or other person having
the consent of the selected candidate) the selected candidate
before selection, must be reviewed to determine whether
persons making those contributions may have exhausted their
relevant limits under 2 U.S.C. SS 441a. 2/ Refunds must be
promptly made to all persons who, as a result of this review,
are determined to have made excessive contributions on behalf
of the candidate selected by the Committee.
Of course, at the time of candidate selection, the
Committee's Statement of Organization must be amended;
also, the candidate must file a statement of candidacy
and a statement authorizing the Committee as his or her
principal campaign committee. See 2 U.S.C. SS 432 and SS 433
and Parts 101 and 102 of the regulations.
The Commission expressly declines to state any opinion
on the permissible uses of funds collected by the Committee,
and application of the contribution limits to those funds,
in the event the Committee fails to select a candidate or
the selected candidate declines to authorize the Committee
as his or her principal campaign committee. If these
contingencies arise the Committee should submit another
advisory opinion request setting forth the specific factual
situation existing at that time.
This response constitutes an advisory opinion concerning
the application of a general rule of law stated in the Act,
or prescribed as a Commission regulation, to the specific
factual situation set forth in your request. See 2 U.S.C.
SS 437f.
2/ Contributions to a candidate before selection, and
those made to the Committee, are to be aggregated by donor
to determine compliance with the limits of 2 U.S.C. SS 441a.