National Organization Name
Issue: The national organization is, as of 5/2/2012, using the name 'Pirate National Committee'. It must be determined whether this name is both legal & conventional. If it is determined that it should not be used, we will provide alternatives.
Legality
Question: Is the national organization legally allowed to call itself a 'National Committee' if it has not been recognized by the Federal Election Commission?
Actions:
- Analyze & summarize FEC documentation & other resources
- Plot out the traditional path to forming a National Committee (Save this knowledge for future projects)
- Write out questions & call the FEC directly
- Conclude from this information whether the name 'Pirate National Committee' can legally be used.
Question: Is is conventional for an organization to take the name 'National Committee' before and after being recognized?
Actions:
- Aggregate information on other National Committees; include the names of their organizations before being recognized
Results
I got on the phone and called the Federal Election Commission's information line. They were extremely helpful. They told me that I don't have to worry about the name we are using as that is not a criterion in their decision making process. They said we couldn't use a name such as Democratic National Committee for obvious reasons, but that the use of the term Pirate National Committee would not be seen as a problem. Their representative advised me that it is OK to reproduce information from their site since it is Federal Government documents, or to link directly to documents on their site. "You don't have to pirate them," he joked. An important document he recommended is FEC Party Guide. I am going to put links to others in the Resources section below. --Erixoltan 13:06, 4 May 2012 (EDT)
Resources
The FEC Information page contains quick answers to many common questions. Specifically, the Qualification Criteria in their "Quick Answers" page has been mentioned repeatedly by people on the IRC.
The FEC has a library that includes Forms for Parties and PACs.
One other document that looks important is Internal Controls for Political Committees.