Evidence Shows Annette Taddeo and her Campaign Illegally Used State Campaign Resources
Washington, D.C. --- July 29, 2022 ---The non-partisan ethics watchdog, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), submitted a complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) seeking an investigation into whether Annette Taddeo, a FL State Senator and former gubernatorial candidate, and her campaign illegally used state campaign resources for her federal congressional bid.
Federal law prohibits candidates running for federal office from using or transferring funds or assets from a state campaign. This prohibition stems from the fact that federal law does not apply to state campaigns, and thus state campaign funds and assets are not subject to federal limits on contributions or reporting requirements. Federal law specifically states: “Transfers of funds or assets from a candidate’s campaign committee or account for a nonfederal election to his or her principal campaign committee or other authorized committee for a federal election are prohibited."
FACTS:
In June 2022, Taddeo released a video advertisement announcing her campaign for the U.S. House. The advertisement was substantially the same as an advertisement from her gubernatorial campaign seven months earlier. The first one minute and 20 seconds is identical video footage of her previous gubernatorial campaign, and the same video footage is used throughout the advertisements.
This video footage is an asset of her state campaign and cannot be used by her federal campaign.
On its July 15, 2022, FEC Report, Taddeo for Congress did not report any payments to Taddeo's state campaign. Similarly, Taddeo's gubernatorial campaign did not report any receipts from Taddeo's federal campaign as of its June 24, 2022, report and Taddeo's state senate campaign did not report any receipts from Taddeo's federal campaign as of its June 24, 2022, report.
Taddeo's state campaign was not subject to the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements of federal law. Thus, both before and after announcing her federal campaign, Taddeo is not permitted to spend any state campaign funds for her federal election and is not permitted to transfer any funds or assets from her state campaign committee to her federal campaign committee.
“The law is quite clear--federal candidates cannot use funds or assets from a state campaign because doing so would be a violation of the federal contribution limits and reporting requirements. In this case, the video footage, and in turn nearly the whole advertisement, was obviously from a prior state campaign and is an asset of that campaign. For this reason, we urge the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether this transfer of assets was in violation of federal campaign law,” said Kendra Arnold, Executive Director of FACT.
A full copy of the complaint can be found here.
FACT is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoted accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas. For more on FACT, visit: http://www.factdc.org/
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