The Republican Governors Association will pay a penalty of $40,000 for campaign finance law violations during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign and file corrected campaign finance reports listing contributions it received and expenditures it made in connection with the 2010 gubernatorial election, according to a settlement announced today by Attorney General Bill Sorrell.
The agreement was approved by the Washington Superior Court on March 23, 2015, in aStipulated Judgment Order. This concludes litigation that began in October 2010 when the State filed a civil enforcement action against the RGA. While the RGA had established a Vermont PAC called Green Mountain Prosperity PAC (“GMP”) for some political advertising, the RGA also ran political ads under its own name promoting candidate Brian Dubie and attacking candidate Peter Shumlin. The RGA spent nearly $290,000 on its Vermont activities, in addition to over $760,000 of expenditures made in the name of GMP.
In a pair of decisions in 2011 and 2014, the Superior Court ruled that the RGA violated Vermont’s campaign finance laws in three ways. It failed to register as a political committee, failed to file Vermont campaign finance reports, and accepted contributions in excess of the $2,000 limit on contributions to PACs.
The RGA’s failure to file Vermont reports prevented the public from knowing how much the RGA spent on activities advocating for and against Vermont gubernatorial candidates. It also prevented the public from knowing where the money came from to fund those activities. The Stipulated Judgment Order requires the RGA to pay the State $40,000 in civil administrative penalties for these violations and to file campaign finance reports for the 2010 general election cycle.
Attorney General Bill Sorrell praised the settlement. “The penalty in this case should send a strong message that political committees need play by our rules. If PACs that work with candidates receive unlimited contributions, there is the appearance, if not a substantial risk, of corruption and undue influence on the candidates by the large donors,” said Sorrell. “It is essential that PACs make the disclosures required under the law. The public should know who is funding the activities of the PACs that seek to influence Vermont voters” concluded the Attorney General.
This Stipulated Judgment successfully concludes the last of three enforcement actions brought by the Attorney General’s Office arising out of the 2010 gubernatorial campaign. The Office resolved its case against the Democratic Governors Association’s Vermont PAC, Green Mountain Future, with an agreed-upon penalty after the PAC lost its appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court. A prior case against the RGA and Brian Dubie also ended with payment of penalties.
Source: Vermont AG. March 31, 2015