[EL] An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct

Fri Jan 19 18:54:08 PST 2018

Jeff,

What is your evidence for claiming that "enormous amounts of digital spending is not available to the FEC"?

52 U.S.C. 30104(c)(1): Every person (other than a political committee) who
makes independent expenditures in an aggregate amount or value
in excess of $250 during a calendar year shall file a statement
containing the information required under subsection (b)(3)(A)
of this section for all contributions received by such person.

That includes internet spending.

There is, of course, a fair amount of all kinds of spending that is not disclosed--independent expenditures by a person aggregating less than $250, some spending on membership communications, that sort of thing. But even including such longstanding provisions, which also apply to the web, what is your evidence, or even reason for believing, that "enormous amounts of digital spending is not available to the FEC"? I know of nothing to suggest that, and of course, by and large "enormous amounts" of unreported spending would already be illegal.

I'd note that in introducing the "honest ads" act, Senator Klobuchar stated that “$1.4 billion was spent on online advertising in the 2016 election." As her source, she cited https://www.borrellassociates.com/industry-papers/papers/2015-to-2016-political-advertising-outlook-august-15-detail.  https://www.borrellassociates.com/industry-papers/papers/2015-to-2016-political-advertising-outlook-august-15-detail.  In turn, the legislative findings in Section III of the Honest Ads Act notes that Facebook reported "between June 2015 and May 2017, Russian entities purchased $100,000 in political advertisements."

Bradley A. Smith

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx

________________________________
From: Jeff Hauser [jeffhauser at gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2018 12:54 PM
To: Smith, Brad
Cc: Rick Hasen; Sean Parnell; Election Law Listserv
Subject: Re: [EL] An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct

Brad first wrote," What would such a statute look like? I’ve never really seen one that solves the alleged problem without creating double reporting, and often providing misleading information to the public.

And always remember, we’re talking about approximately 3%, more or less (less last year) of political spending."

He then wrote, "I didn’t give any statisitics on digital spending. I gave stats on total spending. We at IFS derive those from Open Secrets and from FEC records."

But an enormous amount of digital spending is not available to either Open Secrets or the FEC.

If you purport to discuss the denominator of "political spending," you are purporting to know the actual amount of digital spending.

But since you cannot know the full amount of digital spending. you should not be making claims about "political spending."

On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 12:49 PM, Smith, Brad <BSmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:BSmith at law.capital.edu>> wrote:
I didn’t give any statisitics on digital spending. I gave stats on total spending.

We at IFS derive those from Open Secrets and from FEC records.

Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault
  Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 East Broad Street<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https://maps.google.com/%3fq%3d303+East+Broad+Street%250D+_Columbus,+OH+43215_%26entry%3dgmail%26source%3dg&c=E,1,6878QynwdMpnK9GVhwjPbemedLwLIH_8fEwSSXDgQ9QFY4ElackKG-vv2dK5tDzIAYuSv58uuGQ8SsaydVwCzUkGK4_dd52K4HmlTmV8ExyxHQ,,&typo=1>
Columbus, OH 43215<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https://maps.google.com/%3fq%3d303+East+Broad+Street%250D+_Columbus,+OH+43215_%26entry%3dgmail%26source%3dg&c=E,1,ZcV0uDmN9xndIIneN0YtMXyLq0Ff-eIwdAWPQZFvR3cpezrHoM5w7uByXqg3W8Swxw7NuIauQuYggSAuG4mUqv8UAwT5VlETmWSWuN78x7xtVwV9X_C9&typo=1>
(614) 236-6317
bsmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:bsmith at law.capital.edu>
http://www.law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.asp

From: Jeff Hauser [mailto:jeffhauser at gmail.com<mailto:jeffhauser at gmail.com>]
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2018 12:46 PM
To: Smith, Brad
Cc: Rick Hasen; Sean Parnell; Election Law Listserv

Subject: Re: [EL] An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct

"And always remember, we’re talking about approximately 3%, more or less (less last year) of political spending."

Brad, what is your source of statistics on total digital political spending in 2016, and the proportion disclosed?

On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 12:43 PM, Smith, Brad <BSmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:BSmith at law.capital.edu>> wrote:
What would such a statute look like? I’ve never really seen one that solves the alleged problem without creating double reporting, and often providing misleading information to the public.

And always remember, we’re talking about approximately 3%, more or less (less last year) of political spending.

Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault
  Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 East Broad Street<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https://maps.google.com/%3fq%3d303+East+Broad+Street%250D+_Columbus,+OH+43215_%26entry%3dgmail%26source%3dg&c=E,1,S7bonyLVvU0kPXLO0VvCJ05LsPUKl_xAUWIrdanWxC1UNwSpHpjJ2fJbgL8LJglwPWU6dATnYbrzMcQBBZypXcy1pQRqc-AGtGMkE9rbffoKl64,&typo=1>
Columbus, OH 43215<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https://maps.google.com/%3fq%3d303+East+Broad+Street%250D+_Columbus,+OH+43215_%26entry%3dgmail%26source%3dg&c=E,1,-_-oWvTskmv9apWftdyGAG2EOw-gwMA4BDrbFhC95JMSBnT0MATCP7vSYI8tmqlT-RAtOTkVniOuJSRyRj0ummkO-me6wcrrSxyK0-LQI5Bhi30aw3fO1s0f&typo=1>
(614) 236-6317
bsmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:bsmith at law.capital.edu>
http://www.law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.asp

From: Law-election [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>] On Behalf Of Rick Hasen
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2018 12:28 PM
To: Sean Parnell; Jeff Hauser
Cc: Election Law Listserv

Subject: Re: [EL] An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct

That seems like a pretty good argument for Congress to pass improved disclosure laws, regardless of the tax status of a particular organization, for any organization or person who spends or contributes BIG money (I’d raise thresholds dramatically) on election-related activity (we can discuss how that is best defined, but at least extending electioneering communications to digital ads seems like a good start).

This way we know where the ultimate source of money is, without allowing the kind of shell games to go on.

From: Sean Parnell <sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org<mailto:sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org>>
Date: Friday, January 19, 2018 at 9:22 AM
To: Jeff Hauser <jeffhauser at gmail.com<mailto:jeffhauser at gmail.com>>, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>>
Cc: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu<mailto:law-election at uci.edu>>
Subject: RE: [EL] An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct

And the same goes for the public, of course, who would only see “We’re Totally Not The Russians LLC” listed on whatever form of disclosure is envisioned by Ciara and others in the “reform” community.

Sean

From: Jeff Hauser [mailto:jeffhauser at gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2018 12:11 PM
To: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>>
Cc: Sean Parnell <sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org<mailto:sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org>>; Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu<mailto:law-election at uci.edu>>
Subject: Re: [EL] An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct

Michael Cohen has been alleged by the Wall Street Journal to create an LLC to pay off an actress aleged to have an affair with Trump: https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyer-used-private-company-pseudonyms-to-pay-porn-star-stormy-daniels-1516315731?utm_source=The+Point+with+Chris+Cillizza+Alerts&utm_campaign=d827904afa-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ada7c7ac0a-d827904afa-83775533

If Russians created shell companies in Delaware to give money to the NRA, all the IRS would see is "Delaware LLC."

(the NRA would presumably make inquiries about any unexpected contributions, and I doubt they lack information on who is giving them big money)

On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 11:59 AM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>> wrote:
Has the NRA issued any public statements denying the receipt of money from Russian government sources/sources allied with Russian government which were used by its c4 for election-related activity?

From: Sean Parnell <sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org<mailto:sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org>>
Date: Friday, January 19, 2018 at 8:55 AM
To: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>>, Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu<mailto:law-election at uci.edu>>
Subject: re: An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct

I wanted to clear up what some might mistakenly infer from the piece by Ciara Torres-Spelliscy linked to below concerning the latest speculation regarding foreign money, Donald Trump, and those pesky Russians (hold on a sec, it appears the 1980’s are calling and wish to talk to me about something). She writes:

For many years now, good-government groups and campaign finance experts have warned that illegal foreign funds could be hiding in that dark money.

That’s because, in federal races, political spenders that go dark are exploiting a loophole between the campaign finance system overseen by the FEC, which typically insists on that all donors to campaigns identify themselves, and charities the Internal Revenue Service allows to collect funds donated anonymously.

Three things:

  1.  The National Rifle Association is not a “charity,” at least as defined by the IRS. It’s a 501c4 “social welfare” organization (it does have an associated foundation, which is a 501c3, but I don’t believe it’s alleged that this entity was funding any political ads, let alone Russian-funded ads).
  2.  While the NRA and other 501c organizations do not reveal donors to the public, they do reveal them to the IRS (or at least are required to) on Schedule B. Presumably, if there is a concern that the NRA took in millions of dollars from Russian sources (whether state or “private” to the extent there’s any distinction in Russia), it should be relatively easy for the FBI to get the information from the IRS (I’m not sure if it requires a subpoena or not in this particular instance, but law enforcement is able to get confidential tax records). I’d guess that someone at the NRA handed a few million dollars by a Putin pal would have realized this and handed it back, if such a highly-speculative transaction occurred, but then there are some imprudent people out there so who knows?
  3.  Anonymous contributions to charities are hardly a “loophole,” it is in fact a practice with a long and deeply ingrained history in philanthropy, praised in the Gospel of Matthew 6:1 – 6:4 and also by Seneca the Younger, among others. I’ve written an overview of anonymous charitable giving, published last year, if anyone is interested: http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/file_uploads/Protecting_Donor_Privacy.pdf<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/file_uploads/Protecting_Donor_Privacy.pdf&c=E,1,yB8z6rp4LjNjM5ymoJ1dImrzWM79VhYNJoqxPC_XoXt9GjQT0InnValyOCkhJtMP_8pHZoIqhgWkOAemSMJDexQDkzwm71eIcqSOvJJOrtAElXaUNJul5RoCSQ,,&typo=1>

Best,
Sean Parnell
Vice President of Public Policy, The Philanthropy Roundtable
1120 20th Street NW, Suite 550<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https://maps.google.com/%3fq%3d1120+20th+Street+NW,+Suite+550%26entry%3dgmail%26source%3dg&c=E,1,ZSWvIYPRn84sKS13Ax9ZK6c-a2JJcOUgmhZh1u-6g3eKfV7j8xw-gLwMl08sCin-6g7wtZuMFxZmB-uGLA8YLHKgrMoMk86BMOji7S_G7S4,&typo=1> South
Washington, DC  20036
(202) 600-7883 (direct)
(571) 289-1374 (mobile)
sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org<mailto:sparnell at philanthropyroundtable.org>

“An insidious foreign dark money threat: New reports about Russian money going to the NRA could prove watchdogs’ fears correct”<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fp%3d96992&c=E,1,BKi2Bl65mU5t49bOewqAU826TvtS3eDYa8NI60HN9UKbJwZj9V_sIszWT4hRZH5TMPfGuNrBkBlk_HzUjasx-ls5ZBiDEC-68FaeWbdVmqYtQ3BuUgXvZw,,&typo=1>
Posted on January 19, 2018 7:16 am<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fp%3d96992&c=E,1,3Vamj5-VOxEeYqxdG_0blzHJ_2qRAmm75-uAR2swPatBXSs7ZH531VACjxuix2nc-mHZX-jT4DVvLzUnxoTizF19Ja3SzFcXdCbB4v8u1bx8gYB9rZ-WLLLDuQ,,&typo=1> by Rick Hasen<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http://electionlawblog.org/%3fauthor%3d3&c=E,1,SmymVOI1x1o5FHgDBghPFJE8Hid_DkCm86r_yypWpQTeY8-KPIdE14N1JZQb4O6F_-vpZzg3JqhoHNCGleWkr37i6H98w7w83AhogQ0c9tNg5evNeuyq&typo=1>
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy<http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/insidious-foreign-dark-money-threat-article-1.3765048> NYDN oped.
Posted in campaign finance <https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D96992&title=%E2%80%9CAn%20insidious%20foreign%20dark%20money%20threat%3A%20New%20reports%20about%20Russian%20money%20going%20to%20the%20NRA%20could%20prove%20watchdogs%E2%80%99%20fears%20correct%E2%80%9D>

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