Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was handed a $12,000 fine by the Federal Election Commission for illegally fundraising for Stop Socialism Now PAC in 2020, according to a conciliation agreement signed last month and made publicly available on Friday.
The lawmaker appeared in an advertisement for the super PAC asking supporters for donations to finance the Georgia Senate runoff elections in January 2021 and shared the clip on her accounts on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Imagine. Biden and Harris in the White House. Pelosi is Speaker. And Schumer runs the Senate,” she said in the video. “All because Georgia lost our two Senate runoff seats to Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock… Stop Socialism Now PAC will stop Ossoff and Warnock from stealing our Senate seats. It’s time to fight back now, before it’s too late.”
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The ad later cut to on-screen text with a link directing to a donations page encouraging viewers to “[r]ush [their] emergency donation of $5,000, $2,500, $1,000, $500, $100, $50, or even as little as $10 right away” and stating that “[w]e must re-elect Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue and KEEP GEORGIA RED!”
Common Cause, a D.C. watchdog group that, according to its website, works to “ensure that every vote counts, that every eligible voter has an equal say, that our elections represent the will of the people, and that our government is of, by, and for the people,” filed a complaint in May 2021, alleging that Greene violated the “soft money” ban in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971 for “soliciting unlimited contributions.”
The group declared that under federal campaign finance law, federal candidates and officeholders are not allowed to “solicit… funds in connection with an election for Federal office… unless the funds are subject to the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements” of the FECA. They added that Greene was only permitted to request on behalf of the super PAC up to $5,000 from an individual donor, and no corporate or union funds.
According to a letter from Kimberly D. Hart, an attorney for the FEC, the congresswoman has 30 days to pay the fine.
