Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, has agreed to pay a whopping $55,000 fine to the Federal Election Commission for what he says were unintentional violations during his 1992 campaign.
Among them were accepting $13,450 in donations beyond legal donation limits; failing to disclose promptly $600,000 worth of last-minute contributions Bennett made himself before elections, and failing to pay back an aide quickly enough for $22,206 in campaign purchases he made.Not mentioned in the agreement with the FEC was an allegation from an earlier FEC audit that Franklin Quest, which Bennett once led, illegally funneled donations to Bennett via bigger-than-normal severance pay, which he used to help generate the $3 million that he personally gave to the campaign.
Bennett has always claimed he was properly owed such payment and could legally spend it any way he desired. Aide Greg Hopkins said the FEC, during its review of that campaign, dismissed that allegation a year ago as not credible.
In a statement issued Friday, Bennett said, "I'm glad, after 41/2 years, to finally have a resolution of this process, and I accept responsibility for the actions of my campaign staff and volunteers."
Sounding like House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who blamed his own donation problems on a lack of proper legal advice, Bennett said, "I had not retained the appropriate legal and accounting expertise through which these errors could have been avoided.
"Given the increasing complexity of the rules and procedures of federal campaigns, we now have a structure in place to ensure this will not happen again."
Bennett, a multimillionaire, also said, "I will pay the settlement amount of $55,000 out of personal funds so contributors to my campaign will know that their contributions will go toward getting my message to the voters and not toward correcting clerical errors of my first campaign."
Bennett will be up for re-election next year.
While Bennett voluntarily released early the agreement he reached this week with the FEC - they normally are not released by the FEC for about a month - that delayed release of FEC documents could give further details about the violations.
For example, brief documents released by Bennett show he acknowledges receiving $13,450 in above-the-limit donations, but it does not say from whom they came or why. That would likely be in the full FEC file.
FEC spokeswomen said the file likely won't be available for several days. Hopkins said the senator's office likely has that information, too. However, because Hopkins was traveling, the information probably cannot be found and released until next week.
Hopkins said the problem with such donations came most often from checks by a husband and wife that only one had signed. That meant all of the amount was counted against the $1,000-per-election limit (for primary and general elections) for that one person, not two. That person was then over the limit.
Campaigns by law are supposed to watch for such situations and return checks that exceed donation limits. The FEC said Bennett's campaign refunded excessive donations that it later identified.
Bennett also acknowledged failing to disclose promptly six donations totaling $600,000 that he personally provided within the two weeks before the general and primary elections. By law, such donations must be disclosed to the FEC within 48 hours.
Also, Bennett's campaign acknowledged that it didn't report $49,001 in 31 similar last-minute donations from other individuals, the agreement said.
The campaign also acknowledged it failed to repay within the 30 days required by law the $22,206 in campaign purchases that campaign manager Mike Tullis put on his personal credit card.
Bennett said it was repaid in about 45 days.
But because it was late, it was considered a campaign loan. Such loans are limited to $1,000 per election, too, meaning the amount far exceeded the limits.
Of note, former Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah, who lost the 1992 Senate race to Bennett that year, has complained he lost in part because he could not keep up with big spending by Bennett. Owens could not be reached for comment Friday.
Bennett's acknowledged violations join a long line of similar campaign problems that have plagued Utah office holders in recent years - often leading losers to claim that victors improperly "bought" the elections.
They include:
- Former Rep. Enid Greene, R-Utah, had $1.8 million illegally funneled into her campaign by her now ex-husband, Joe Waldholtz, who is serving a three-year federal prison sentence for campaign, bank and tax fraud.
The scandal led to Greene's not seeking re-election, despite claims she didn't know what Waldholtz did.
- Former Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah, was sued by the FEC for allegedly working illegally in concert with an independent group that attacked his GOP opponent in his first campaign. Orton denies it, and the case is still pending.
- The Republican Party paid a $10,000 fine for spending $51,885 more than legally allowed in 1986 for Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, and for GOP candidate Tom Shimizu who lost a House race against Owens.
- A business partner of Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Monzer Hourani of Houston, was fined $10,000 by the FEC for illegally paying his employees to donate to Hatch in 1988. Hatch's staff said it didn't know what Hourani did. It also did not have to return the money.