The following was written on August 2nd, 2014,
as a response to a Financial Disclosure inquiry
by the U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee
about my 2014 candidacy for the U.S. House in Oregon's 3rd District.
The Honorable Karen L. Haas, Clerk
Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives
Legislative Resource Center
B-106 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-6601
Dear Madam Clerk:
This is to notify you that I have not yet raised (either through
contributions or loans from myself or others) or spent in excess of
$5,000 for my campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives.
I understand that when I do raise or spend in excess of $5,000 for
my campaign, I must file a Financial Disclosure Statement with the
Clerk of the House of Representatives according to the deadlines set
out on pages 2 and 3 of the Financial Disclosure Instruction booklet,
a copy of which has been provided to me by the Clerk.
Additionally, I intend to request a waiver of the late filing fee,
because my Campaign Committee bank account has not been opened and
has not received or spent any funds, and because I did not open a
bank account, receive any campaign donations, or even finish
verifying my candidate and committee registration until several weeks
after the FD Statement was due.
I failed to file the Financial Disclosure Statement which was due on
May 15th, 2014, but I did not do so knowingly or willingly
(nor did I falsify any information), because between May 14th
and May 26th, I was still in the process of verifying my
candidate registration, Candidate ID Number, and the name and ID
Number of my Campaign Committee, with the Federal Election
Commission.
After I filled out and mailed FEC Forms 1 and 2 (between March 24th
and the 29th, the day they were postmarked), the Federal
Election Commission received the forms in April. It received Form 2
(Candidacy) on April 3rd , and Form 1 (Committee) on April
23rd. However, it was not until May 14th –
just one day before the Financial Disclosure Statement was due –
that I confirmed with the F.E.C. (via telephone) that they had
processed any of my paperwork.
I had spent the previous month and a half checking the F.E.C.
website, www.politics1.com, www.thegreenpapers.com, and other
websites, to find out whether the F.E.C. had received or processed my
paperwork, but I was not able to find any information. I did not
discover until mid-May that the way I was supposed to verify this
information was to make a phone call to the F.E.C..
Between May 14th and June 7th, I was in the
process of verifying my candidacy with the F.E.C.. Between May 14th
and May 22nd, I made multiple attempts to verify that I
was registered, and verify my Candidate and Committee ID Numbers. At
no point during any of these three phone calls did anyone inform me
that I needed to file a Financial Disclosure Statement.
These three attempts to verify that I was registered occurred on:
- May 14th, the day the F.E.C. told me that they had received and processed my paperwork. I did not verify either my Candidate ID Number, or find out the correct name and ID Number of my Committee. The F.E.C. did not inform me during the phone call that a Financial Disclosure Statement was due on the following day.
- May 16th, the day the F.E.C. informed me that I was a registered candidate, and explained to me that the Committee ID I had when I ran in Wisconsin in 2012 still applied to my run in Oregon in 2014. I had not yet discovered whether the name of the Committee had changed or stayed the same. The F.E.C. did not inform me during the phone call that I had failed to file a Financial Disclosure Statement the previous day.
- May 22nd, the day the F.E.C. told me that the name and ID Number of my Committee would not change. The F.E.C. did not inform me that I had failed to file a Financial Disclosure Statement one week prior; in fact, they told me that I would not have to file any more paperwork unless and until I file to end my committee.
It was not until May 26th that I mailed FEC Forms 1 and 2 again, in order to make sure that both forms were filled out properly. I did this on the advice of the Elections Division of the Oregon Secretary of State's Office.
On May 15th, the day the FD Statement was due, I had only
been aware that I was a candidate for one day. I had not yet
performed any of the following actions:
- Confirmed that I had an active Campaign Committee ID Number.
- Confirmed the name of my Campaign Committee.
- Opened a bank account for my Campaign Committee.
- Contributed or loaned any of my own money to any bank account.
- Received any campaign donations.
- Re-sent paperwork to ensure that FEC Forms 1 and 2 were correct.
- Been informed that I had to file any paperwork until I decide to withdraw my candidacy, aside from re-submitting FEC Forms 1 and 2.
At the time of this writing, I have still not opened a bank account
for my Campaign Committee. I have neither contributed nor loaned any
of my own money to any account. I have not received any campaign
donations, nor have I exceeded $5,000 in donations. I have also not
spent any funds.
I would like to request a waiver of the late filing fee for the
following reasons:
1) I was not able to fully confirm my candidacy – complete with
Candidate and Committee names and ID Numbers – by May 15th,
the date the FD Statement was due. I made attempts to verify and
re-submit this information on the 16th, the 22nd,
and 26th; however, I did not verify and compile all the
information until June 7th.
2) Between May 14th and May 15th (the day I
discovered that the F.E.C. had received and processed my information,
and the date the FD Statement was due), I did not open a bank account
for my Campaign Committee.
3) I have still not opened a bank account for my Campaign Committee,
which has not received any donations and does not have any funds to
report, nor to disburse.
If I had been aware that the Financial Disclosure Statement was due
on May 15th, I would have filed and mailed the FD
Statement on May 14th. However, I most likely would not
have had enough information to complete the form, because I had not
yet confirmed that the name and ID Number of my Campaign Committee
were accurate, nor did I do so completely until June 7th,
more than three weeks after the FD Statement was due. This is why my
failure to file the FD Statement was unknowing and unwilling.
If I had been able to fill out and mail the FD Statement at the
moment I discovered that I was a registered candidate (on May 14th),
not only would the form have failed to arrive by the May 15th
deadline, I would not have even had the time to open a bank account
the next day, nor receive and/or spend any campaign funds, nor to
inform anyone that I was ready to receive funds.
As I explained, I was not yet ready to receive funds, because I did
not yet know either the name or ID Number of my Campaign Committee.
It was not until June 7th that I was able to verify the
Candidate IDs, Committee IDs, and the name of the Campaign Committees
for both the 2012 and the current 2014 race. This is because the
F.E.C. had not been able to provide me with all of this information
during the course of the three phone calls and the multiple
correspondences by mail, so I had to find this information on the
internet.
I regret that I am unable to include a $200 check or money order,
but I do not have a personal checking account, nor any campaign funds
with which to do so. Please inform me as to what is the next step
that I should take in this process.
Sincerely, Joseph William Kopsick
Signed, Joseph William Kopsick
State: Oregon District: 03
Date: August 4th, 2014
Daytime Telephone: 608-417-9395
