Jones v. Unknown Agents of Federal Election Commission, 77-2093

• Decision Date: 23 August 1979
• Docket Number: No. 77-2093,77-2093
• Citation: 198 U.S.App.D.C. 131,613 F.2d 864
• Parties: Le Roy B. JONES et al., Appellants, v. UNKNOWN AGENTS OF the FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 864

613 F.2d 864

198 U.S.App.D.C. 131

Le Roy B. JONES et al., Appellants, v. UNKNOWN AGENTS OF the FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION et al., Appellees.

No. 77-2093.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Sept. 27, 1978.

Decided Aug. 23, 1979.

David S. Heller, New York City, a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of Wis., pro hac vice, by special leave of the court, with whom Joel D. Joseph, Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for appellants.

Charles N. Steele, Associate Gen. Counsel, and Barbara Van Gelder, Atty., Federal Election Commission, Washington, D.C., with whom William C. Oldaker, Gen. Counsel, Federal Election Commission, Barbara Allen Babcock, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Leonard Schaitman, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., were on the brief, for appellees.

Before McGOWAN and TAMM, Circuit Judges, and JUNE L. GREEN, ^* District Judge.

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge McGOWAN.

McGOWAN, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from an order of the District Court dismissing a suit in which appellants the United States Labor Party (USLP), the Committee to Elect Lyndon La Rouche (CTEL), and ten individuals who contributed to CTEL in 1976 (individual appellants) sought damages and injunctive relief against appellees, the Federal Election Commission (Commission) and various members of its staff. ¹ The suit was filed after the Commission concluded, on the basis of field interviews with CTEL contributors (including nine of the ten individual appellants), that Lyndon La Rouche, a candidate for the 1976 Presidential nomination of the USLP, had not raised the requisite amount of contributions to qualify for matching funds under the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account Act (Act), 26 U.S.C. §§ 9031-9042 (1976).

In the District Court, appellants asserted numerous constitutional, statutory, and common law claims arising out of both (1) the fact that the Commission conducted field interviews at all, and (2) the manner in which the interviews were conducted and the scope of the questions asked. The District Court, finding merit in none of these claims, denied injunctive relief and granted appellees' motion for summary judgment.

On appeal, appellants renew their allegations, with particular emphasis on their statutory, first amendment, and fourth amendment claims. Our task is to determine whether, on a reading of the record most favorable to appellants, appellees were entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. For reasons stated below, we conclude that the District Court erred in granting summary judgment with regard to (1) appellants' statutory claim that the Commission is not empowered to inquire during field interviews into issues bearing no relation at all to the subject matter of an otherwise legitimate investigation into a candidate's eligibility to receive primary matching funds, and (2) appellant Jones' fourth amendment claim that he was subjected to a warrantless seizure of certain financial documents and bank records. In all other respects, we affirm the decision under review.

I

On October 14, 1976, Lyndon La Rouche wrote the Commission requesting primary matching funds for his campaign for the USLP Presidential nomination. One of the eligibility requirements for such funds is that a candidate "certify" that he has received in excess of $5000 in contributions of $250 or less in each of at least 20 states. 26 U.S.C. § 9033(b)(3)-(4) (1976). For these purposes, the Act defines the term "contribution" as a "gift of money made by a written instrument which identifies the person making the contribution by full name and mailing address." Id. § 9034(a). La Rouche, in support of his application, submitted a notarized statement that he had raised the requisite amount, but provided no documentation of his contributions. Pursuant to inquiries by the Commission staff, CTEL, La Rouche's principal campaign committee, later submitted a computer printout listing contributions in excess of the threshold. But, once again, the Commission received no underlying documentation of the contributions.

On November 4, 1976, the Commission authorized its staff to conduct a field audit in order to verify La Rouche's eligibility for matching funds. That audit, which took place shortly thereafter at CTEL's headquarters in New York City, revealed that CTEL had in its possession written instruments evidencing campaign contributions in excess of the threshold amount in 18 states and that, with the submission as promised of certain additional documentation, it would soon cross the threshold in two more states, Connecticut and Indiana. But, in addition to this soon to be corrected shortfall, the audit uncovered many instances where contributions made by money order or cashier's checks raised substantial questions as to whether the contributions were in fact made by residents of the states indicated. ²

The audit also revealed a pattern of heavy last-minute contributions from persons listing their occupation as that of "volunteer coordinator" for the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC), an organization that, during the last two weeks of the eligibility period, received payments from CTEL of more than $310,000. ³ It further indicated that CTEL shared office space and common personnel with NCLC and three other organizations (New Solidarity International Press Service, Inc., Campaigner Publications, Inc., and the United States Labor Party) and that those organizations accounted for 78% Of CTEL's expenditures and 97% Of its debt. These findings seemed particularly significant in light of the fact that CTEL had surpassed the $5,000 threshold by only a narrow margin in at least several states.

On the basis of these findings, the Commission staff recommended, by memorandum of December 27, 1976, that the audit be expanded to include the four organizations closely related to CTEL and that individual CTEL contributors be interviewed to verify their contributions. The memorandum was initialed by, among others, defendants Potter, Steele, and Stoltz. At its meeting on December 29, 1976, the Commission voted to expand the audit to include the related organizations.

On January 13, 1977, the staff indicated by memorandum to the Commission that, absent objection, it was prepared to begin confirming contributions by means of field interviews with CTEL contributors. This memorandum was initialed by defendants Costa, Potter, Oldaker, Steele, and Stoltz. On January 14, 1977, after five Commissioners had returned the memorandum and the sixth had not objected, the Secretary of the Commission certified that the staff recommendation had been adopted. The Commission staff, on January 21, 1977, notified CTEL that its contributors soon would be approached for direct verification of their contributions.

During the week of January 26, 1977, six of the Commission's agents including defendants Allen, Dougherty, Sims, Vance, and Yowell ⁴ either did, or attempted to, interview listed contributors (including the ten individual appellants) ⁵ in three states, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin. They obtained the names and addresses of these individuals from the information CTEL had submitted in support of La Rouche's application for primary matching funds. In six cases (appellants Ford, Wayne and Nancy Hintz, Jones, Mazaris, and Toppin), the individuals received personal visits at their homes; in one case (appellant Park), the interviewee was visited at his place of work; and in two cases (appellants Chaplin and Dallas), the interviews were by telephone. Three appellants, Chaplin, Nancy Hintz, and Park, stated that they did not wish to talk, and the agents desisted.

One appellant who spoke at some length during his interview was Le Roy Jones. That interview, according to Jones, ⁶ proceeded as follows: Shortly after 7:45 on the morning of January 26, 1977, Jones was awakened by his wife who indicated that she had just answered a knock at their door and that two agents of the Commission wanted to speak with him. Jones went downstairs. One of the agents, who identified himself as Vance and produced his Commission identification badge, asked Jones how much money he had contributed to CTEL and wanted to know the source of the funds.

Jones apparently indicated that he had given at least some money to CTEL, for Vance then asked to see the cancelled checks and inquired when they had been written. When Jones responded that he did not think that he had either bit of information on hand, Vance replied in "an extremely threatening tone" that:

If you don't give me the exact information I asked for you cpuld (Sic ) get sentenced up to 10 years in jail and be given a $10,000 fine . . . you've got a nice house here, you wouldn't want to lose it would you?

A. 30-31. Thereafter, Jones, upon searching his records for thirty minutes, turned over to Vance his tax returns and a cancelled check documenting a contribution to CTEL.

Vance is then said to have asked Jones numerous questions about his political affiliations and beliefs, but Jones does not allege that he responded. The questioning next turned to how the USLP raised its money and who its contributors were, and Jones answered these questions to the best of his ability. Then Vance, once again stating the possible sanctions if Jones refused, asked Jones to reveal the bank account numbers of Jones' personal account and that of the USLP and further "demanded" Jones to sign a statement permitting the agents to inspect his bank records. Jones, "in great fear," signed the statements. Finally, Vance questioned Jones in some detail regarding his activities in the USLP and who paid his expenses, though again Jones does not allege that he responded.

At 9:15 A.M., Vance and his partner departed, leaving behind a business card in case Jones or his wife wanted to change their story. Both Jones and his wife, it is asserted, "felt thoroughly intimidated and in fear of loss of...