A Statement from CFA Regarding Mondale’s Activities
After leaving the government in 1981 Walter F. Mondale became counsel to the law firm of Winston & Strawn, At the time he also undertook various other business activities. In addition, during 1981 through the November 1982 elections Mr. Mondale was active on behalf of candidates of the Democratic Party and the Committee for the Future of America (CFA), a multicandidate political committee supporting Democratic candidates.
During this period Mr. Mondale’s office was in Winston & Strawn’s Washington, D.C., office. From the outset, careful attention was paid to the need to keep separate the cost of supporting his various activities so as to ensure that neither Mr. Mondale nor Winston & Strawn would absorb costs properly to be paid by political organizations such as CFA.
Accordingly, every effort was made to ensure that expenses were properly attributed so that none of Mr. Mondale’s non-law-firm activities would result in an in-kind contribution to CFA from him or from the law firm.
Mr. Mondale and CFA were scrupulously careful to ensure that none of his activities subsidized CFA and that CFA did not subsidize Mr. Mondale. With regard to travel, the Federal Election Commission’s rules governing allocation of expenses between campaign- and non-campaign-related travel for candidates for federal office [were followed]. Since Mr. Mondale was not a candidate during his efforts on CFA’s behalf, the portion of his campaign-related travel attributed to each candidate on whose behalf he appeared was “allocated on a reasonable basis.” To comply with this requirement, each of his trips was analyzed to allocate expenses to the proper activity.
In addition, for expenses other than travel, Mr. Mondale and CFA each paid a proportionate share of the salaries and overhead of employees not performing law-firm business who were located at Winston & Strawn. Moreover, CFA and Mr. Mondale personally each paid a proportionate share of each of the following expenses at Winston & Strawn: office space, telephone, furniture rental, Xeroxing, messenger services — even refreshments for meeting.
CFA’s activity since November 1982 elections has focused on winding down and paying off its debts.
A presidential exploratory committee was begun with the opening of a bank account on November 2, 1982. The Mondale for President Committee, Inc., registered with the Federal Election Commission on January 2, 1983, and Mr. Mondale formally announced his candidacy on February 21, 1983.
The FEC has never inferred consent and imposed candidacy on an individual as a result of that individual’s participation [in] a group making expenditures for others. If an organization’s expenditures are not made for the purpose of influencing the election of the participating individual to federal office, they will not trigger candidacy under the Federal Election Campaign Act.
Care was taken to ensure that persons employed by CFA or serving as officers of CFA did not simultaneously serve in similar capacities at the Mondale for President Committee.
Those assets of CFA which were acquired by the Mondale for President Committee were acquired for a fair price, and payment was prompt.
This article originally appeared in the July 1984 issue of Regardie’s.
Bill Hogan