[EL] Illegality of paying a federal candidate to drop out of

Mon Jun 20 10:59:44 PDT 2016

"Someone suggested that Donald Trump be offered $150 million to quit the presidential race, and a number of people have asked me if this is illegal."

I don't know about the legality, but it does raise a fascinating willingness-to-pay question for economists. 

Douglas R Hess
Assistant Professor of Political Science

On research leave for Fall Semester 2016.
http://www.douglasrhess.com 

Grinnell College
1210 Park Street, Carnegie Hall #309
Grinnell, IA 50112 
phone: 641-269-4383

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Today's Topics:

   1. Illegality of paying a federal candidate to drop out of race
      (Rick Hasen)

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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2016 21:59:22 +0000
From: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu>
To: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
Subject: [EL] Illegality of paying a federal candidate to drop out of
	race
Message-ID: <81ED9428-2628-44AB-A9A8-EEB7C9763A03 at law.uci.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Someone suggested that Donald Trump be offered $150 million to quit the presidential race, and a number of people have asked me if this is illegal.

Dan Lowenstein?s seminal article on bribery in UCLA discusses a state law in California making this illegal (A person shall not . . . pay, solicit, or receive . . . any money or other valuable consideration . . . in order to induce a person not to become or to withdraw as a candidate for public office)

I cannot find an analogous federal law, and did find this in a federal election crimes manual<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.justice.gov_sites_default_files_criminal_legacy_2013_09_30_electbook-2D0507.pdf&d=DQICAg&c=HUrdOLg_tCr0UMeDjWLBOM9lLDRpsndbROGxEKQRFzk&r=xr_OjwGHtP-zw6I-DJj_MQ4cusLbiVT1bScGa0c8ZJo&m=H4rva4b4xC4k0wW6v0FMJfBPjEnteTfy7I-oz72SC6U&s=Oh8QnVWeVfxU29PbttmtdIrbcRLdJEx4gPJpp7k-4y8&e= > from 2007:

(b) Promise of appointment by candidate: 18 U.S.C. ? 599 This statute prohibits a candidate for federal office from promising appointments ?to any public or private position or employment? in return for ?support in his candidacy.? It is one of the few federal criminal laws specifically addressing campaign-related activity by candidates. It is a class statute that applies only to misconduct by federal candidates. Willful violations are two-year felonies; nonwillful violations are misdemeanors. Section 599 has potential application when one candidate attempts to secure an opponent?s withdrawal, or to elicit the opponent?s endorsement, by offering the opponent a public or private job. See also 18 U.S.C. ? 600, discussed above. It also applies to offers of jobs by federal candidates to others to secure endorsements. While Section 599 does not reach offers or payments of money to secure withdrawal or endorsements, if the payment was not reported accurately, such matters may be pro  secutable as a reporting violation of FECA under 2 U.S.C. ?? 434(b) and 437g(d) (my emphasis)

Any other potentially applicable law?

--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
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