EMAIL DETAILS

Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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Begin forwarded message:

From: "William Farah" <wfarah@williamfarah.com>
Date: July 15, 2010 11:57:58 AM EDT
To: "Dennis Toner" <dennistoner@gmail.com>, "Alan Hoffman " <alanlhoffman@hotmail.com>
Cc: "Eric Schwerin" <eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com>, "Phu Huynh" <PHuynh@oldakerlawgroup.com>
Subject: Biden for President Audit: Good news! But still work to do.

The Federal Election Commission considered the Final Audit Report for Biden for President this morning and voted 5-0 to approve it with certain modifications. Once the audit report is delivered, the Committee will have 30 days in which to make the payments recommended in the report. As you know, to pay these amounts, the Committee will need to raise at least an additional $140,000-150,000. (Probably $160,000 - 175,000 is a safer sum, but we should discuss at your earliest convenience.) I hope this work can commence so the payment can be made quickly and the Committee can be terminated soon thereafter.

Most important, the Commissioners generally accepted the circumstantial evidence we had produced and agreed it appears the Committee sent timely “presumptive re-designation notices” for the approximately $1.1 million in contributions that the FEC auditors had claimed were not resolved in a timely manner because the Committee was unable to produce the requisite presumptive re-designation notices. (As you will recall, these notices were lost when the Committee moved offices after the campaign ended.) The Commissioners did find it was a violation of FEC recordkeeping requirements and it will be noted as such in the audit report, but the level of concern is not as serious as that associated with the untimely resolution of contributions totaling $1.1 million. In fact, I think the chance of an enforcement referral has diminished greatly.

I should note that Republican Commissioner Donald McGahn II led the charge for the Committee, and even stated that it was important the public not misunderstand the audit report to mean that Biden’s campaign had accepted $1.1 million in illegal contributions. He also impressively pointed out that several other issues identified in the audit report were not what they appeared and involved fairly technical issues. In sum, he was a great champion for the Committee.

When I receive the final audit report, I will forward a copy to you. As in my last e-mail, we should discuss next steps, including fundraising plans, at your earliest convenience. We are getting very close to winding this up, and I’d hate anything to prevent what appears will be a smooth landing. As I’ve indicated, our offices are available for a meeting or, if you prefer, we could talk telephonically.

Bill Farah

William J. Farah
Oldaker, Belair & Wittie, LLP
818 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20006
202.496.3476 (Direct Dial)
202.728.1010 (General)
202.464.0669 (Fax)
wfarah@williamfarah.com