Tag Archives: Campaign finance

“Secret Bundlers, Sham Donations: Adams Is Faulted in Campaign Audit”

Uncategorized

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.

Share this:

“Can Harris Use Biden’s Campaign Money?”

Uncategorized, ,

Daniel I. Weiner at Brennan:

 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.

Share this:

“Another High-Priced Presidential Election”

Uncategorized

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….

Share this:

“Can Harris — or any other Democrat — access Biden campaign money?”

Uncategorized,

NPR:  

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.

Share this:

“GOP eyes legal challenges as Harris assumes control of Biden’s war chest”

Uncategorized,

Washington Post:  

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.”

Share this:

“Hochul vetoes controversial campaign finance changes”

Uncategorized,

Times Union:

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. 

Share this:

“Appeals court wipes conviction for ex-congressman”

Uncategorized

The 9th Circuit’s opinion.

The Hill: 

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.

Share this:

“Federal judge suspends new Minnesota campaign finance law set to take effect Jan. 1”

Uncategorized

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. 

Share this:

“NYCCFB Appoints Paul S. Ryan as Agency’s New Executive Director”

Uncategorized

Congrats to Paul Seamus Ryan!

From the NYC Campaign Finance Board:

December 20, 2023 – The New York City Campaign Finance Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Paul Seamus Ryan as the next Executive Director of the agency. 

Mr. Ryan is currently the Deputy Executive Director of the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation, and is nationally recognized as a leading voice in the areas of campaign finance and democratic participation. He previously served as the Vice President for Policy and Litigation for Common Cause and as the Deputy Executive Director of the Campaign Legal Center. 

Share this:

“Portland’s campaign finance program scales back ahead of 2024 election”

Uncategorized,

Oregon Public Broadcasting:

Portland’s campaign financing program doesn’t have enough money to operate at full capacity ahead of a historic election year. For some candidates, this means losing hundreds of thousands of anticipated dollars to run their 2024 campaigns.

The city’s Small Donor Election program works to help candidates who lack wealthy donors by rewarding those who pledge to only accept individual campaign donations under $350. The city matches the first $20 of all individual donations made to participating candidates 9-to-1, effectively turning a $20 donation into $180. . . . 

Under the program, candidates who received donations from at least 250 Portlanders could receive up to $100,000 in matching funds, those who collect 750 donations could collect up to $200,000, and those with more than 1,250 donations would be limited to $300,000 in matching city dollars. A mayoral candidate can rake in up to $750,000 in matched contributions.

But, due to a lack of money in the city’s general fund, those caps will shrink. According to an analysis by the Portland Elections Commission, those funds could drop by 60% at the start of 2024. That means candidates who counted on bolstering their budgets with $300,000 of city dollars will only be about to count on $120,000.

Share this:

“DeSantis Faces F.E.C. Complaint Over His Campaign’s Ties With Super PAC”

Uncategorized,

NYT:

A campaign watchdog group filed a complaint on Monday with the Federal Election Commission against the campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and a super PAC backing his presidential bid, accusing them of a “textbook example” of illegal campaign coordination.

In its complaint, the Campaign Legal Center argued that the super PAC, Never Back Down, had effectively served as Mr. DeSantis’s campaign, detailing work it has done like providing private air travel, bankrolling a costly ground game in early nominating states, providing debate strategies and hosting events on the road. In turn, Mr. DeSantis and his wife, the group says, provided guidance about messaging to Never Back Down.

Share this:

Five law profs file amicus in bribery/Hobbs Act case

Uncategorized,

The full brief, which was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, is on SSRN:

This brief—filed by five law professors as amici curiae in United States v. Sittenfeld, No. 23-3840 (6th Cir.)—argues that the “clear and unambiguous” test supplies the appropriate standard for determining whether an alleged quid pro quo involving an otherwise-legal campaign contribution satisfies the explicitness requirement under McCormick v. United States, 500 U.S. 257 (1991).

Share this: