Michigan Democratic Party agrees to fine for late refunds of excessive contributions

The Michigan Democratic Party has agreed to pay the Federal Election Commission a $27,000 penalty for late refunds of excessive contributions received in 2020, records show.

The Michigan Democratic State Central Committee, the party’s fundraising account, received $154,410.33 that it failed to timely refund, according to a conciliation agreement signed last month.

The Michigan Democratic State Central Committee refunded the excessive contributions but outside of the 60-day deadline established by Federal Election Commission regulations, according to the agreement. The refunds also were disclosed on amended reports filed with the commission.

“This is an issue from three years ago regarding money raised from joint-fundraising accounts,” said Christian Slater, a spokesman for the Michigan Democratic Party, in a statement Monday night. “The MDP has returned the money and partnered with the FEC to ensure compliance with campaign finance rules.”

The contributions included $151,901.33 from 29 individuals and $2,500 from one multicandidate committee.

A state party committee is permitted to accept no more than $10,000 in contributions from any person during a calendar year and no more than $5,000 in contributions from any multicandidate political committee per calendar year, according to the conciliation agreement.

Accepting excessive contributions violates the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. The U.S. presidential and Senate races were held in 2020.

“Respondent contends that the excessive contributions in this matter were inadvertent and primarily caused by the aggregation of contributions from joint fundraising activities,” the conciliation agreement said. “Respondent contends that it has taken steps to ensure that contributions received from joint fundraising are reviewed in a timely manner so that excessive contributions will be cured within the required time frame.”

In a letter to the commission in April, the state Democrats’ counsel Neil P. Reiff wrote: “Although the MDSCC had procedures in place to handle such situations, a series of miscommunications during a period of unprecedented high volume of contributions caused a delay in processing refunds to these donors.”