Fred Dombo and Bill Powers Help VoteDown Secure Approval of Advisory Opinion from FEC

A Nossaman team led by Fred Dombo and Bill Powers helped VoteDown PAC successfully gain approval of an advisory opinion from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for the Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. §§ 30101–45 (the Act). The Act will allow VoteDown to operate as a conduit for contributions earmarked for federal candidates opposing several incumbent federal officeholders. Fred and Bill represented VoteDown in a hearing before the FEC on the matter.

In its press release on the approval, the FEC stated, “The requestor asked whether, after using polling or fundraising data to identify ‘leading opponents’ of candidates and incumbent officeholders, it may earmark and forward contributions to such leading opponents or, in the alternative, to national party committees. The Commission concluded that neither the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the Act), nor Commission regulations prohibit the proposed activities as described in four of the five questions posed in the request but that the requestor must report any funds it receives to offset the cost of credit-card processing fees as contributions to the requestor.” 

VoteDown PAC is a hybrid PAC established in 2023 for the purpose of “promoting the election of non-incumbent candidates for Federal office.”