Unforced Error: Pence’s $7M Warchest Mostly Frozen From Going to Holcomb

Unforced Error: Pence’s $7M Warchest Mostly Frozen From Going to Holcomb

In VP rush, Pence failed to transfer Indiana money before becoming fed. candidate

Non-partisan expert: Pence’s bigger donations can’t go to new candidate

The majority of Mike Pence’s $7 million in state funds cannot be transferred to new GOP candidate Eric Holcomb, according to federal election law.

Today, Politico reported the non-federal funds in Pence’s state account may be frozen due to an unforced error by Pence. “But Federal Election Commission rules restricting how federal candidates use state campaign accounts have come into play since Pence joined Trump’s ticket, and legal experts say it is unlikely that Holcomb will be able to directly use all or even most of the money in Pence’s gubernatorial account,” Politico reported today. 

“In Mike Pence’s rush to escape Indiana, he failed to take action to comply with FEC rules,” said Jared Leopold, Communications Director at the DGA. “Now, most of Pence’s $7 million is frozen. Indiana Republicans might want to pick their nominee behind closed doors, but they still need to comply with federal campaign finance law.”

Pence failed to transfer the funds prior to becoming a federal candidate, a transition that occurred last week when he was officially nominated in Cleveland. Federal candidates cannot transfer non-federal money from their state accounts, according to Federal Elections Commission (FEC) precedent from a 2007 case involving former Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock. The FEC ruled in that case that Schock could not transfer non-federally permissible state funds to other candidates.

“That’s the last the FEC has said on the issue,” Campaign Legal Center general counsel Larry Noble told Politico.

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