INDIVISIBLE Lambertville NJ / New Hope PA

Category: Campaign Finance

  • Trump Banks on His Political Capital

    Contributed by Amara Willey.

    You may have noticed another Donald Trump-related drama unfolding earlier this month. When he presented the GOP with a cease and desist order not to use his name in fundraising efforts, the GOP flatly refused to follow it. This may have seemed like just another stunt of his, but let’s follow the money.

    Before we do that, though, there’s another related story. The Republicans have been actively blaming the mainstream media for trying to divide the party, an idea that CNN reporters vehemently refuted and pointed to many examples of how Republican congress members had criticized the former president.

    In a Washington Post opinion piece published at the end of November, columnist Jennifer Rubin declared that the Republican party had split in two, based not on policy differences, but rather on values and character.

    Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) explained that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and former President Trump differed very little on policy though since McConnell’s speech condemning Trump after the impeachment hearing, the enmity has been evident. “It’s not a policy debate. This is a personality issue.“

    Portman continued, “It has the potential to hurt the party. It’s already making it more divided. But let’s get back to the policies. That’s where we agree, that’s where the American people want us to focus.”

    Still a number of Republicans have attempted to discredit that idea. For example, former ambassador to the United Nations and current Director of the Save America PAC, Nikki Haley claimed in a Fox News interview that the wedge in the GOP was entirely in the imagination of the media. She said, “The liberal media… Wants to stoke a nonstop Republican Civil War.“

    Haley continued to dissemble, suggesting that perhaps the former president’s actions following the election “were not his finest.”

    This is where the money part comes in. After Donald Trump‘s cease and desist letter to the GOP, the party and the former president had an almost immediate rapprochement. Trump explained that his letter had to do with not wanting those people who had voted for his impeachment to be supported by GOP money connected with his name. Coincidentally, the Republican national committee announced several days later moving a large donor fundraising event to Trump’s Mar A Lago property.

    Trump has been encouraging his supporters to give directly to the Save America PAC, headed by the previously mentioned Nikki Haley, instead of donating to the GOP. He has made it clear that he intends to fund primary challenges for those Congress members who denounced him.

    Vox suggested that the former president may have more than political revenge in mind. And blaming the media for divisions in the GOP may be just another Trump diversionary tactic.

    Whether Trump chooses to follow a path of revenge or not, there is another potential benefit he could reap from funneling money away from the GOP. The Save America PAC is a type of political committee that has relatively few restrictions on what it can do with donations. We have already seen that much of the $31.5 million raised just after the election was not used to fund legal challenges or help with the Georgia runoff‘s, as had been purported, but instead was being funneled into other uses, like paying down campaign debt.

    “If you were going to direct a lot of money from a political committee to yourself, this is the way to do it,“ Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told Vox in an interview earlier this month.

    Trump can use money from the PAC to hold events at his hotels, fund travel, or pay for “consulting fees.“

    “There aren’t a lot of restrictions on travel expenses, so he can rent his own plane for himself and pay himself to fly around the country,“ Lebowitz said. “He can pay Ivanka and the rest of his family very large amounts as consultants for the PAC. He can rent office space for himself.“ 

    Meanwhile, McConnell has made it clear that he will continue to back his fellow incumbent senators, despite Trump’s stated desire to punish some of them. McConnell still influences the use of the Senate Leadership Fund.

    Sources:

  • New Jersey Dark Money Veto Murky

    Contributed by Amara Willey.

    Citing loopholes and possible Constitutional challenges, Gov. Phil Murphy conditionally vetoed a campaign finance reform bill in May. Critics suggest that Murphy’s motivation is more political than altruistic.

    A conditional veto means that the governor objects to parts of a bill and proposes amendments that would make it acceptable.  It is now up to the legislature to decide if it will follow the governor’s recommendations and rewrite the bill or try to override the veto with a two-thirds vote. The danger is that the legislature may just let the bill, NJ-S1500, languish, thus killing the chance for substantial election reform. (more…)

  • The 28th Amendment: An American Promise

    Contributed by Deb Kline.

    Heather Santos from American Promise will lead the June 4 Springboard event on Dark MoneyJune 4 Springboard event on Dark Money. The organization is dedicated to achieving passage of the 28th Amendment to the Constitution, which affirms that We The People – not special interests, corporations or unions – govern the United States of America. The proposed bill has more than 100 sponsors. The 28th Amendment has been proposed to the House of Representatives (HJ Res. 2) and reads as follows: (more…)

  • Dark Money Impact: Winning PA-01 in 2018

    Contributed by Kierstyn Pietrowski Zolfo.

    The next SpringBoard event will focus on the role of dark money in our political system. While people may have different conceptions of what dark money means, for the purposes of this exploration it refers to any political donations that are made to groups – political action committees (PACs and SuperPACs) and so-called, “social welfare organizations,” also known as 501(c)(4) group, who are allowed to engage in political lobbying and political campaign activities.

    Of particular concern to our area is the part that dark money played in the 2018 election in PA-01 and the re-election of Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. The PA-01 congressional race was among the top 5 most expensive House races in the country for 2018, and while some of that can be attributed to direct spending by Democratic candidate, even more of that came from dark money on the GOP side.

    Many politicians have their own PACs that are affiliated with their name and candidacy. Such groups raise money by holding events with the politicians present and giving speeches about their political goals… but then they step out of the room while the money folks gather up the donations.  One such event was held on Washington Crossing Road in October 2018, with then-House Speaker Paul Ryan present to fundraise for his PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF). The CLF opened their district office in Bucks County in September 2017 to prepare for the 2018 race. By the end of the campaign cycle, the CLF had spent over $4.4 million – that we know of – to support Brian Fitzpatrick.

    While Paul Ryan’s PAC was the largest of the candidate-affiliated groups to pour money into PA-01, it certainly was not the only one spending money in Bucks County. The Great America Committee (VP Mike Pence), Majority Committee (then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy), Eye of the Tiger PAC (then Majority Whip Steve Scalise) and Citizens for Prosperity (Sen. Pat Toomey) were among nearly a dozen groups to spend on this race in 2018.

    Another way that dark money was funnelled into this race was from millionaire backers. Two individuals in particular played outsize roles in bringing dark money into PA-01: Elliott Broidy and Sheldon Adelson.  Both of these men used the intricacies of campaign finance law to pour outside money into our area to help Brian Fitzpatrick, but each did so in different ways.

    Sheldon Adelson concentrated his efforts on giving directly to PACs.  A review of his expenditures during the 2018 cycle show a shocking amount of money changed hands. This is just a sampling of his donations as reported on Open Secrets, some of which found its way here.

    Recipient Date Amount
    Congressional Leadership Fund 05/03/18 $15,000,000
    Congressional Leadership Fund 09/12/18 $10,000,000
    National Republican Congressional Committee 06/30/18 $237,300
    Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) 10/16/18 $125,000

    Adelson also gave directly to Fitzpatrick’s campaign, and a number of smaller donations to many of the politician-affiliated PACs, who in turn gave to Fitzpatrick.

    Elliott Broidy has a name that may be familiar to those of you who closely follow Trump news.  He is the third client of Michael Cohen (the other two being President Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity). This former Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee paid a Playboy Playmate mistress to have an abortion, has major financial ties to Manafort-aide Rick Gates, and most recently had his house raided by the FBI in an investigation about conspiracy, money laundering, and covert lobbying on behalf of foreign officials.

    Broidy orchestrated the first round of attacks on Democratic candidate Scott Wallace in June 2018.  Wallace was ‘welcomed’ into the general race with over a half million dollars in RJC advertisements smearing Wallace unjustly as an anti-Semite. That set the tone for the race, but since it was done by an outside expenditure group on behalf of Fitzpatrick, instead of from Fitzpatrick himself, the candidate was able to claim plausible deniability from this awfulness. It should also be noted that Broidy donated to many of the same PACs that received funding from Adelson, who in turn spent money in PA-01.

    With PA-01 as one of the most contentious swing districts in the country, and with our location in an expensive media market, we are going to see more and more dark money and outside money coming in to affect our local races. We need to stay on top of this issue, and develop effective messaging strategies to counteract the effect of all this outside money, or else we will be overpowered in future races.

    Call to Action: Mark your calendars for the next Springboard event on Dark Money and be sure to attend! June 3, 2019 – Location TBD

  • Just the Facts: Dark Money

    Contributed by Olga Vanucci.

    What is dark money?  It’s political spending meant to influence the decision of a voter, where the donor is not disclosed and the source of the money is unknown.

    Sources of dark money include:

    501(c)(4):  “social welfare” organizations such as the NRA, Sierra Club, Indivisible

    501(c)(5):  labor unions

    501(c)(6):  business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce

    Shell companies set up as LLCs can collect unlimited money from unreported sources.

    The 501(c)s can collect unlimited donations from unreported donors, though a recent Supreme Court decision is changing that: donations over $200 will have to be reported. On the flip side, they cannot engage solely in politics and can only coordinate on a limited basis with campaigns.

    Super PACs are not dark money in that they have to report their donors. They can collect unlimited money and can be 100% political, but cannot coordinate with political campaigns.

    However, 501(c)s and shell LLCs can donate money, which they collected from unreported donors to Super PACs, turning Super PACs into dark money.

    Candidate committees, political parties, and traditional Political Action Committees (PACs) are not dark money. Their donors must be disclosed, contribution limits apply and organizations are allowed to coordinate their efforts to help elect a candidate.

    Dark money spending in the first year of the 2016 election cycle was 10 times more than it was at the same point in 2012. Dark money spending in 2012 was three times more than it was in 2008, and dark money spending in 2008 was 17 times more than it was in 2004.

    Dark money has been almost entirely spent to favor Republican candidates.  For example, by October 2015, $4.88 million in dark money had already been spent for the 2016 election cycle. The money was spent by six groups – five conservative groups (including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent $3 million, and Americans for Prosperity, which spent $1.5 million) and one liberal group (Planned Parenthood, which spent just under $75,000).

    Sources:
    https://www.opensecrets.org/dark-money/

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/09/supreme-court-lets-stand-a-decision-requiring-dark-money-disclosure/570670/

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_money

    https://ballotpedia.org/501(c)(4)