Opinion El.Bd. 77-1(Rev)

Co-signing a commercial loan: The guaranty of a commercial loan to a registrant becomes a personal loan and contribution from the guarantor only when the registrant defaults; the loan-contribution is then prorated among the various guarantors.  Sec. 11.01(5), Stats.  (Issued to Scott Herrick, July 1, 1977)

Opinion El.Bd. 77-2

Procedures for conversion of the campaign committee of a federal candidate to a campaign committee for state office; use of residual funds from a federal campaign for a state campaign.  (Issued to Peter Viviani, April 21, 1977)

Opinion El.Bd. 77-3

A national political party committee’s payment of compensation to another specifically in exchange for full-time political services performed on behalf of a Wisconsin committee is a contribution, which subjects the national committee to registration and applicable reporting requirements.  Such committee’s payment of compensation to an employee or employees performing occasional services for a Wisconsin committee, when such services are merely incidental to the work of the employee or employees on behalf of the national committee, is not a contribution.  Sec 11.01(5), Stats.  (Issued to George Innes, July 21, 1977)

Opinion El.Bd.  77-4

Preparation and distribution of absentee ballot application by candidates and others is permissible.  State election law is not applicable to the question of whether such application may be accepted by the municipal clerk if they carry political messages.  S. 6.86, Stats.  (Issued to Dan A. Ramsey, July 21, 1977)

Opinion El.Bd. 77-5

When a vote is not recorded on a voting machine for an elector who registers to vote on a referendum proposal, and there is no evidence that the absence of a recorded vote for the elector is the result of a machine malfunction, the elector should not be counted among the total of votes cast from which the majority necessary for passage of the proposal is calculated.  (Issued to William Winch, July 21, 1977)

Opinion El.Bd. 77-6

Earmarking; committee combining activities as registrant and conduit.  A committee’s transfer of funds in response to an individual contributor’s request that his contribution be used for a specific purpose is an act of earmarking, regardless of whether the request is made after the individual’s contribution takes place.  Such transfers may be made only if the committee functions as a conduit for the transfers, transferring the identities of the earmarking contributors to the designated recipients along with the earmarked funds.  A political registrant which contributes and disburses in its own name may also act as a conduit for the contributions of other if all receipts and transfer of funds for which it acts as a conduit are specifically designated as such on the registrant’s reports.  S. 11.16(4), Stats.  (Issued to Quinn Martin, August 18, 1977)

Opinion El.Bd. 77-7

Joint solicitation by federal and state committees: Under a joint solicitation plan, in which collected contributions are allocated by an escrow agent according to a predetermined formula between a state political committee and a committee whose activity is directed exclusively toward federal campaigns, and the contributors are advised of such allocation at the time of contribution, 1) the federal committee is not subject to the regulatory and reporting requirements of Chapter 11, Stats., 2) the funds allocated to the federal committee are not subject to the regulatory and reporting requirements of Chapter 11 and 3) the escrow agent is not subject to the registration and reporting requirements of Chapter 11.  s.11.03, Stats., Op.El.Bd. 74-1.  (Issued to Darwin Scoon, September 22, 1977)

Opinion El.Bd. 77-8

“Convention Bureau” assistance to political party conventions.  Corporate participation in the funding of a city’s “convention bureau” doe not preclude a political party from accepting convention bureau assistance, so long as the corporation’s participation in such funding is undertaken in the ordinary course of business and not for political purposes.  Convention bureau assistance to a political party is not a “contribution,” so long as such assistance is of substantially the same kind and degree as that provided for non-political conventions of similar scope.  Non-corporate funding and municipal funding of a convention bureau which provides assistance to a political party convention do not constitute political “contributions,” unless circumstances indicate that the funding is done for political purposes.  (Issued to George Innes, October 13, 1977)

Opinion El.Bd. 77-9

Fund-raising by committee agents: Where circumstances indicate that one is collecting contributions as agent of a committee, he or she must inform the committee of each collected contribution within three days of its collection and transmit the contribution to the committee’s treasurer within five days of its collection.  S. 11.06(2), Stats. (Issued to WM. Pharis Horton, November 17, 1977)

Opinion El.Bd. 77-10