[EL] campaign expenditure reporting

Fri Nov 3 08:41:21 PDT 2017

I am ignorant of campaign reporting requirements, and therefore confused about the reporting of money paid to Fusion GPS (and by Fusion to Christopher Steele/Orbis).   Is there an obligation on the part of a campaign to account for 2d level expenditures, such as money paid through an individual or company, such as a law firm, to another source to perform non-legal (as distinguished from illegal) campaign-related work?  It seems that there certainly should be such requirement, as otherwise many substantial expenditures can be hidden.  

> On Nov 3, 2017, at 11:02 AM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:
> 
> “Trump Says Justice Dept. and F.B.I. Must ‘Do What Is Right’ and Investigate Democrats” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95806>
> Posted on November 3, 2017 8:00 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95806> by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
> Banana republic territory <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/us/politics/trump-says-justice-dept-and-fbi-must-do-what-is-right-and-investigate-democrats.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fpolitics&action=click&contentCollection=politics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0>:
> Frustrated with the Justice Department’s reluctance to investigate his political opponents, President Trump on Friday said he would like the agency to run itself, but he and “a lot of people” are disappointed in the top federal law enforcement agency.
> “I’m really not involved with the Justice Department, I’d like to let it run itself,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he left the White House for an 11-day trip to Asia. “But honestly, they should be looking at the Democrats.”
> Mr. Trump on Thursday acknowledged that presidents are not supposed to interfere with Justice Department investigations, but he weighed in anyway with a series of Twitter posts early Friday morning and said the department should investigate the Democrats’ activity during the 2016 campaign. The American public, he said, “deserves it.”
> And here was my response on Twitter to the President’s tweet that Hillary Clinton broke the law with her joint fundraising committee with the DNC (click on link to see full tweetstorm):
>  <https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/926255579953111040>
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> <image001.jpg>Rick Hasen  <https://twitter.com/rickhasen>
> ✔@rickhasen <https://twitter.com/rickhasen>
> It is actually activity made legal by the Roberts Supreme Court https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/926249604936556545 … <https://t.co/ZqV0TyiAjc>
> 6:11 PM - Nov 2, 2017 <https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/926255579953111040>
>  <https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=926255579953111040>
>  88 Replies <https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=926255579953111040>
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>  <https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=926255579953111040>
>  146146 Retweets <https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=926255579953111040>
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>  <https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=926255579953111040>
>  304304 likes <https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=926255579953111040>
> Twitter Ads info and privacy <https://support.twitter.com/articles/20175256>
> <image002.png> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95806&title=%E2%80%9CTrump%20Says%20Justice%20Dept.%20and%20F.B.I.%20Must%20%E2%80%98Do%20What%20Is%20Right%E2%80%99%20and%20Investigate%20Democrats%E2%80%9D>
> Posted in chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>
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> “GOP Tax Bill Would Allow Politics from the Pulpit” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95804>
> Posted on November 2, 2017 5:10 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95804> by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
> Kate Ackley <https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/gop-tax-bill-allow-politics-pulpit> for Roll Call:
> The House Republican tax plan would upend a longstanding measure, known as the Johnson Amendment, that prohibits politicking from the pulpit, and critics say it could turn churches into new conduits for political money.
> Under current law, churches, charities and other 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations are prohibited from endorsing political candidates. The bill released Thursday <https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/hold-house-gop-tax-bill-keeps-39-6-rate-for-millionaires-cuts-corporate-rate-to-20> would allow churches to make statements about political campaigns and candidates in the course of religious services and activities, according to section 5201 of the measure <https://waysandmeansforms.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bill_text.pdf>.
> A pastor, for example, could endorse a candidate for office, or oppose one, during Sunday service.
> <image002.png> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95804&title=%E2%80%9CGOP%20Tax%20Bill%20Would%20Allow%20Politics%20from%20the%20Pulpit%E2%80%9D>
> Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax law and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>
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> McCutcheon Joint Fundraising Committees at Center of Controversial Donna Brazile Book Excerpt <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95802>
> Posted on November 2, 2017 5:02 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95802> by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
> Brazile in Politico: <https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774>
> On the phone Gary told me the DNC had needed a $2 million loan, which the campaign had arranged.
> “No! That can’t be true!” I said. “The party cannot take out a loan without the unanimous agreement of all of the officers.”
> “Gary, how did they do this without me knowing?” I asked. “I don’t know how Debbie relates to the officers,” Gary said. He described the party as fully under the control of Hillary’s campaign, which seemed to confirm the suspicions of the Bernie camp. The campaign had the DNC on life support, giving it money every month to meet its basic expenses, while the campaign was using the party as a fund-raising clearinghouse. Under FEC law, an individual can contribute a maximum of $2,700 directly to a presidential campaign. But the limits are much higher for contributions to state parties and a party’s national committee.
> Individuals who had maxed out their $2,700 contribution limit to the campaign could write an additional check for $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund—that figure represented $10,000 to each of the 32 states’ parties who were part of the Victory Fund agreement—$320,000—and $33,400 to the DNC. The money would be deposited in the states first, and transferred to the DNC shortly after that. Money in the battleground states usually stayed in that state, but all the other states funneled that money directly to the DNC, which quickly transferred the money to Brooklyn.
> “Wait,” I said. “That victory fund was supposed to be for whoever was the nominee, and the state party races. You’re telling me that Hillary has been controlling it since before she got the nomination?”
> Gary said the campaign had to do it or the party would collapse.
> “That was the deal that Robby struck with Debbie,” he explained, referring to campaign manager Robby Mook. “It was to sustain the DNC. We sent the party nearly $20 million from September until the convention, and more to prepare for the election.”
> IBT: <http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/supreme-court-case-let-clinton-hijack-party-fundraising-2609802>
> Former Democratic party leader Donna Brazile called the Hillary Clinton campaign’s takeover of party fundraising a “cancer.” Writing in Politico <https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774> Thursday, Brazile said it “broke my heart” to discover that her predecessor as party chair had given the Clinton campaign power over the Democratic National Committee’s “finances, strategy, and all the money raised” during her primary battle with Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.
> Brazile inherited the DNC chair position from Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who handed the Clinton campaign keys to the party fundraising apparatus through a joint fundraising group called the Hillary Victory Fund: an agreement between the Clinton campaign, the DNC and 32 state parties to raise campaign funds together. The power of that agreement, which effectively allowed Clinton to avoid campaign limits by funneling donations through state parties, was a direct result of a split 2014 Supreme Court decision <https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-536_e1pf.pdf> in which the court’s Chief Justice John Roberts called worries about such arrangments “hypothetical” and “divorced from reality.”
> But campaign finance experts say the scenario, far from being hypothetical, may be the new political reality.
> “This situation shows that if anyone is divorced from reality, it was the chief justice in assuming they wouldn’t take advantage of this,” Stephen Spaulding, chief of strategy and external affairs for Common Cause, a non-partisan government watchdog group, told International Business Times.
> The case in question is McCutcheon v. FEC, a suit brought by Shaun McCutcheon <https://www.thedailybeast.com/who-is-shaun-mccutcheon>, a  Republican activist from Alabama. The Supreme Court ruled in his favor, striking down a federal limit on the total amount individuals could give to parties, candidates and committees each election cycle, which at the time was $123,300 <http://classic.fec.gov/press/press2013/20133001_2013-14ContributionLimits.shtml>.
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> <image002.png> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95802&title=McCutcheon%20Joint%20Fundraising%20Committees%20at%20Center%20of%20Controversial%20Donna%20Brazile%20Book%20Excerpt>
> Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>
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> Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s Giving Out Free Ice Cream to Support Campaign Finance Vouchers, Constitutional Amendment <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95800>
> Posted on November 2, 2017 8:57 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95800> by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
> Boston.com reports. <https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2017/11/02/the-co-founder-of-ben-jerrys-is-giving-out-free-ice-cream-friday-in-boston-heres-why-and-where>
> I assume that one need not sign the petition to get the free ice cream/
> There have been Ben and Jerry’s issues with freebies for voting <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=88143> before.
> <image002.png> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95800&title=Ben%20Cohen%20of%20Ben%20%26%20Jerry%E2%80%99s%20Giving%20Out%20Free%20Ice%20Cream%20to%20Support%20Campaign%20Finance%20Vouchers%2C%20Constitutional%20Amendment>
> Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
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> “FEC Commissioner Says Agency Limited in Ability to Regulate Online Political Ads” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95798>
> Posted on November 2, 2017 8:54 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95798> by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
> Morning Consult: <https://morningconsult.com/2017/11/01/fec-commissioner-says-agency-limited-in-ability-to-regulate-online-political-ads/>
> As executives from Facebook Inc., Google Inc. and Twitter Inc. face congressional committees this week over concerns that Russian agents used their platforms in order to influence the 2016 election, a Democratic member of the Federal Election Commission says the regulatory agency has limited power to increase the transparency of online political advertisements compared to Congress.
> “What we’re working on right now at the FEC is just the smallest possible step forward on this,” Ellen Weintraub, who has served on the commission since 2002, said in a Monday phone interview.
> <image002.png> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95798&title=%E2%80%9CFEC%20Commissioner%20Says%20Agency%20Limited%20in%20Ability%20to%20Regulate%20Online%20Political%20Ads%E2%80%9D>
> Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal election commission <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>
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> “Report: Robin Vos confronted John Kasich over Wisconsin redistricting position” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95796>
> Posted on November 2, 2017 8:52 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95796> by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
> Wisconsin State Journal reports. <http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/report-robin-vos-confronted-john-kasich-over-wisconsin-redistricting-position/article_6252e787-d7b2-5bc5-baf0-36341816abcb.html>
> <image002.png> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95796&title=%E2%80%9CReport%3A%20Robin%20Vos%20confronted%20John%20Kasich%20over%20Wisconsin%20redistricting%20position%E2%80%9D>
> Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>, Supreme Court <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>
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> “Podesta’s downfall sends shock waves through K Street” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95794>
> Posted on November 2, 2017 8:49 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95794> by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
> Politico reports. <https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/31/tony-podesta-lobbyists-mueller-manafort-244389>
> <image002.png> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95794&title=%E2%80%9CPodesta%E2%80%99s%20downfall%20sends%20shock%20waves%20through%20K%20Street%E2%80%9D>
> Posted in Uncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>
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> “Campaign informant: I was paid $30 to hand messenger ballot to Atlantic City Democratic operative” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95792>
> Posted on November 2, 2017 8:39 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=95792> by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
> Philadelphia Inquirer   <http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/shore/atlantic-city-election-ballots-gilliam-guardian-20171031.html>on some absentee ballot vote buying allegations:
> Voice recorder in his pocket, Rodney Cotton, 51, got out of the private detectives’ car and headed for the Gilliam for Mayor headquarters on Atlantic Avenue.
> As the two retired state troopers watched from a distance Saturday, Cotton went inside, then emerged and got into a white van driven by Craig Callaway, a city Democratic Party activist known for quarterbacking exhaustive vote-by-mail operations. The van left for Mays Landing, where the old Atlantic County courthouse was open for special Saturday hours to process ballots for Tuesday’s election.
> Cotton would later report to the detectives that Callaway paid him $30 to obtain and sign for a messenger ballot for an Atlantic City man whom he said he did not know, and that rather than delivering that ballot to the man — as required by law — he handed it directly to Callaway, who put it in his pocket.
> <image002.png> <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D95792&title=%E2%80%9CCampaign%20informant%3A%20I%20was%20paid%20%2430%20to%20hand%20messenger%20ballot%20to%20Atlantic%20City%20Democratic%20operative%E2%80%9D>
> Posted in absentee ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>, chicanery <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>, vote buying <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=43>
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> -- 
> 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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> 949.824.3072 - office
> rhasen at law.uci.edu <mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/ <http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/>
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