We are writing in response to an RFAI we received dated April 15, 2020. We have reviewed each of the contributions listed in the RFAI to determine whether any contributors did exceed their contribution limit to our federal PAC. There were some discrepancies between the contribution information listed in the RFAI and our records. Since the time of contribution, some of the listed contributions were previously refunded directly back to the donors? original payment cards, but the refunds were not included in the RFAI, as listed below (Refund Date, Name, Amount):
1. 2019-01-09, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
2. 2019-01-09, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
3. 2019-02-06, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
4. 2019-02-06, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
5. 2019-03-08, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
6. 2019-03-08, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
7. 2019-03-08, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
8. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
9. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
10. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
11. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
12. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
13. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
14. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $10.00
15. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $20.00
16. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $25.00
17. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $50.00
18. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $50.00
19. 2019-06-04, Peg Yorkin, $100.00
20. 2019-06-30, Peg Yorkin, $25.00
21. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $10.00
22. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $10.00
23. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $10.00
24. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $10.00
25. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $10.00
26. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $25.00
27. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $25.00
28. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $25.00
29. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $50.00
30. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $50.00
31. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $50.00
32. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $50.00
33. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $50.00
34. 2020-02-21, Cynthia Walk, $50.00
35. 2020-05-19, Cynthia Walk, $500.00 (*this refund occurred after we received the RFAI)
36. 2019-12-23, Dale Taylor, $280.00
37. 2019-12-01, Judith McGrath, $150.00
Additionally, some of the contributions listed for William Connell in the RFAI were actually made as earmarked contributions to other committees, rather than directly to ActBlue, and therefore do not affect the contribution limit to ActBlue. Those contributions are as follows (Date, Amount, Actual Recipient):
1. 2019-02-09, $2800.00, Warren for President, Inc.
2. 2019-02-18, $5000.00, New Hampshire Democratic Party - Federal Account
3. 2019-04-09, $2700.00, Ilhan for Congress
4. 2019-05-09, $5000.00, Nevada State Democratic Party - Federal Account
After taking these changes into account, we concluded that some contributions made to our federal account did exceed the contribution limits for certain contributors. We mailed out refund checks on May 15, 2020 to these donors listed in the RFAI to bring their 2019 contributions to ActBlue into alignment with the limits. The refund checks we issued are as follows (Check Date, Name, Amount):
1. 2020-05-12, William Connell, $400.00
2. 2020-05-12, Wayne Jordan, $3060.00
3. 2020-05-12, Deborah Simon, $13539.00
4. 2020-05-12, Paul Samuelson, $480.00
5. 2020-05-12, Martha Samuelson, $17600.00
6. 2020-05-12, Sujo Offield, $1287.00
7. 2020-05-12, James Offield, $7150.00
8. 2020-05-12, Dale Taylor, $1680.00
9. 2020-05-12, Shery Cotton, $6314.04
10. 2020-05-12, Martha Knox, $397.40
11. 2020-05-12, M. Quinn Delaney, $540.00
12. 2020-05-12, Cynthia Walk, $579.00
13. 2020-05-12, Charles Ueng, $10.00
14. 2020-05-12, David Coles, $2919.50
15. 2020-05-12, Jeff Applegate, $287.90
16. 2020-05-12, Jane Eger, $814.60
17. 2020-05-12, Christina Lang-Assael, $4360.00
18. 2020-05-12, Christopher Lutz, $1027.50
19. 2020-05-12, Judith McGrath, $175.00
20. 2020-05-12, Peg Yorkin, $760.60
These refunds will also be disclosed on our 2020 June Monthly Report.
We have enhanced our ability to detect contributions over the limit in the future. Identifying these contributions within the context of the tens of millions of contributions made to our committee each year presents a unique challenge. We have identified the procedural oversight that resulted in our failure to identify these excessive contributions and corrected it.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions.