By David Pendered The Federal Election Commission has determined that Tea Party Express did not disclose nearly $1 million it spent in 2011 and 2012 on efforts to defeat Barrack Obama and

Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar. Lugar lost his seat to a tea party candidate despite strong support from former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn. The FEC approved recommendations from its audit staff on Nov.

2, 2016. The report was distributed last week. According to the final audit, TPE did not respond to an interim audit report. TPE did respond to the final audit: * “[D]uring the time of

activity it experienced challenges with the data. TPE stated it was willing to amend reports as needed, however, has not done so as of yet. As such, TPE has not complied with the

Mourdock., a tea party hardliner. Nunn was quoted in a story that appeared in saportareport.com saying that he sought to raise money for Lugar’s reelection campaign. Nunn said he normally

doesn’t raise money for any candidate. But the loss of another moderate prompted him to send out a fundraising letter about three weeks before the day of the primary election. “The extremes

are in charge of both parties to a greater degree than they have been in the past,” Nunn said. “If middle America doesn’t assert itself in the near future, we are not going to be able to

solve the big problems looming before us. Nunn and Lugar crossed the aisle in 1991 to co-sponsor legislation following the demise of the former Soviet Union. The purpose was to establish a

program to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction and their associated infrastructure located in the states of the former Soviet Union, according to a report by

armscontrolcenter.org. The FEC’s final audit found a total of five errors committed by TPE: Misstatement of Financial Activity; Disclosure of Occupation/Name of Employer; Recordkeeping for

Communications; and Failure to Itemize Debt and Obligations. The fifth error is titled Reporting of Apparent Independent Expenditures. Auditors found evidence that TPE created materials

intended to defeat Obama and Lugar. TPE did not disclose its spending on the materials, according to the audit. The staff recommendation stated: * “[T]he Audit staff recommended that the

Commission find that TPE did not properly disclose independent expenditures totaling $848,522.” The FEC auditors noted that TPE correctly disclosed independent expenditures that totaled

$680,735. An independent expenditure is defined as, “an expenditure made for a communication expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate that is not made in

cooperation, consultation, or concert with or at the request or suggestion of a candidate, a candidate’s authorized committee, or their agents, or a political party or its agents.” FEC

auditors that TPE violated the provisions. TPE: * “[M]ade additional media- related expenditures totaling $848,522 and disclosed them as operating expenditures or other disbursements that

may be considered independent expenditures.” Here’s how the audit breaks down the expenses: * $829,427 – most of it associated with 17 fundraising letters that advocated the election or

defeat of clearly identified candidates; * $15,883 – for communication that could only be interpreted as advocating the election or defeat of one clearly identified candidate; * Unknown

costs, because no invoices or disbursements could be identified, for eight telecommunication scripts that contained language that called for the, “defeat of Barack Obama”, “elect a new

president”, or “put Ronmey and Paul in White House.” * $3,212 for seven independent expenditure emails. Of this sum, five emails priced at $2,288 contained express advocacy language calling

for the “defeat of Dick Lugar.” Two emails priced at $924 called for the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate. However, the invoice could not be traced to the disbursement

database or bank. _RELATED POSTS_