BBC:
Nicolas Sarkozy has become the first French ex-president to go to jail, as he starts a five-year sentence for conspiring to fund his election campaign with money from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Tag Archives: Campaign finance
“Court Finds 501(c)(4) Exemption & Political Activity Standard Unconstitutional”
Lifting up this matter from early October in case you missed it as well as commentary from Brad Smith and Eric Wang in WSJ and coverage in Current Federal Tax Developments (hat tip to Ellen Aprill):
…the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a notable Memorandum Opinion and Order in Freedom Path, Inc. v. Internal Revenue Service, et.al.
In 2013, Freedom Path was denied 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) on the basis that it engaged in excessive political activity. The organization sued for a declaratory judgment that the denial was erroneous on the grounds that Treasury Regulations and Rev. Rul. 2004-06, which the IRS used to interpret both how much non-exempt activity a 501(c)(4) may do and what qualifies as non-exempt political activity, are unconstitutionally vague. The Court agreed and granted summary judgment for Freedom Path on these issues.
However, the Court could not determine whether Freedom Path was entitled to 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status using the IRS guidance that it found unconstitutionally vague; it has therefore ordered the parties to submit briefs proposing new standards for both 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status and political activity….
“I chaired the US Federal Election Commission. Now there’s no cop on the beat”
Ellen Weintraub commentary in The Guardian:
….American democracy may be under attack, but billionaire mega-donors are fully engaged in protecting their own interests. And as we head into what will undoubtedly be another multibillion-dollar election year, the agency charged with regulating money in politics is missing in action. With the recent announcement of another commissioner leaving the already moribund agency, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) will be down to two commissioners. By law, there should be six, but it takes four to make a quorum. Without a quorum, the FEC cannot enforce the law….
“Trump-aligned club for the ultra rich launches in Washington”
A new club is coming to Washington — and you probably can’t get in.
Donald Trump Jr., megadonor Omeed Malik and several other investors are launching an invite-only club that costs more than half a million to join with an exclusive post-White House Correspondents’ Dinner gathering, according to an invite obtained by POLITICO and two people with knowledge of the venture, granted anonymity to discuss the private organization.
The “Executive Branch” is the brainchild of Malik and the president’s eldest son, and their partners at conservative fund 1789 Capital. It will be located in Georgetown.
Their goal, the people familiar with the plans say, is to create the highest-end private club that Washington has ever had, and cater to the business and tech moguls who are looking to nurture their relationships with the Trump administration.
The referral requirements and prohibitive pricing is meant to ensure the C-suite crowd can mingle with Trump advisers and cabinet members without the prying eyes of the press and wanna-be insiders. The price tag won’t be a problem for Trump’s cabinet — given it’s by far the wealthiest in history.
“Secret Bundlers, Sham Donations: Adams Is Faulted in Campaign Audit”
NYT:
Three years ago, as Eric Adams was running for mayor of New York City, his campaign was raking in donations from a broad range of mysterious sources.
There was the $201,330 delivered by unidentified intermediaries through 57 clusters of donations, some from people working at institutions with ties to Turkey. Their contributions are being scrutinized in a federal investigation focused in part on potentially unlawful foreign money flowing into campaign coffers. . . .
The questionable donations were cited in a blistering 900-page preliminary audit of Mr. Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign, as investigators with the Campaign Finance Board chronicled numerous missing payments, sham donations and the potential misallocation of up to $2.3 million in taxpayer money.
“Can Harris Use Biden’s Campaign Money?”
But more than $90 million was held by Biden’s principal campaign committee — the official vehicle for the Biden-Harris reelection campaign. FEC filings suggest that those funds will now be used by the Harris campaign. Is that legal?
Most campaign finance experts think it is. The rationale here is straightforward. FEC regulations provide that “any campaign depository designated by the principal campaign committee of a political party’s candidate for President shall be the campaign depository for that political party’s candidate for the office of Vice President.” Therefore, Biden’s committee, which was also his principal campaign committee in 2020, has jointly listed Harris in its FEC filings ever since she first became his running mate. Once Biden withdrew from the race this year, the committee simply updated its FEC registration to replace Biden with Harris at the top of the ticket.
It is true that FEC regulations and federal statutory law do not address this exact situation . . . But the commission has never suggested that an incumbent vice president must at any point establish her own campaign committee, let alone provided specific guidance for when doing so might be necessary. All incumbent presidential and vice-presidential candidates in recent memory have run for reelection together as a single ticket, sharing one committee before and after formal renomination.
“Kamala Harris campaign raises $200 million in a week”
WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) – Kamala Harris’s election campaign said on Sunday it has raised $200 million and signed up 170,000 new volunteers in the week since she became the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, as Republicans continued to hammer Harris over her work as vice president.
“Another High-Priced Presidential Election”
Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy:
After President Joe Biden bowed out of the presidential election race, his Vice President Kamala Harris broke records raising $81 million in one day (which later topped $100 million a day later).
According to Open Secrets which tracks money in politics three quarter of a billion dollars has already been raised by all presidential candidates in the 2024 election and it’s only July. This puts the 2024 on track to be the most expensive election in American history.
As I explain in my new book Corporatocracy, this escalation of the cost of elections follows a general pattern that every presidential election is more expensive than the previous presidential election….
“Can Harris — or any other Democrat — access Biden campaign money?”
The short answer seems to be that Vice President Harris — who is already poised to be the new Democratic nominee — has a strong claim to the funds, because she was and is on the filing statements as a candidate with Biden. . . . .
Some right-leaning campaign finance lawyers think it’s more complicated and don’t think it’s a slam dunk that Harris has access — despite the Biden campaign already changing its name to the Harris campaign.
Regardless, practically speaking, the question may be moot in the short term because of how long the Federal Election Commission takes to adjudicate complaints. Harris would almost certainly have access to the funds through the compressed campaign, and there’s little to nothing the FEC can do about it because of the timeline.
In fact, as some have pointed out, there are still open complaints to the FEC from the 2016 campaign.
Note: Similar stories are in the WSJ, The Hill, Forbes, and other outlets.
“GOP eyes legal challenges as Harris assumes control of Biden’s war chest”
But as Biden tries to hand over the committee’s millions in remaining cash to Harris, Republican lawyers and operatives are saying “not so fast.” . . . .
Within hours of Biden announcing his decision, the committee tried to make the handoff to Harris official — submitting an amended filing to the FEC changing its name to “Harris for President.”
Several campaign finance lawyers aligned with Republicans argue that the campaign does not have legal authority to do that — and that the maneuver is all but certain to be challenged before the FEC or in a court of law. . . .
“Replacing a presidential candidate and handing over his committee to someone else is unprecedented under current campaign finance law,” Sean Cooksey, a Republican who is the FEC chairman, said Sunday. “It raises a host of open questions about whether it is legal, what limits apply and what contributors’ rights are.” . . .
Dara Lindenbaum, an FEC commissioner appointed by Biden, offered the opposite view: “The Biden for President Committee is the campaign committee for President Biden and Vice President Harris,” she said. “The funds stay with her so long as she remains on the ticket.”
“Hochul vetoes controversial campaign finance changes”
Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed legislation that would have widened the net of eligible campaign contributions for matching public funds under a new system that is being rolled out in the 2024 elections….
“Signing this bill would effectively reduce the impact of small donors on elections,” Hochul wrote in a veto memo on Wednesday. The legislation is in “direct contravention of the purpose” of the public campaign finance program, she added.
The bill would have allowed for the first $250 of any contribution to a campaign in an election cycle to be matched by state funding. Currently, the program only allows matching donations for contributors who gave no more than $250 in a cycle. The amended version would have allowed larger contributions from deep-pocketed donors to receive a taxpayer-funded boost.
“House Ethics launches investigation into Florida Democrat”
The House Ethics Committee announced Wednesday that it’s investigating Florida Democrat Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick over complaints that she may have violated campaign finance laws, failed to submit required disclosures and carried out improper hiring practices.
“Appeals court wipes conviction for ex-congressman”
A federal appeals court panel wiped ex-Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s (R-Neb.) conviction of lying to the FBI about an illegal campaign contribution, ruling Tuesday that he was not tried in the proper venue.
Last year, a jury sitting in Los Angeles convicted Fortenberry for false statements he made during interviews in Nebraska and the nation’s capital.
He resigned from his seat in Congress and was sentenced to two years of probation, a $25,000 fine and 320 hours of community service. Tuesday’s decision reverses that sentence, although Fortenberry could still be retried.
“Federal judge suspends new Minnesota campaign finance law set to take effect Jan. 1”
From the Minnesota Reformer:
A federal judge halted a campaign finance law that aimed to curtail political contributions from corporations with at least some degree of foreign ownership.
U.S. District Court Judge Eric Tostrud issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday, days before the law was to go into effect on Jan. 1. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce sued Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, arguing that the new law violates the free speech rights of corporations.
The law passed by the Minnesota Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz says companies with a single foreign investor who holds 1% or more of shares — or companies that have multiple foreign investors who own 5% or more of shares — may not make donations to be used in Minnesota elections. Companies that violate the law could be criminally or civilly penalized.