Letter to the U.S. House Ethics Committee

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 15^th, 2014, but I did not do so knowingly or willingly (nor did I falsify any information), because between May 14^th and May 26^th, 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 24^th and the 29^th, the day they were postmarked), the Federal Election Commission received the forms in April. It received Form 2 (Candidacy) on April 3^rd , and Form 1 (Committee) on April 23^rd. However, it was not until May 14^th – 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 14^th and June 7^th, I was in the process of verifying my candidacy with the F.E.C.. Between May 14^th and May 22^nd, 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 14^th, 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 16^th, 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 22^nd, 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 26^th 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 15^th, 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 15^th, the date the FD Statement was due. I made attempts to verify and re-submit this information on the 16^th, the 22^nd, and 26^th; however, I did not verify and compile all the information until June 7^th.

2) Between May 14^th and May 15^th (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 15^th, I would have filed and mailed the FD Statement on May 14^th. 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 7^th, 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 14^th), not only would the form have failed to arrive by the May 15^th 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 7^th 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 4^th, 2014

Daytime Telephone: 608-417-9395