Nancy Rotering Accused of Violating Federal Campaign Law
- Highland Park Patch, Tim Morlan
- Jul 1, 2015
- 2 min read
Nancy Rotering, Mayor of Highland Park and a candidate in the 2016 Democratic Primary for the office of U.S. Congress in Illinois’ 10th District, has been accused of violating the Federal Election Campaign Act by raising more than $5,000 in campaign funds before she officially filed as a candidate.
The Foundation of Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) - a nonprofit dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas - has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Rotering alleging she received donations for her congressional campaign in excess of $5,000 as early as January and did not officially register as a candidate with the FEC until March.
“It’s a clear violation of law,” said former Iowa U.S. Attorney Matthew Whitaker, director of FACT. “This is something candidates need to be aware of and understand how the law operates this way.”
Whitaker added the FACT organization uses a “specific system” consisting of sweeping news stories to identify “straight-forward candidate violations.”
Related on Patch: Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering Announces Congressional Run
Based on media reports and Rotering’s own SEC filings, she accepted her first donation on January 23 and had raised more than $5,000 just six days later.
“During that time, she was bound by the Act’s registration and reporting requirements,” according to the complaint. “Under federal law, once an individual raises or spends $5,000 for a campaign, they are required to register as a candidate.”
Rotering filed a statement of candidacy on March 18, the same time she announced she would have “about $400,000 in her campaign war chest” - about half of which was donated by herself, according to Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune reports.
The Federal Election Campaign Act defines a candidate as an individual seeking election to a federal office who makes expenditures or receives contributions in excess of $5,000.
An exception does allow candidates to delay registering to allow for “testing the water” activities that assist the candidate in determining whether there is sufficient support for a candidacy. But once a candidate engaged in activities that are “relevant to conducting a campaign,” the testing the waters exception is no longer applicable - the complaint claims.
The complaint requests the FEC “conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into these practices.”
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