An Indiana college student convinced an often-deadlocked Federal Election Commission on Thursday that allowing DePauw University to pay her a stipend for interning on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is not an illegal campaign contribution.
One Democrat joined the three Republican members of the commission in agreeing that the $3,000 grant DePauw offered to Victoria Houghtalen last year was for a “bona fide” educational experience and not direct compensation for campaign work.
The two commissioners who disagreed argued that the decision will allow unidentified donors to fund college internship programs to benefit certain campaigns.
“It’s quite clear that corporate contributions are not appropriate,” said Commissioner Ann Ravel, a Democrat. “I am too concerned about the potential ramifications about this, given the clear law that we have.”
Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub on Twitter: “Big #FEC decision today allows college internship stipends for campaign volunteers: http://saos.fec.gov/aodocs/2015-14.pdf … My take: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yf6h85t8qc3rffi/FEC-ELW-Concurring-statement-AO-2015-14.pdf?dl=0 …”
Trying to think of the last significant Weintraub-Ravel split…