The 2004 campaign committee for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania has been fined $10,000 for accepting contributions for his re-election bid that year that exceeded the legal limit, the Federal Election Commission announced.

In the spring of 2004, Specter -- then a Republican -- defeated then-U.S. Representative Pat Toomey in the party’s Senate primary and won a fifth term in November of that year.

Specter, 79, became a Democrat in April 2009 and faces a primary challenge this year from Representative Joe Sestak. Toomey is running again for the Republican Senate nomination.

The FEC found that during the period leading up to the 2004 primary, Specter’s campaign accepted contributions that exceeded the $2,000 limit on what individuals could give and the $5,000 cap on donations from political action committees. The excess in contributions from individuals totaled $719,191, and for the political action committees the excess total was $21,850, according to the FEC.

Since individuals could give another $2,000 and PACs another $5,000 for use in the general election campaign, Specter’s committee argued that the excess contributions were legal. The FEC said the committee didn’t obtain permission from the contributors to earmark the excess amounts of their donations for the general election, as required by federal law.

Along with the $10,000 fine, Specter’s committee agreed to pay to the U.S. Treasury an additional $37,950 in excess contributions that hadn’t been refunded.

The commission “did not find these recordkeeping errors to be willful or intentional,” Specter’s former campaign treasurer, Stephen J. Harmelin, said in a statement. “Nor did the report find these errors to compromise the political process or create an unleveled playing field for the candidates.”

The FEC said part of the problem was caused by the illness and death of a campaign staff member who would have helped get the necessary authorizations.

--Editors: Don Frederick, Paul Tighe