The Federal Election Commission sent three compliance notices to the campaign of Democratic congressional nominee Bernadette Greene-Placentia, questioning a missing pre-primary report, an $85,687 increase in reported receipts and several discrepancies in the campaign’s financial disclosures.
Brian Anderson of Arizona Capitol Oversight highlighted the notices Tuesday, writing that he was “not sure I’ve ever seen such willful violations of campaign finance law before,” and calling them “back-to-back-to-back non-compliance letters.”
Not sure I've ever seen such willful violations of campaign finance law before
The Democrat running in #AZ08 (@bernadetteaz08) has gotten back-to-back-to-back non-compliance letters from @FEC. $85K missing, numbers not adding up, just failing to file an *entire* period … what pic.twitter.com/VcSmgnGhFI
— Brian Anderson (@AZBrianAnderson) August 26, 2026
Anderson added, “$85K missing, numbers not adding up, just failing to file an *entire* period … what.”
The FEC letters request explanations or amended reports and warn that an inadequate response could lead to an audit or enforcement action. They do not announce a finding that Greene-Placentia or her campaign violated federal law. The first notice, sent July 10, said Bernadette for Congress may have failed to submit a pre-primary report or filed one that did not cover the entire reporting period from April 1 through July 1. The report was due July 9, 12 days before Arizona’s July 21 primary. Federal election rules required the principal campaign committees of congressional candidates participating in the primary to file the report, including candidates who were unopposed or did not appear on the ballot.
The FEC directed the campaign to file the report immediately, warning that failure to submit a complete report could result in civil monetary penalties, an audit, or legal enforcement proceedings.
Two additional notices dated July 13 raised questions about the campaign’s year-end 2025 report and an amended quarterly report covering the first three months of 2026. In the year-end report notice, the FEC said cumulative totals reported across several categories appeared to be incorrect. The commission also found that the campaign’s beginning cash balance did not match the ending balance reported in its preceding October quarterly filing.
The FEC additionally directed the campaign to provide more precise descriptions for disbursements listed only as “consulting services,” explaining that campaign filings must identify the purpose of each expenditure
with enough detail to show why the money was spent. The second July 13 notice concerned an amended April quarterly report received by the commission May 13.
According to the notice, the amended filing increased the campaign’s reported receipts by $85,687.05 and increased its reported disbursements by $74,797.79 compared with the original report. The FEC asked the campaign to explain why the transactions were omitted from the original disclosure.
The amended report also contained $74,797.79 in negative transactions that appeared to represent voided checks. The FEC said the original payments to the listed entities did not appear in the campaign’s reports and directed the committee to amend its filings or explain the transactions.
Commission analysts also identified incomplete addresses and expense descriptions, including “Consulting Services,” “Merchandise,” and “Miscellaneous,” which the FEC said did not adequately describe the purposes of the expenditures.
Both July 13 letters instructed the campaign to respond by Aug. 17. The FEC warned that an inadequate response could result in an audit or enforcement action and stated that the committee would receive no additional notice or deadline extension. A review of Bernadette for Congress’ public FEC filing record Wednesday showed no publicly posted response, amended year-end report, revised April quarterly report, or pre-primary report posted after the three notices.
Greene-Placentia is the Democratic nominee in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District. The FEC identifies Bernadette for Congress as her principal campaign committee.
Greene-Placentia is challenging Republican Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, who has represented the 8th District since taking office in January 2025.
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