Fossella vs. FEC rules

On July 17 we took a look at Fossella's FEC reports and the curious trend that his campaign continued to accept and potentially solicit donations after his arrest and even after his declaration that he wasn't running for re-election. While the focus of that post was the excessive loyalty of his donors who continued to give after his arrest and admitted adultery there seems to be a new problem for Fossella, namely FEC rules. There are two rules he has run afoul of and the FEC is now demanding action.

1. Primary election contributions received after May 20th, when Fossella declared he was no longer a candidate, must be refunded
2. Since Fossella is not running for re-election any money received for the general election must be refunded

There are a few instances where the money can be kept but for the most part it appears Fossella will have to refund the majority of this money. So what? Well we know Fossella has been sitting on about $270,000. Fossella had the option of donating to various candidates, including his endangered Republican House and Senate members running for re-election as well as donating large (unlimited I believe) sums back to the NRCC for them to use as they need. Also he could sit on it for a future run for federal office again should he be so daring. Instead Fossella has sulked and did nothing with the money and so now large portions of that war chest will be refunded.

If I did my math right it looks like the FEC is noting around $160,000 is in question.