The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has imposed a fine on a federal contractor for donating money to a political group.
The FEC announced Thursday that it is fining Suffolk Construction for $34,000 after the Massachusetts firm made two $100,000 donations to a pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC.
Federal legislation prohibits federal contractors from offering money to political organizations.
Suffolk Construction has been a frequent recipient of federal government money, receiving more than $168 million in contracts since 2008. When it was donating money to the Clinton-based Priorities USA Action Group, Suffolk was in the middle of a $1.2 million contract with the Department of Defense, an FEC letter reports.
Priorities USA Action was founded to support Barack Obama during his 2012 re-election.
Suffolk Construction objected to the fine on the basis that government contracts account for only a “small fraction” of its overall income. It added that the pro-Clinton PAC reimbursed the company for its donation in June 2016.
The FEC was having none of it and said the PAC took its time giving the money back to Suffolk.
“While Suffolk may consider its federal contract work a ‘de minimis’ portion of its overall work, its $200,000 contributions to the Committee are not de minimis,” the FEC concluded in a letter.
The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 raised the issue with the FEC in a formal complaint filed in 2016. They are applauding the decision to fine Suffolk, suggesting the FEC’s decision to respond to the complaint and levy a fine will send a clear message to the corporate world that government contracts and political donations don’t mix.
“Hopefully this decision by the FEC deters companies with business before the government from attempting to buy influence in the future,” Democracy 21 general counsel Donald Simon said in a statement.
Brett Kappel, who specializes in the legalities of campaign financing, told the Boston Herald that the FEC was breaking new ground by penalizing Suffolk because there was “no precedent” for the action.