Chapter Thirteen
Refusing to File
March 2000
In March, campaign income plummeted from February’s $118,500 to less than $75,000. Despite a further loan from the candidate, the Browne campaign was very nearly broke. Only $6302 was on hand at the month’s end. The Browne Campaign responded with a new fundraising gimmick, a prospective lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission. I stress ‘prospective’. No suit was ever filed by the Campaign. When, in 2002, the FEC finally fined the Browne campaign for late filing, the campaign promptly paid the fine.
The Browne Campaign’s FEC Report on March spending should have captured the attention of Libertarians from coast to coast. The Browne Campaign was barely keeping its fiscal head above water. The campaign treasury was running on vapor. Libertarians from coast to coast remained blissfully, innocently ignorant of the issue, because the Browne campaign filed no disclosures with the FEC until late May.
How was this possible? Harry Browne had declared his candidacy on February 14. Ignoring questions as to whether his filing obligations had begun earlier, say in 1997, in March 2002 there was no more room for doubt. The clock had certainly ticked down to the legal deadline for filing.
On Sunday, March 12, the Browne Campaign issued what they claimed was a new fundraising announcement. “We have come across what may be an exceptional opportunity to strike a blow against oppressive government—while at the same time generating major national press coverage for our campaign. How? By deliberately violating the contribution limits and reporting requirements imposed by the FEC.”
As part of the announcement, the Campaign revealed that it would refuse to file financial statements with the FEC. The campaign also spoke of asking Libertarians to make individual donations to the Browne campaign in excess of the legal limits. (Under Federal Law in 2000, a single donor could give no more than $1000 for pre-nomination expenses, and no more than a separate $1000 for general election campaign expenses.)
These actions, the refusal to file and the possible decision to accept illegally excessive campaign contributions, were to be tied to a legal campaign to void substantial sections of the Federal Election Campaign regulations. However, potential donors were led to understand that ‘There appears to be no risk of criminal prosecution from defying either the contribution limit or the reporting rules. But there could be large fines…’
Coupled with the possible legal campaign was a request for $25,000 to research the case and determine the risks. The $25,000 was to be stored away in a separate account, a PC Trust, so it would be there when needed.
From published records, it is not certain that the contribution limit was ever broken by any person. After the campaign ended, the FEC sent a series of letters to the Browne Campaign, identifying donors who to its eyes had appeared to have given improperly large amounts. The FEC indicated that there were other donors whom it deliberately did not identify who also appeared to have given improperly large amounts. As of this writing (early 2000s), the Browne campaign has not filed a complete set of responses.
For several months the Browne campaign did defy the reporting rules, hiding its financial situation from Libertarians across America. Incidentally, it showed that the Federal Election Commission was a paper tiger, impotent at enforcing Federal Law. No enforcement actions or criminal prosecutions ensued during the Presidential campaign year, consistent with the Campaign’s promise that there was no risk of Federal prosecution. It may well be the case that, given the Commission’s limited enforcement budget, this was the best the Commission could do. Many laws have statutes of limitation, but the absence of prosecution during 2000 does not guarantee an absence of prosecution at later dates. The 2002 fine related, however, to a 2001 filing. (Your author, who has repeatedly run for office and has been the Treasurer of a Federal PAC, has always dutifully complied with FEC regulations to the best of his ability.)
Libertarian Presidential campaigns get less coverage than do the campaigns of Democrats and Republicans. The announcement was made on a Sunday. Only in mid-week did the announcement get the attention of the press. On Wednesday, March 15, Tim Curry of MSNBC.Com reported on the Browne Campaign’s intent to defy the law. MSNBC.com also contacted the FEC, and reported responses to their questions from an FEC spokesman. Browne’s Campaign Journal #5, as distributed through LibertyWire on March 25, reports on Browne’s contacts with Tim Curry, but does not mention MSNBC.Com’s contacts with the FEC.
