I’m sure both parties do these events but my question is…
How does the money raised from these events get to the candidates legally?
I know there are limits on how much an individual can give and also a corporation, so how does all the money raised during a fundraiser legally get to the candidate? And if this method sidesteps the contribution limit, then why don’t they collect ALL their contributions this way so people can contribute as much as they want? If the “party” gets the money and they can give it to the candidate, then why bother having the foolish $2,300 limit?
It was to be a two-step evening with a reception and dinner costing $28,500 a person followed by a later event featuring Streisand at $2,500 a ticket.
CONTRIBUTION LIMITS – Presidential Campaigns
The contribution limits work a little differently for Presidential campaigns. In the case of a Presidential candidate running in various State primaries, you may contribute up to $2,300 for the entire primary campaign period–not $2,300 for each State primary in which the candidate runs.
Your contributions may be supplemented with Federal (U.S. Treasury) funds. If a Presidential primary candidate has qualified for the Federal matching fund program, up to $250 of your total contributions to that candidate may be matched with Federal funds. To qualify for matching, contributions must be in the form of a check or other written instrument. (Note that some contributions are not matchable, such as currency, loans, goods and services, and any type of contribution from a political committee.)
In the general election, however, you may not make any contributions to the campaigns of Democratic or Republican nominees who receive Federal funds. (Federal funding in the general election takes the form of direct government grants rather than matching payments.) You may nevertheless designate a contribution of up to $2,300 to the candidate’s compliance fund, a special account used to pay for certain legal and accounting expenses. You may also contribute up to $2,300 to the general election campaign of any Presidential candidate who is not a Federally funded Democratic or Republican nominee.
strat0477 says
Hi John,
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p>There are several loopholes candidates can use to get around donation limitations. If the candidate already holds an elected office, they can have donations made to that campaign (like Sen. Obama’s and McCain’s senatorial warchests). Similarly, some of the money is divided between state and federal PACs and 527s. I believe the amount of money PACs and 527s can donate directly to a candidate is just $1000, but that does not prevent them from doing things on their own that helps a candidate (television commercials, etc.)
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p>I’m pretty sure there are many many others, but these are the only two I am familiar with.
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p>Great system, huh?
johnk says
in OK.
christopher says
So if I wanted a ticket costing $28,500 I could count $2300 of my own toward it (if, of course, I hadn’t already donated), but the rest I can raise from friends. I think they still have to be recorded as individual checks. Also, as I understand it limits to the party are higher than to individual candidates. My knowledge of the law here is admittedly a bit fuzzy, so someone else please feel free to clarify in further comments.
david says
refers to the maximum amount an individual can give to the party. The party does not then give the money to the candidate, but it may well work in tandem with candidates. For example, the DNC can advertise all it wants in favor of Obama or against McCain.
frankskeffington says
Each mega fundraiser can set up their own committee that would then dediciate different amounts of the funds raised to the different campaigns particapating. So let’s say Obama, the State Democratic Party, the DCCC and the DSCC (the latter electing House and Senate Dems) had a joint funraiser for 17,300 per ticket.
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p>For each ticket sold, $5,000 each would go to the state party, the DCCC and the DSCC and $2,300 goes to the Obama camp.
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p>Based on that forumla, if the cost of the fundraiser was $173,000 (to keep this simple) 3 of the committees would pay $50,000 each anf Obama would pay $23,000.
johnd says
There certainly seems to be a lot of leeway for parties to collect large amounts of cash and funnel to candidates “directly” in the face of the most recent campaign finance reforms.
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p>Maybe it’s time for some more reforms in this area, in a truly bipartisan manner to stop people from priming the pump for future political favors.
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p>I think it’s still broken.