Brandis L. Zehr

Assists candidates, officeholders, political parties, PACs, corporations, and trade associations in complying with campaign finance, ethics, lobbying, pay-to-play, and other areas of political law. Counsels candidates running for federal office at all stages of the electoral process. Represents clients before the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in enforcement proceedings, rulemaking comments, and advisory opinion requests. Represents clients before the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), U.S. House Committee on Ethics, and U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics in ethics matters. Advises tax-exempt charitable and social welfare organizations in the areas of federal and state corporate and tax compliance and in securing and retaining tax exemption.

All federally registered PACs are required to file post-general election reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by midnight EST on Thursday, December 5, regardless of their activity. This includes both monthly and quarterly filers.

With the first Republican Presidential debate behind us, we know that we are approaching the 2024 election season. Yesterday (Sunday, September 17), the season really kicked off as far as federal campaign finance is concerned. Below is a discussion of the importance of that date as well as other significant numbers and compliance time periods to keep in mind until November 2024.

Today, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm three new nominees to serve as Commissioners of the Federal Election Commission (FEC or Commission). The nominees are Shana Broussard, Sean Cooksey, and Allen Dickerson. They are expected to be appointed by the White House soon. After the three new Commissioners are sworn in, they will fill three empty seats on the Commission and restore a quorum for the agency to conduct business. The six-member Commission had lacked the necessary quorum of at least four Commissioners for 13 of the last 15 months – it had a quorum for only two months since September 2019. The addition of three new Commissioners will restore the full complement of six Commissioners to the agency.

Wiley’s Election Law partner Brandi Zehr sits down with TMT partner Scott Delacourt and associate Boyd Garriott to discuss the impact of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) on political campaigns, the regulatory risk of the TCPA, and cases we should be watching and their possible implications for political callers.