Boehner’s campaign committee to pay $4,300 in FEC fines

Speaker John Boehner’s reelection committee agreed to pay $4,300 in fines for failing to return more than $57,000 in excess contributions from individual donors and political action committees during the 2012 cycle.

Friends of John Boehner, the Ohio Republican’s campaign committee, also agreed to have a representative of the committee participate in a Federal Election Commission conference, webinar or other program along with and implementing “internal controls” consistent with the FEC’s guidelines and best practices, the FEC said in a statement Friday describing the agreement.

“Large committees routinely handle these issues,” said Cory Fritz, Boehner’s campaign spokesman. “We take compliance with FEC rules and regulations seriously, and have taken corrective actions.”

{mosads}The Cleveland Plain Dealer first reported the settlement.

Campaign finance laws limit the amount of money individuals and political action committees or PACs can donate to candidates each cycle. Any excess money must be returned to the donor within a specific timeframe.

The FEC said Boehner’s committee failed to return excess donations on time to 32 individual donors, four multicandidate PACs, and three non-multicandidate PACs during the 2012 cycle.

“The Committee did not timely refund, reattribute or redesignate these excessive contributions,” the FEC said in a report last summer.

The excess contributions, however, represented only a small percent of Boehner’s donations. Friends of John Boehner raised more than $22 million during the 2012 cycle and another $18 million in the 2014 cycle.

Among the groups that gave too much money to Boehner were the National Association of Health Underwriters, energy producer Exelon, Genesis Health Care Corp., and paper and packaging manufacturer Rock Tenn Company, according to the Plain Dealer.

This post was updated at 7:09 p.m.