The Trustees of the Republican Leadership Trust convened Monday, May 16, 2008 to enact Resolution No. 2008-11, which confirmed to the Federal Election Commission that the Trust was independent, as a matter of law, from any other state Republican committee, and thus was entitled to have its own FECA campaign contribution limits.  The Trustees registered with the Federal Election Commission solely to satisfy 11 CFR 300.11(a)(3)(i) and 11 CFR 300.37(a)(3)(i) so that the RNC and state Republican committees could refer donations to the Trustees.   Resolutions No. 2008-03, 2008-07, 2008-09 and 2008-10 remain on the table until the Trustees convene again.   Click here to download a copy of Resolution No. 2008-11.  The following are the additional developments before the Trustees:

The Trustees are currently consideration nomination of a candidate to succeed the Honorable Arlin M. Adams as the remaining Trustee. The candidate, who serves as an administrator of an Allied Republican Party Interest, will require obtaining consent from the Allied Republican Party Interest’s Board of Directors. If appointed, the candidate will become the new Co-Trustee & Finance Administrator, with Trustee Hess being transferred to Co-Trustee & Beneficiary Administrator. The candidate for Trustee is anticipated by the Trustees to resolve the Trustee’s Phase II financing, so that the Trust becomes undiminished and self-perpetual. The principal delay at this moment is the Deputy Trustee & Agent responsible for the Republican All in One^™ software to restore the features due to the software being transferred to a more powerful server. Additionally, the Trustees are also awaiting for RFPs from two contemplated vendors to provide Internet marketing support for GOP onDemand.^™

The Trustees also reviewed the issues arising from the campaign finance contribution limits imposed by various states which cannot accommodate the Trust’s basis distribution as required by the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 643(e) as further governed by GAAP under FASB No. 136. Currently the five states whose statutory campaign contribution limits will proscribe Trust distribution to state, county and local Republican committees are Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, affecting 342 county Republican committees or 11% of total county Republican committees. Ten county Republican committees in Ohio are adversely impacted by the state’s campaign contribution limits. The Trustee’s Deputy Trustee & Local Counsel for Ohio is working hard to resolve these counties, being Butler, Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lorain, Lucas, Mahoning, Montgomery, Stark and Summit.

Access to Republican All in One^™ may be denied to all of New Jersey’s 21 counties, based on interpretations of that state’s campaign finance laws by ELEC, the Election Law Enforcement Commission. The Trustee’s Local Counsel for New Jersey is in discussions with ELEC counsel.