I would like to make a few comments on this subject. First, I would refer
people to the FAQ from the MeetupHostHelp mailing list. In the FAQ, there
(with proper disclaimers noted): we find:
QUESTION 1: Do unofficial groups that are not formally authorized by the
Dean
committee, e.g., "[City, Region, Profession, Students, Vegetarians, etc.]
For
Dean," need to be registered as political committees?
ANSWER: An "X for Dean" group does not need to register with the Federal
Election Commission ("FEC") as a political committee unless the group:
· receives more than $1,000 in federal contributions, or
· makes more than $1,000 in federal election-related expenditures in a
calendar
year.
As I read this, the 'PAC' issue is at $1000, not $250.
-------------------------------------------------------
QUESTION 3: If an individual or an "X for Dean" group makes an independent
expenditure (paying for a public communication that expressly advocates
election of Dean or defeat of Bush or other candidates) then is there a
requirement to make an FEC report?
ANSWER: Expenditures that total less than $250 during a calendar year can be
made without requiring a report. If the expenditures of an individual or
group
exceed $250 then an independent expenditure report (FEC Form 5) must be
filed
with the FEC.
Any individual who has contributed more than than $200 in support of another
individual or group's independent expenditure must be identified within the
FEC
Form 5. (See 2 U.S.C. ~ 434(c)(1), (c)(2)(C); 11 CFR 109.10(b), (e)(1)(vi)).
Example 1: Volunteer Jane spends $250 for "Dean for President" posters.
Because the total does not exceed $250, no report is required.
Example 2: After spending $250 for "Dean for President" posters in June,
Jane
pays $100 for "Defeat Bush" posters in December. Because the calendar year
total exceeds $250, Jane must file FEC Form 5.
Example 3: Same facts as Example 2, except Bill gives Jane $225 in August to
support Jane's poster efforts. Jane must fill out FEC form 5 since the $250
limit has been exceeded and Jane must identify Bill in the FEC Form 5
because
Bill's contribution exceeds $200.
Note, here we are primarily talking about individual expenditures. It is
very important to diferentiate between PAC money and individual expenditure
money. If I, as an individual go out and spend money advocating the
election of Howard Dean as President, I am not limitted by the $250 limit,
or for that matter a $2000 limit. I am required, however to report that as
individual expenditures to the FEC, using Form 5.
-------------
QUESTION 12: If in supporting Dean a volunteer uses his or own personal
property, such as a home computer, software, e-mail account or fax machine,
all
previously acquired for purposes other than this campaign, is the volunteer
making either an in-kind contribution to the Dean committee or an
independent
expenditure?
ANSWER: A volunteer's use at home of his or her personal equipment,
software,
Internet access, e-mail accounts, etc. is covered by a "home use" exception.
These activities are not in-kind contributions or independent expenditures.
A
volunteer's costs to register a domain name for a home-run website to
support
Dean is covered by this exception, as is a volunteer's downloading and use
of
Dean committee materials, even when the Dean committee gives the volunteer
permission to do so. (See FEC Advisory Opinion No. 1999-17-- issued to none
other than the Governor George W. Bush for President Exploratory Committee,
Inc.!)
Note: This is particularly important. To the extent that an individual is
using home equipment, including the registration of the domain name, it is
exempt.
-------------
Those things noted, I now want to respond to Zephyr's specific questions.
(1) Where will we send people to host their own Dean Community Sites?
I think there could be potential problems with DFA recommending web hosting
solutions. However, to the extent that individuals, independent of the
campaign, have a list of good hosts, which they recommend, that would seem
perfectly legit. As an example, if anyone asks me for my opinion, I will
talk about different hosting opportunities, such as fordean.com, hosted by
Dean Volunteers. They will host subdomains of .fordean.com free, with some
limitations. Check out www.fordean.com I will also recommend that people
get in touch with Howard Vicini. I don't know what he has available, but he
seems to be a contact I will recommend. I will also recommend
http://www.twofishmedia.com whom I've spoken with in a limited amount about
using for Connecticut.
(2) Where we host the Visible Volunteer Network.
IMHO, that should be part of the official Dean site. To me it is very
similar to 'Get Local', which by the way is a great site I've used a lot.
Essentially, I see the Visible Volunteer Network as being very similar to
'Get Local' You could even have fun and call it 'Get Personal', and have it
point to http://volunteer.deanforamerica.com Everyone should have the
opportunity to go online and say what skills they can contribute to the
campaign.
All of this is, of course, my humble opinion, your milage may very, some
restrictions apply.
Aldon
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Zephyr Teachout
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 5:44 PM
To: 'Howard Vicini'; 'Jon Lebkowsky'; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [hackers] node hosting
There are two primary different hosting questions, as I see it:
(1) Where will we send people to host their own Dean Community Sites.
Our current position on this is that we do not send them anywhere. We
leave it up to the volunteer administrators to recommend hosting
services, with some suggested guidelines. The more involved we get in
the hosting decisions of the sites, the fuzzier the line between the
campaign and the unofficial community sites. Furthermore, we don't want
vendors fighting and calling the campaign all the time to be on the
"recommended" list.
(2) Where we host the Visible Volunteer Network. This is a DFA decision
-- would love suggestions but likely use Rackspace or something, once
our requirements are clear. I've asked that we have server space by this
weekend, but we should at least have funding for it by that point.
Does that make sense?
Zephyr
How does everyone feel about an IRC meeting specific to the hosting
issues
so that everyone can catch up on what everyone else is doing ...
Until I see a very specific spec sheet, I am very nervous about the
outcome
of anyone's efforts, including my own ...
This is such an important project, for this Presidential election and
future
elections, in general, that I don't think anything should be done off
the
cuff ...
* Financing issues are one thing, of course ... we will eventually
get
clear guidelines from the campaign staff ... and 'banking' arrangements
for
ongoing expenses that are within the FEC rules ... these are standard
concerns that will get worked out ...
* Technical specs seem to pretty well defined now, but I have not
seen an
approved, written spec sheet ... anyone have something?
* I believe that we can gain valuable insight on traffic and volume
issues by sampling current Dean websites that have been online for a
while
in order to develop realistic guidelines that will be imprecise, but
better
than a guess, at least ...
But there are also other requirements that we must define before
selecting
any host:
-is the host's building secure from intrusion ... what level of
security
do they maintain?
-does it have fire suppression... what type of structure?
-does the host have emergency, internal power generation
capabilities?
-what records does the host make available concerning its uptime?
-how do current customers rate the host?
-what is the ownership's Party affiliation?
And, a spec sheet covering all of these requirements should be developed
before any 'shopping' for a host is done, even an internal one ... it is
a
standard corporate procedure that should be followed, I believe, for the
obvious reasons ... and everything should be done in written, contract
form
... thoughts?
Howard Vicini
computer graphics, prepress, animation & web design
San Francisco
Dean url www.bayarea4dean.com
personal url www.vicini.net
email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Yahoo IM howardvicini
AIM IM howardvicini
voice 415-522-1555
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Lebkowsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Howard Vicini" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 1:08 PM
Subject: RE: [hackers] node hosting
> > How about CMR, Aldon and I work on finding out what options we have
for
> > hosting ... not to commit to anything, but to have our options fully
known
> > when the time comes ...
>
> We were already working on that, but feel free to jump in. Our
original
> thought was to host pro bono but when Jeff saw the requirements, he
was a
> little concerned about the potential bandwidth and other technical
issues.
> We were researching to see what other options exist to fit the
requirements.
> Jeff is at [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you want to contact him directly (but I
think
> he's on the list, as [EMAIL PROTECTED]).
>
> ~ jon
>
>
>
