Turnham Agrees To Civil Penalty For Excessive Contributions

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced today that Joe Turnham, a candidate in the 2002 election in Alabama's 3rd Congressional district, the Joe Turnham for Congress Committee, and Pete Turnham (the candidate's father) have agreed to pay a $50,000 civil penalty for violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act.

The Commission found that Pete Turnham, who served as treasurer of the campaign committee, made excessive contributions totaling $166,502 to his son's campaign during 2002 and 2003. Both the candidate and his campaign committee received either checks or loan guarantees from Pete Turnham as contributions to the campaign.

In addition, the committee received $9,000 in other excessive contributions from individuals and a trust.  During the 2002 campaign the law allowed individuals to make contributions of no more than $1,000 per election to any candidate for federal office.           

The investigation of this matter stemmed from an audit of the committee undertaken by the FEC in the normal course of its regulatory responsibilities.