Endorse Liberty is changing its campaign finance disclosure frequency from quarterly to monthly. Pro-Paul super PAC ducks disclosure

Yet another super PAC — this one supporting presidential candidate Ron Paul — has used a federal campaign finance loophole to avoid disclosing its donors until the month’s end, when several caucuses and primaries will already have concluded.

Endorse Liberty, which is nearing $1 million in pro-Paul independent expenditures since forming in December, informed the Federal Election Commission in a brief memorandum this afternoon that it is changing its campaign finance disclosure frequency from quarterly to monthly.


Had it not changed its status, Endorse Liberty would have needed to file a 12-day preprimary report by the day’s end, triggered by the upcoming South Carolina presidential primary.

Such a filing would have made public the names of its donors, who by law may make unlimited contributions to super PACs providing the committees use the money to independently support or oppose political candidates. Instead, Endorse Liberty’s first campaign donor report must now be filed by Jan. 31.

Asked whether this consideration prompted Endorse Liberty to make today’s filing frequency change, Treasurer Abe Niederhauser told POLITICO in an email: “We just prefer to file monthly. We like having a monthly process better than a quarterly one.”

The FEC has not yet acknowledged Endorse Liberty’s notification, although it has approved similar stealthy moves by big-dollar super PACs supportive of several other presidential candidates, including Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum.

In official guidance, the FEC has recommended that political action committees active during the 2012 election cycle file monthly to avoid filing numerous preprimary reports, although a pair of FEC commissioners have in recent days suggested the commission should consider changing its rules to prevent committees from switching its filing frequency to delay reporting its donors.

Endorse Liberty has focused much of its expenditures on Internet advertisements — from Google to Facebook to StumbleUpon.com — and most notably produced parody videos depicting actors, dressed as Romney, Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, among others.

Paul, a long-time congressman from Texas, placed third in last week’s Iowa caucuses and is angling for a second-place finish in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.

Super PACs have emerged as powerful weapons during the 2012 presidential race, already spending into the low eight-figure range on advertisements and other communications. Many are run by former associates of the presidential candidates their super PACs are supporting.

The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission federal court decisions led to the advent of super PACs during the summer of 2010.