[EL] Business Week story about DreamWorks marketing team assisting Messina (Pres. Obama's campaign manager)

[Joe La Rue]

Mark,

Even *post Citizens United*, corporations are prohibited from making
contributions to candidates, whether direct or in-kind. *Citizens *did
nothing to change that. A corporation may, however, offer its services to a
candidate so long as the candidate pays the fair market value for the
services. Employees and officers of corporations are free to make
contributions *up to the contribution limits*, of course. But under current
federal law the corporation itself may not make contributions.

So this article really raises only four questions. First, did Spielberg
offer advice in his private capacity or as an extension of DreamWorks? (I
think it would be hard to argue that he's an extension of a corporation;
therefore, I think his advice has to be considered private). Second, does
advice from one person to another, offered in a private conversation, count
as a contribution, such that a monetary value must be attached to it to
determine whether one has given 'too much advice' and violated the
applicable contribution limit? (I don't know the answer to this, not having
researched it; but, I find it difficult to conceive that private advice
would be counted as a contribution). Third, did the DreamWorks employees
offer advice as private individuals, or was it offered within the scope of
their employment? This is, I think, the key question: for, if they acted
within the scope of their DreamWork employment because a DreamWork
executive told them to do so, then this seems to be an illegal in-kind
contribution.

Finally, here's another key question: why is it Democrats are so worried
that corporate money is going to go to SuperPACs supporting Romney? Obama
did quite well with donations from corporate executives in 2008. Might it
be because Democrats realize that Obama's policies have been bad for
business? And, if Obama's policies are bad for business, aren't they also,
by extension, likely bad for job creation?


Joe
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*Joseph E. La Rue*
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On Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 10:14 AM, Scarberry, Mark <
Mark.Scarberry at pepperdine.edu> wrote:

> From Business Week (
> http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/30696-obamas-ceo-jim-messina-has-a-president-to-sell
> ):****
>
> ** **
>
> “At DreamWorks Studios, Steven Spielberg spent three hours explaining how
> to capture an audience’s attention and offered a number of ideas that will
> be rolled out before Election Day. An early example of Spielberg’s
> influence is RomneyEconomics.com, a website designed by the Obama team to
> tell the story—a horror story, by their reckoning—of Mitt Romney’s career
> at Bain Capital. Afterward, Spielberg insisted that Messina sit down with
> the DreamWorks marketing team. Hollywood movie studios are expert, as
> presidential campaigns also must be, at spending huge sums over a few weeks
> to reach and motivate millions of Americans.”****
>
> ** **
>
> Pre-Citizens United, would free consulting from a corporation’s marketing
> team, at the CEO’s direction, be an illegal corporate contribution? I’m not
> that familiar with rules about in-kind contributions. Spielberg as an
> individual surely had the right to provide free advice to Messina, without
> it being counted against contribution limits, right? I suppose the members
> of the DreamWorks marketing team might have volunteered as individuals,
> rather than as a corporation’s employees, to provide these consulting
> services, but the story suggests that they did so at Spielberg’s direction.
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> Mark S. Scarberry****
>
> Professor of Law****
>
> Pepperdine Univ. School of Law****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>
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