The Progress for America Voter Fund has agreed to pay a $750,000 penalty to settle a complaint before the Federal Election Commission over its political activities in the 2004 election campaign. This was the third largest civil penalty in the agency’s 32-year-history.

The F.E.C.’s new chairman seemed to be issuing a warning in a statement released today: “It should now be clear to organizations that want to be active in the 2008 election cycle that the activities we saw in this case are prohibited under the law.” Read more in the New York Times.

And, of course, last December, the Federal Elections Commission also fined the Swift Boat Veterans nearly $300,000 and hit the League of Conservation Voters for another $180,000. These penalties were imposed for failure to register, failure to file required disclosures, and for accepting contributions from illegal sources and in amounts greater than contribution limit laws.

Posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 4:23 pm in National News.