Planned Parenthood, Conservative Group Each Fined $110K By FEC

The political action committee for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a leading pro-abortion rights group, has agreed to pay nearly $115,000 in fines for filing incorrect campaign finance reports during 2004, according to a statement released by the Federal Election Commission on Thursday.

The Republican Issues Committee, a pro-GOP group, was also fined $110,000 by the FEC for filing inaccurate disclosure. The group reportedly has ties to conservative columnist Linda Chavez, but neither it nor its attorneys could be reached for a comment.

According to an FEC statement, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Inc. PAC (PPAF PAC) failed to disclose or erroneously reported more than $1.7 million in financial transactions during 2004. This included $700,000 in corporate donations it received between August and December 2004 from the parent federation; PACs cannot accept corporate contributions. The PAC did not initially report any of the corporate contribution on its disclosure reports, or its repayments of those funds to the federation.

According to its conciliation agreement with the FEC, the PPAF PAC conducted an independent audit of its finances once it was aware of problems in its reports, and it told the FEC “that the fund transfers were made by the Comptroller without the knowledge of his supervisors” at the time. The PAC also said the fund transfers were not designed to influence any federal election.

Planned Parenthood did not comment for this story at press time.

The Republican Issues Committee failed to report more than $1.07 million in receipts and $745,330 in receipts during late 2004. The committee blamed the inaccurate reports it filed with the FEC on a vendor that did fundraising for the organization.