With 24 members of Congress, a slew of campaign finance experts, and even Hillary Clinton in her corner, Democratic congressional candidate Liuba Grechen Shirley has won for parents a major victory at the FEC, per Roll Call:
The Federal Election Commission ruled Thursday that a candidate can use campaign funds to pay for child care.
The FEC ruled in favor of Liuba Grechen Shirley, who is running in New York’s 2nd District and requested an advisory opinion last month on her requesting to use her campaign funds to pay for child care for her young children while she was involved in campaign activities.
Shirley mentioned in her request before she ran that she worked from home and cared for her three-year old daughter and one-year old son.
This ruling does not mean that every federal candidate can use campaign money for child care; only those who otherwise wouldn’t need to pay for care can claim it as a campaign expense.
From the advisory opinion:
The Commission has previously considered the permissibility of using campaign funds to5 pay for certain childcare expenses in more limited circumstances. In Advisory Opinion 1995-426 (McCrery), a federal candidate and his wife, who was “an integral part” of the candidate’s campaign team, traveled extensively within the candidate’s congressional district for campaign purposes, resulting in the need for “occasional” childcare for the couple’s young child. Advisory Opinion 1995-42 (McCrery) at 1. The Commission concluded that it was permissible to use campaign funds to pay for such occasional childcare because such expenses, in that case, would be “incurred only as a direct result of campaign activity and would not otherwise exist.”Advisory Opinion 1995-42 (McCrery) at 2; see 11 C.F.R. § 113.1(g).2
The Commission’s analysis and conclusion in Advisory Opinion 1995-42 (McCrery) apply equally here. The request explains that you are the full-time caregiver for your young children, and, because of your campaign activity, you will incur expenses for part-time or full time childcare. The fact that you seek to use campaign funds to pay for more than the “occasional” childcare expenses approved of in Advisory Opinion 1995-42 (McCrery) does not change the relevant question, which is whether such expenses would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign or officeholder duties. The Commission concludes that the childcare expenses described in your request, to the extent such expenses are incurred as a direct result of campaign activity, would not exist irrespective of your election campaign, and thus may be permissibly paid with campaign funds.
So to summarize, the FEC has held that, if your need for childcare exists because of your campaign for office, and if you otherwise wouldn’t need to pay for that childcare, you have the right to use campaign funds to pay for it, whether it’s for a sitter for a night or enrollment at daycare.
This is potentially huge for parents who have thought about running for office but haven’t figured out how to make it work financially. It’s also good news for campaign staffers: a dirty little secret of campaign life is that staff often ends up helping out if the candidate has kids (personally, I’ve done everything from entertaining a toddler for a few hours during call time to picking up a son from college).
