The Alaska Democratic Party has collected more than $40,000 from a political committee tied to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton that raises money from billionaire donors, complicating the party’s message as it calls for campaign finance reform.
The party, in a monthly report filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission, said it raised $43,500 from the Hillary Victory Fund, with $10,000 donations from billionaires, including hedge fund manager S. Donald Sussman and Hyatt hotel heir J.B. Pritzker.
In the same report, the Alaska Democratic Party said it transferred an equal amount of money, $43,500, [back] to the Democratic National Committee -- a move that, while legal, helps to effectively “obliterate” federal limits on donations to the national committee, according to one campaign finance expert.
“It just becomes a way to give more to the DNC to support the Clinton campaign,” said Paul S. Ryan, deputy executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, which advocates for campaign finance reform. “It’s effectively Hillary Clinton’s team soliciting Hillary Clinton’s supporters for much bigger checks than they can give to the campaign -- knowing that every penny could be spent on the Clinton campaign.”
(bolding mine)
This isn’t just happening with the Alaska Democratic Party, either. The Bangor Daily News reports
Clinton donors use Maine Democrats to skirt campaign cash limits
A Cuban-born sugar tycoon. A California-based registered foreign agent for the government of Sri Lanka. A Chicago billionaire.
All of them are recent large donors to the Maine Democratic Party via a complex fundraising scheme called the Hillary Victory Fund. The fund exploits recent court decisions and weakened campaign finance laws to maximize political contributions and funnel them to the Democratic National Committee.
[...]
But all the contributions haven’t stayed in Maine, or any of the other state Democratic parties to which Hillary Victory Fund donations have been funneled. Federal Election Commission reports show that the two October and November transfers totaling $39,000 from the Hillary Victory Fund to the Maine Democratic Party each sat for less than 48 hours with the party before the exact same amounts were transferred to the Democratic National Committee, or DNC.
[...]
While individual contributions to the state and national parties are capped, transfers between state and national committees are unlimited. That means that, effectively, donors can skirt contribution limits to the DNC or state parties by giving through joint fundraising committees like the Hillary Victory Fund.
The Huffington Post reports that (bolding mine)
A joint fundraising committee linking Hillary Clinton to the national Democratic Party and 33 state parties is routing money through those state parties and back into the coffers of the Democratic National Committee. So far, 22 of the state parties linked to the Hillary Victory Fund have received $938,500 from the fund and sent the same amount back to the DNC, according to available campaign finance records. The Clinton campaign claims to have raised an additional $18 million for the party committees in the final three months of 2015, although records will not be disclosed until Jan. 31.
The movement of money from a joint fundraising committee through state parties and to the national party committee has been criticized by campaign finance reformers as a way to get around campaign contribution limits.
I can’t wait for the reports to come out on January 31, so we can see if additional monies raised by Clinton’s campaign have been sent to the individual state parties only to be returned to the DNC where
the money can easily be sent to the state parties most advantageous to the candidate raising the money -- in a swing state, for example. Or, as is happening with the Hillary Victory Fund, that money can be sent to the DNC, which redistributes it as they see fit.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/9/1467700/-This-May-Be-The-Reason-Bernie-s-Not-Fundraising-for-the-State-Democratic-Parties
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