BEFORE THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

MASON DI PALMA,

c/o Citizens for Turner

120 W 2nd Street
Suite 1510
Dayton, Ohio 45402

v. Matter Under Review No. ________

DESIREE TIMS, and

P.O. Box 17034

Dayton, OH 45417

FRIENDS OF DESIREE TIMS,

P.O. Box 17034

4323 W. 3rd Street
Dayton, Ohio 45417.

COMPLAINT

I am the campaign manager for Republican Mike Turner’s re-election campaign in

Ohio’s Tenth Congressional District. Pursuant to 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(1), I am filing this

complaint with the Federal Election Commission (“FEC” or “Commission”) because I have

reason to believe that Mr. Turner’s political opponent has engaged in a nearly year-long scheme

to violate several federal campaign finance laws. Indeed, their actions-to-date suggest that these

violations are ongoing and warrant the Commission’s immediate intervention.

As further detailed in this complaint, publicly available reports suggest that Mr. Turner’s

general election opponent, Desiree Tims, has misdirected more than $15,000 from her campaign

account into her own pocket via the payroll of the Ohio Democratic Party. While the FEC’s

regulations permit a candidate’s campaign to pay the candidate a salary, as apparently was the

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objective here, such salary payments are per se unlawful unless they meet specific conditions.

As further explained herein, the payments to Ms. Tims failed at least three of these bright-line,

regulatory requirements. These requirements include a restriction on a candidate paying

themselves a salary prior to the primary filing deadline, recently enforced by the Commission

against a candidate in New York.1

The conduct here is all the more egregious because Ms. Tims appears to have conspired

with the Ohio Democratic Party to disguise and launder these illicit salary payments through the

party illegally. Rather than permit the Tims campaign to get away with this deception, the

Commission should investigate this matter and fine the Respondents accordingly.

PARTIES

1. Complainant Mason di Palma is the campaign manager for Mike Turner, the Republican

candidate for Congress in Ohio’s Tenth Congressional District. Mr. Turner’s FEC-registered

campaign committee is Citizens for Turner.

2. Respondent Desiree Tims is the Democratic candidate for Congress in Ohio’s Tenth

Congressional District.

3. Respondent Friends of Desiree Tims is Ms. Tims’ federally-registered campaign committee.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

4. Ms. Tims has filed several Financial Disclosure Reports with the Clerk of the U.S.

House of Representatives disclosing information about her income and assets.

1
At https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/323/201908060300044323/201908060300044323.pdf.

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 See Desiree Tims, 2019 Financial Disclosure Report (Dec. 27, 2019);2 Desiree

Tims, 2020 Financial Disclosure Report (Aug. 13, 2020).3 The Financial

Disclosure Reports from 2020 claim that Ms. Tims received income in the form of

a stipend/salary from one – and only one – entity during the relevant period:

$17,000 in the aggregate from the Friends of Desiree Tims committee. See id.

5. Ms. Tims Financial Disclosure Report from December 27, 2019 did not list any

income for 2018 and failed to disclose the source of the claimed income for

2019.4

6. Ms. Tims upon being questioned by local media on this issue, filed 3

Amendments to her Financial Disclosure Report on September 2, 2020 – all of

which list varying amounts for the previously absent 2018 income in her

December 27, 2019 Disclosure. One Amendment from September 2, 2020 lists a

“Stipend” from Friends of Desiree Tims in the amount of $10,750 exactly from

the Current Year to Filing and $9,416.67 from the Preceding Year, as well as a

newly added source of income in the amount of $12,426 exactly listed under

“Law Clerk” at Dinsmore & Shohl.5 A separately filed different Amendment

from September 2, 2020 lists from Friends of Desiree Tims a “Salary/Stipend” in

an amount of $9,416.67 from the Current Year to Filing only, with an altered

“Summer Associate (2018)” position at Dinsmore & Shohl in the amount of

$23,000 exactly and a newly added “Salary (2018)” from the League of

2
At https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2019/10032332.pdf.
3
At https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2020/10035961.pdf.
4
At https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2019/10032332.pdf.
5
At https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2020/10038953.pdf.

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 Conservation Voters in the amount of $5,000 exactly.6 Yet another Amendment

filed September 2, 2020 lists a “Salary/Stipend” from Friends of Desiree Tims

from the Current Year to Filing in the amount of $8,166.67 with nothing in the

Preceding Year, and repeats as the only consistency between all 3 Amendments –

the $23,000.00 from Dinsmore & Shohl and $5,000.00 from League of

Conservation Voters.7

7. According to the FEC’s records, it does not appear that Ms. Tims’ campaign

committee has ever paid a stipend and/or a stipend/salary to Ms. Tims.

8. Instead, according to FEC records, Friends of Desiree Tims made the following

regular series of payments8 to the Ohio Democratic Party:

DATE OF PAYMENT AMOUNT

August 22, 2019 $922.36

September 3, 2019 $1,953.47

September 16, 2019 $2,823.06

October 1, 2019 $1,953.47

October 11, 2019 $1,490.27

October 23, 2019 $2,980.54

November 4, 2019 $3,443.74

November 14, 2019 $2,980.54

December 4, 2019 $3,487.77

6
At https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2019/10038954.pdf.

7
At https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2019/10038951.pdf.
8
At
https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00713743&recipient_name=ohio+
democratic+party&two_year_transaction_period=2020.

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 December 13, 2019 $2,980.54

January 6, 2020 $3,487.77

January 15, 2020 $5,961.08

February 3, 2020 $6,368.96

February 14, 2020 $4,470.81

March 3, 2020 $4,470.81

March 17, 2020 $5,126.52

April 8, 2020 $9,299.28

April 20, 2020 $6,795.63

May 4, 2020 $6,795.63

May 26, 2020 $5,603.41

June 4, 2020 $5,603.41

June 24, 2020 $5,663.02

9. The “Purpose of Disbursement” description for these payments was generally

listed as “Contribution.”9

10. Then in turn, according to FEC records, the Ohio Democratic Party made the

following series of regular payments10 to Desiree Tims beginning several weeks

after the first “contribution” arrived from the Tims campaign:

9
At
https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00713743&recipient_name=ohio+
democratic+party&two_year_transaction_period=2020.
10
At
https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00016899&recipient_name=tims%
2C+desiree&two_year_transaction_period=2020.

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 DATE OF PAYMENT AMOUNT

September 13, 2019 $1,016.21

September 27, 2019 $1,016.20

October 11, 2019 $1,016.21

October 29, 2019 $1,016.20

November 14, 2019 $1,016.21

November 28, 2019 $1,016.20

December 12, 2019 $1,016.21

December 30, 2019 $1,016.20

January 14, 2020 $1,018.39

January 30, 2020 $1,018.40

February 13, 2020 $1,018.39

February 27, 2020 $1,018.40

March 13, 2020 $1,018.39

March 27, 2020 $1,018.40

April 14, 2020 $1,018.39

April 29, 2020 $831.51

May 15, 2020 $831.51

11. The “Purpose of Disbursement” for these payments from the Ohio Democratic

Party to Ms. Tims is listed as “Payroll.”11

11
At
https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00016899&recipient_name=tims%
2C+desiree&two_year_transaction_period=2020.

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 Count I – Misuse of Campaign Funds for Personal Use

12. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (“FECA”) prohibits the

conversion of campaign funds for personal use. See 52 U.S.C. § 30114(b). The

FEC’s regulations clearly explain that salary payments to a candidate are a per se

violation of the personal use prohibition unless such payments comply with

certain conditions. See 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g); see also First General Counsel’s

Report, Matter Under Review 7068 (Mowrer for Iowa) at 4 (Dec. 5, 2016).12

13. One of these conditions is that the salary payment must come directly from “a

candidate’s principal campaign.” 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g)(1)(i)(I); see also

Disclaimers, Fraudulent Solicitation, Civil Penalties, and Personal Use of

Campaign Funds, 67 Fed. Reg. 76,962, 76,972 (Dec. 13, 2002) (“the candidate’s

salary must be paid from his or her principal campaign committee only”)

(emphasis added).

14. As noted above, upon review of the FEC’s database, there is no information

indicating that Ms. Tims received a salary payment from her campaign committee

– Friends of Desiree Tims. Instead, it appears that the Ohio Democratic Party

made biweekly salary payments of approximately $1,020 to Ms. Tims beginning

in September 2019 and generally continuing through 2020. To date, the total

amount of the party’s salary payments to Ms. Tims on its FEC reports is

$16,921.42. Because these payroll-related payments came from the Ohio

12
At https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/7068/18044452883.pdf.

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 Democratic Party rather than the candidate’s campaign, they are clear violations

of § 113.1(g)(1)(i)(I) and constitute a per se personal use of campaign funds.

15. Another requirement of § 113.1(g)(1)(i)(I) is that the total amount of any salary

payments cannot exceed the lesser of either the current congressional salary or

“the earned income that [the] candidate received during the year prior to

becoming a candidate.” In Ms. Tims’ case, the relevant baseline year is 2018, as

she became a candidate in 2019. See Statement of Candidacy of Desiree Tims

(filed on Nov. 18, 2019).13

16. Ms. Tims filed her initial Financial Disclosure Report on December 27, 2019. See

Desiree Tims, 2019 Financial Disclosure Report.14 The instructions

accompanying that form provide that “[t]he reporting period for candidates . . . is

generally January 1 of the prior calendar year through the current calendar year to

a date within 30 days prior to the date of filing.” U.S. House of Rep. Comm. on

Ethics, Instruction Guide at 6 (2019).15 On Ms. Tim’s December 27, 2019

Financial Disclosure, the only income – earned or otherwise – reported by Ms.

Tims for this two-year period was $7,500 in salary payments. See Desiree Tims,

2019 Financial Disclosure Report.16 But these payments were made in 2019

rather than 2018. See Desiree Tims, 2020 Financial Disclosure Report

(explaining the $7,500 amount was paid in the “[p]receding [y]ear”). In other

words (except claimed by her recently filed September 2, 2020 Amendments of

13
At http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/H0OH10116/1363329/.
14
At https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2019/10032332.pdf.
15
At
https://ethics.house.gov/sites/ethics.house.gov/files/documents/CY%202019%20Instruction%20Guide%20for%20Fi
nancial%20Disclosure%20Statements%20and%20PTRs.pdf.
16
At https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2019/10032332.pdf.

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 inconsistent and unverified amounts) Ms. Tims reported no income at all in 2018

by her initial Disclosure. Therefore, a salary payment of any amount in 2019 –

including payments aggregating to $7,500, as here – would exceed the zero-dollar

baseline and constitute a per se personal use of campaign funds. If Ms. Tims did

make a salary in 2018, she has neither provided the documentation or consistent

information to measure if she is in fact in violation of this clearly stated law.

17. The same is true of Ms. Tims’ 2020 salary payments, which to date total at least

$9,500. See id. Because this amount exceeded the initial 2018 zero-dollar

baseline, this income also represents a per se personal use of campaign funds. If

in fact Ms. Tims 2018 salary baseline is higher than zero, she has also failed to

provide reliable information to legally disclose as such.

18. As stated by 11 CFR § 113.1(g)(1)(i)(I), a candidate who pays themselves a salary

out of campaign funds “must provide income tax records from the relevant years

and other evidence of earned income upon the request of the Commission.”17 The

relevant years for the amount that Ms. Tims is legally able to pay herself from her

campaign include that of 2018 and 2019 – for which Ms. Tims has provided

widely inconsistent information.

19. A third condition is that any salary “shall not be paid to a candidate before the

filing deadline for access to the primary election ballot for the Federal office that

the candidate seeks, as determined by State law.” Id.

17
At https://www.fec.gov/regulations/113-1/2020-annual-113#113-1-g-1-i-H.

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 20. In Ohio, the filing deadline for congressional candidates was December 18, 2019.

See Ohio Sec’y of State, Ohio Candidate Requirement Guide at 6.18 As noted

above, the Ohio Democratic Party began making “payroll” payments to Ms. Tims

beginning on September 13, 2019,19 several months before the candidate could

legally receive such payments (even if they were legally made from her principal

campaign). The amount of these payments totaled at least $7,113.44 before the

filing deadline of December 18th – when it became legal for her to receive a salary

from her own campaign. Therefore, in addition to the violations noted above,

nearly all of Tims’ 2019 salary represents a per se personal use of campaign

funds, regardless of what she actually earned in 2018.

21. These FECA violations are not de minimis and, in the Commission’s own words,

warrant “a significant civil penalty.” See Conciliation Agreement, Matter Under

Review 7068 (Mowrer for Iowa) at 5 (Aug. 30, 2018).20 Indeed, the FEC fined

candidate James Mowrer and his campaign committee thousands of dollars for

making impermissible salary and health insurance premium payments in amounts

less than those at issue in this case. See id. Here, applying the Mowrer matter’s

penalty-to-violation ratio would mean that Tims and her accomplices face a

minimum penalty of $11,746.

18
At https://www.ohiosos.gov/globalassets/publications/election/2020_crg.pdf.
19
At
https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00016899&recipient_name=tims%
2C+desiree&two_year_transaction_period=2020.
20
At https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/7068/18044452939.pdf.

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 Count II – Misreporting the Purpose of
Expenditures to Deceive Regulators and the Public

22. The FEC’s regulations require political committees to specify the “purpose” of

any itemized disbursement, with the term “purpose” meaning “a brief statement or

description of why the disbursement was made.” 11 C.F.R. § 104.3(b)(3), (4).

23. Friends of Desiree Tims reported payments to the Ohio Democratic Party were

listed as “contributions.”21 However, based on information and belief – the funds

appear to have been transferred not as “contributions” but as earmarked payments

to cover candidate Tims’ salary and other campaign expenses.

24. Similarly, the Ohio Democratic Party reported payments to Tims as “payroll.”22

However, upon information and belief, the payments were not a payroll expense

of the party but rather were salary payments to the candidate from diverted funds

of Friends of Desiree Tims.

25. The effect of the improper reporting appears to be to disguise the use of campaign

funds and to defeat the truthful public disclosure that is required by the law and

which would inform voters that the candidate was using campaign funds to pay

herself a salary. Cf. Disclaimers, Fraudulent Solicitation, Civil Penalties, and

Personal Use of Campaign Funds, 67 Fed. Reg. at 76,972 (approving the

permissibility of salary payments only after making clear that “all candidate . . .

salaries [must] be fully disclosed to the public [such that] those who contribute to

21
At
https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00713743&recipient_name=ohio+
democratic+party&two_year_transaction_period=2020.
22
At
https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?data_type=processed&committee_id=C00016899&recipient_name=tims%
2C+desiree&two_year_transaction_period=2020.

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 the campaign and who support the candidate will be able to voice their approval,

or disapproval, of this use of campaign funds”).

26. Accordingly, all of the above itemized payments by Friends of Desiree Tims were

improperly and inaccurately reported in violation of 11 C.F.R. § 104.3.

CONCLUSION AND VERIFICATION

Based on the foregoing information, I request that the Commission investigate this matter

and take all appropriate steps to remedy the violations identified herein. Further, I affirm that the

factual statements above are, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true pursuant to 18 U.S.C.

§ 1001.

DATE: September 8, 2020 Respectfully submitted,

____________________________________
Mason di Palma

Sworn to and subscribed before me this ___ day of September 2020.

_____________________________________

Notary Public

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