Federal Election Commission Main Page
May 24, 1985
CERTIFIED MAIL
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
ADVISORY OPINION 1985-16
Mr. Robert Neil Weiss
Post Office Box 76084
Washington, D.C. 20013
Dear Mr. Weiss:
This responds to your letter of April 11, 1985, requesting
an advisory opinion concerning the application of the Federal
Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended ("the Act"), and
Commission regulations to your proposed search of Commission
records for names contained in reports of political
contributions.
You state that you own a list of potential contributors to
Federal election campaigns which you could market "for commercial
and/or solicitation purposes." You indicate that you desire to
increase the market value of the list. You propose to search
reports filed by political committees with the Commission to
compare the names on your list with those individuals who have
actually contributed to Federal election campaigns. You state
that no new names or other information would be added to your
list from Commission records. You ask whether this proposed
activity is permissible under the Act and Commission regulations.
The Act provides that the Commission shall make reports and
statements filed with it available to the public for inspection
and copying within 48 hours after receipt. 2 U.S.C. SS 438(a)(4).
However, SS 433(a)(4) restricts the use of information copied from
reports by providing that it may not be sold or used by any
person for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for other
commercial purposes. Commission regulations provide that any
information copied or otherwise obtained from reports filed with
the Commission shall not be sold or used by any person for the
purpose of soliciting contributions or for any other
commercial purpose. 11 CFR 104.15(a). The sole exception to
this provision is that the name and address of any political
committee may be used for soliciting contributions from such a
committee, but this exception does not apply to using the names
of individual contributors. See 11 CFR 104.15(c).
The Commission has declared that the purpose of this
restriction is to protect individuals who make contributions to
campaigns from being victimized by list-brokering. Advisory
Opinions 1984-2, 1981-38, 1981-5, 1980-78, and opinions cited
therein. The Commission has held that where a publisher proposed
to use data from FEC disclosure documents in a newsletter
regarding campaign practices, but did not seek to use the names
of contributors, this use was permissible. Advisory Opinion
1981-38. Where a candidate proposed to obtain expenditure data
submitted by his opponents, to be included in the candidate's
solicitation letters, this use was permissible provided the
letter did not contain information on the identity of individual
contributors. Advisory Opinion 1980-78.
By contrast, the Commission has permitted the use of
individual contributor information only in narrow circumstances
not related to solicitation or commercial purposes. A candidate
who proposed to use reports filed with the Commission to contact
contributors to an unauthorized campaign committee to tell those
contributors that the committee was unauthorized was permitted to
do so, but was not permitted to solicit contributions to the
authorized committee. Advisory Opinion 1984-2. And, where a
candidate proposed to send a letter to contributors to his
opponent's campaign to correct allegedly defamatory statements
made by the opponent, this use was permissible provided there was
no solicitation or commercial purpose. Advisory Opinion 1981-5.
The Commission concludes that your proposed use of
Commission records would not be permissible because it would
involve your obtaining and using information from Commission
records for commercial or solicitation purposes. A name on your
list represents either an active contributor or a passive noncontributor,
and the use of information gained from examining
reports filed with the Commission would allow you to purge the
non-contributors from your list or to otherwise identify the
contributors on your list. Your list would have special
commercial value because it had been produced as a result of
cross verification with contributor information contained in
reports filed with the Commission. Such a use to increase the
commercial value of your list is a commercial use that is
prohibited by 2 U.S.C. SS 438(a)(4).
This response constitutes an advisory opinion concerning
application of the Act and Commission regulations to the specific
transaction or activity set forth in your request. See 2 U.S.C.
SS 437f.