[EL] campaign expenditure reporting -- DOJ prosecution

[David Mason]

See this DOJ press release on convictions of three Ron Paul campaign
staffers for false reporting with this explanation of the offense:

"Evidence at trial proved that the campaign expenditures to Sorenson were
made in monthly installments of approximately $8,000 each and ultimately
amounted to over $70,000.  The defendants concealed the payments by causing
them to be recorded – both in campaign accounting records and in FEC
filings – as campaign-related audio-visual expenditures, and by causing
them to be transmitted to a film production company and then to a second
company that was controlled by Sorenson.  The conspirators concealed their
campaign’s payments to Sorenson from their candidate and also from the FEC,
the FBI, and the public."

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-members-2012-presidential-campaign-staff-guilty-concealing-campaign-expenditures-state

I was an expert witness at the first trial.

Dave Mason


On Fri, Nov 3, 2017 at 12:49 PM, Tyler Culberson <tylerculberson at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I am unaware of any regulation that requires expenditures to be earmarked
> as they relate to typical campaign activities, including opposition
> research (which is not not non-legal).
>
> I could certainly see the FEC looking into the matter further if
> complaints are filed. But subcontracting happens on a regular basis during
> campaigns. If this issue is to be investigated further the FEC should
> re-evaluate regulations pertaining to disclosure of expenditures.
>
> However, I don't really see the current composition of the FEC to be very
> interested in exploring further expenditure disclosure requirements.
>
> It should also be noted that reports filed by committees with the FEC are
> not scrutinized as the regulations are written, but by a review process
> approved by the Commissioners every election-cycle.
>
> In the past, things like the Biennial contribution limits were not
> addressed in the review process, and therefore went completely unregulated
> for years.
>
> - sent via mobile device
>
> On Nov 3, 2017 11:44 AM, "John Tanner" <john.k.tanner at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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>
>>
>> <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>
>>
>>
>>    - <https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=926255579953111040>
>>
>>  146146 Retweets
>> <https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=926255579953111040>
>>
>>
>>    - <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>
>>
>>
>> *“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>
>>
>>
>> *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>.*
>>
>> <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>
>>
>>
>> *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>
>>
>>
>> *“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>
>>
>>
>> *“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>
>>
>>
>> *“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>
>>
>>
>> *“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>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Rick Hasen
>> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
>> UC Irvine School of Law
>> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
>> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
>> 949.824.3072 <(949)%20824-3072> - office
>> rhasen at law.uci.edu
>> http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
>> http://electionlawblog.org
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