A $5,000 political donation by a major carpenters’ union to Connecticut Democrats is raising a red flag with the Federal Election Commission.
In a Nov. 18 letter, the agency requested additional information about source of the campaign cash, which a routine filing listed as the New England Regional Council of Carpenters.
“Schedule A of your report (see attached) discloses one or more contributions which appears to be from a labor organization(s). Please be advised that 2 U.S.C. §441b(a) prohibits the receipt of contributions from labor organizations unless made from a separate segregated fund established by the labor
organization.”
The letter continued:
“If you have received a prohibited contribution, you may have to make a refund.”
Party officials characterized the request for additional information as routine. They declined to elaborate, saying that their response to the FEC inquiry will become public information.
In the past, the labor organization has made phone calls to some of its 22,000 members on behalf of Democrats Chris Murphy, who made the leap from the House to the Senate in 2012, and Chris Donovan, whose bid for Congress was short-circuited by a pay-for-play scandal, FEC filings show.