Earmarking

In one of the most watched campaign finance disclosure enforcement cases, last week, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld a trial court’s finding that a trade association intentionally failed to register and report contributions and expenditures in opposition to a ballot initiative that would have required labeling of genetically modified…
Continue Reading Campaign Finance Violation for Unregistered Political Committee Upheld in Washington State, but $18 Million Penalty Must Still Pass Excessive Fine Test

A perennial compliance issue for corporations, family offices, and individual major donors who are considering contributions to politically active outside groups involves determining whether the contributions will be treated as “earmarked” for a specific candidate or political committee, which can result in legal compliance issues as well as disclosure of…
Continue Reading Covington Issues Client Advisory Concerning “Earmarked” Contributions To Politically Active Organizations

While McCutcheon concluded the government’s anti-circumvention rationale was too speculative and attenuated to justify the biennial aggregate limits, the Court did discuss “multiple alternatives available” to the government that would serve this interest while still satisfying the First Amendment.  One such suggestion involved “earmarking” rules—which bar donors from trying to…
Continue Reading FEC has said little about earmarking rule discussed in McCutcheon