It was the “fuck you” to Donald Trump that cost the Australian Labor party $14,500.
The United States Federal Election Commission fined the ALP the amount following an investigation into the behaviour of Labor party delegates volunteering with Bernie Sanders’s unsuccessful 2016 Democratic primaries campaign.
In 2017 the US electoral watchdog found “probable” cause to believe the ALP had breached US election rules, by paying for the flights and associated costs for ALP delegates to volunteer with the Sanders campaign.
Its findings may change how such trips are funded into the future, with the FEC viewing Labor’s practice of paying for the trips as an “overseas contribution”, which is considered a breach of US electoral rules.
The ALP rejects the argument that paying for flights and travel costs for delegates to observe sister party elections is an infringement of FEC regulations but has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $14,500 to settle the matter.
It is understood the conciliation agreement the Labor party executive entered into with the FEC contains no admission of liability by the ALP.
“We were surprised that the FEC decided to pursue it at all but it’s not worth having the fight over, so we’re just ending it,” a senior Labor source told Guardian Australia.
“All parties send observers to overseas elections. It has happened for decades. This is a new and very strict interpretation. We don’t believe any rules were broken.”
The FEC is expected to release the details of the agreement in March.
A complaint was filed with the FEC after a former Australian National University Labor Club president, Ben Kremer, made headlines in the US and Australia in February 2016. Kremer was identified on tape by an undercover conservative campaign group while attempting to vandalise then Republican candidate Donald Trump’s election signs.
Kremer’s name featured prominently in the Project Veritas recording, where others identified as Australian volunteers were heard bragging about receiving taxpayer funds to volunteer on the campaign while attempting to tamper with Trump’s signage. At one point the voice identified as Kremer’s declares: “Fuck you, Donald.”
