Last updated on April 11, 2025
UPDATE: A fifth RFAI, for the Post-General report (covering finances immediately proximate to Election Day), has now appeared on the FEC Web pages.
The Federal Election Commission has sent multiple Requests For Additional Information (RFAI) to the Libertarian National Committee. The LNC filings with the LNC that are being questioned so far are the LNC’s August, October, Pre-General, Post-General, and End-of-Year filings.
An RFAI is a letter from the FEC to a filer indicating that there appear to be potential issues with one of the filer’s financial disclosures. For example, in listing an expenditure, the filer is required to describe what the expenditure paid for. The FEC might take the position that a description is insufficiently precise, and a rewording is needed. There may also be math issues of one sort or another.
In general an RFAI is not an indication that something illegal was done, as opposed to being an indication that paperwork being needed to be filed in a slightly different manner.
I thought the LNC paid an FEC consultant to cover for them.
I may be remembering this wrong, since it has been more than a dozen years since I was on the LNC, but my recollection is that the FEC consultant was there to answer questions, deal with issues, and advise in general. I don’t believe she actually sees the forms before they are filed. I interacted with her a few times on projects, mostly along with Robert Kraus, and she always seemed to me to know what she was doing.
My understanding is that the treasurer works with the data that comes from the accountants. And of course, the accountants get their data from staff.
So if staff no longer exist, or are incompetent (put a checkmark by that), and the accountants don’t know anything about how political parties work and don’t know what to actually report where (Put another check mark by this one), then, even though we know the treasurer is qualified, there are going to be mistakes.
Add to that a period of possible corruption by members of the LNC (I say possible because it has not yet been proven in criminal or civil court), as well as possible money laundering through someone with the last name of Kennedy, and I expect that somebody could end up in jail. The FEC only tolerates things to a certain point. Unfortunately, I believe the person who usually ends up in the orange jumpsuit is the treasurer, regardless of whether he or she is at fault.
That sounds quite plausible. I’d caution or advise that party’s treasurer to resign if that’s the case, but unfortunately for him or her that may be too late in this particular case. The wheels of what passes for government justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine, and it seems to me based on what I’ve read in the discussions on this site that the libertarians might be in for some grinding of that sort over the next few years, far more than they experienced previously.
“S” … I understand but unless I misunderstand “F” … why is fan a naughty word?
It isn’t. Sometimes writing is an art and sometimes it is a science. And sometimes you double quote letters just for the “F” of it. (Yes, fun is the correct answer here)
And I would expect to see requests for more information on the February and March filings (once March is revised).
I’d read the reports, but I don’t need to look at them to know there are likely to be errors. The accountants should be fired. The Treasurer is under the bus and the FEC is starting to drive back and forth over him.
This is beginning to look like whack-a-mole at the arcade. (Much more eco-friendly than a bus)
The “S” is about to hit the “F”. Yes, an RFAI does not mean that anything illegal has been done. But it also does not mean that illegal activities have not taken place.
This is just their way of saying we’re from the government and we’re here to help…