K'llotiV r_jJ FEDERAL atCTION COMMISSION FEDERAL ELECTFON COMMFSSFQJV 2 999 E Street, N.W. ^ -1 Pfl 5: 26 3 Washington, D.C. 20463 4 5 FFRST GENERAL COUNSEL'S REPORT 6 7 MUR 6690 8 DATE GOMPLAJNT FILED: November 9, 2012 9 ,DATE SUPPLEMENTAL COMPLAINT 10 FILED: February 25, 2013 11 DATE ACTIVATED: April 10,2013 12 LAST RESPONSE RECEIVED:. May 17, 2013 13 14 FT FPTTON rvri F- 9ni7 15 EXPIRATION OF SOL; November 4,201? (earliest) 16 NoYember 6, 2017 (latest) 17 18 GOMPLAFNANT: Jim Gibbons, Campaign Manager .for for" 19 U.S. Senate 20 21 RESPONDENT: Sobhani for and William Caldwell in his 22 official capacity as treasurer 23 24 RELEVANT STATUTES 2U.S.C. §44.1d 25 AND REGULATFONS: 11 C.F.R. § 100.26 26 11 C.F.R. § 100.28 27 11 C.F.R. § 110.11. 28 29 INTERNAL REPORTS CHECKED: Disclosure reports

30 FEDERAL AGENCIES CHECKED: None

31 I. INTRODUCTION

32 The complaint alleges that Sobhani for Maryland and William Caldwell in his official

33 capacity as treasurer ("Committee") made rpbo calls that lacked a required disclaimer. For the

34 reasons discussed below, we recommend that the Commission find reason to believe that the

35 Committee violated 2 U.S.C. § 44Id by failing to include a proper disclaimer in a phone bank and

36 authorize an investigation to ascertain the cost and number of robo calls made without a

37 disclaimer. MUR 6690 (Sobhani for Maryland) First General Counsel's Report Page 2 of8

1 II. FACTUAL AND LEGAL ANALYSIS

2 A. Facts 3 4 Rob Sobhani was an Independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland in the 2012

5 general election held on November 6, 2012, and the Committee was his authorized campaign

6 committee. The complaint alleges that on November 4,2012, the Committee placed robo calls to ! 7 Maryland residents without a disclaimer, in violation of the Commission's regulations. Compl. at

8 1 (Nov. 9, 2012).' The complaint states that the robo call contained the following message: I 9 Hi, this is Mary. I'm a lifelong conservative Republican here in Maryland. 1 10 just learned something shocking. The Republican nominee for U.S, Senate 11 doesn't support making English the official language. ButTndependent 12 candidate Rob Sobhani supports making English the official language. You 13 know, we conservatives can finally beat if we vote for the real 14 conservative in this race, Rob Sobhani. So don't waste your vote. Let's elect a 15 real conservative in this race. Rob Sobhani for U.S. Senate. Thanks for j 16 listening. i 17 ' 18 Id. j 19 I 20 Complainant, the campaign manager for Sobhani's opponent, Dan Bongino, asserts that i : 21 the Bongino campaign received a recording of the rObo call from a supporter, who purportedly 1

22 recorded the call on an answering machine.^ Email from Jim Gibbons, Campaign Manager, Dan ;

23 Bongino for U.S. Senate to Frarikie Hampton, CELA, EEC (Nov. 8, 2012 05:03 PM EST).

' The complaint was dated November 3,2012. Complainant also sent an email dated November 8,2012. OGC received the complaint on November 9,2012.

^ In his November 8, 2012 email, see supra, note 1, the Complainant addresses a reported allegation that its recording of the robo call was doctored to exclude the disclaimer. Two newspapers reported on the Committee making robocalls without a disclaimer. According to a prcss account, a spokesperson for Sobhani for Maryland acknowledged that the campaign had a robo call about Sbbhani's support of the use of the Engli.sh language but.stated that "perhaps Bongino campaign's video cut off the end of the call." See Pamela Wood, Bongino Accuses Sobhani of Robo Call Violation, Capital Gazette, Nov. 5, 2012; hltp.7/www.capitalgazette.com/news/election/bongino-accuses- sobhani-of-robocall-violation/article_47a8409c-929l-5b2c-8ca9-0782087ecbc5.html. Additionally, the article noted that the campaign spokes