“Did Ben Carson Already Break Campaign Law?”: Campaign Law Bars Corporations From Donating To Presidential Candidates
On October 9, Ben Carson appeared at the National Press Club to promote his new book. His campaign manager, Barry Bennett, told The Daily Beast that Carson’s publishing company set up the event and paid for his transportation to D.C. to speak there.
And just like that, Carson may have violated campaign finance law.
The Republican presidential candidate made headlines last week when ABC News reported that he would suspend his campaign for a tour promoting his new book, A More Perfect Union: What We The People Can Do To Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties.
Carson’s team took issue with the story, saying his presidential campaign is still very much underway even though he’s making room in his schedule to sell books.
But here’s where it gets complicated.
Carson’s publishing company Sentinel—an imprint of Penguin publishing—is paying for the tour, according to Bennett. And that puts the former neurosurgeon in a tight spot.
Campaign law bars corporations from donating to presidential candidates—whether those donations are checks or in-kind contributions of goods or services. “Campaigns may not accept contributions made from the general treasury funds of corporations, labor organizations or national banks,” reads the FEC’s guide for candidates. (PDF)
That’s why it gets dicey (though not unheard of) when presidential candidates go on book tours; if the hotel stays, restaurant meals, and publicity associated with a book tour are paid for by the publishing company, candidates can get in trouble if they hold campaign events while traveling on that company’s dime.
According to Larry Noble, senior counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, Carson may have already broken that rule.
He said that the October 9 stop at the Press Club looked suspiciously campaign-related. The event was billed it as “NPC Luncheon with Dr. Ben Carson, Author and Presidential Candidate.” More troublesome is the fact that Carson used the appearance to explicitly tout his presidential ambitions.
“[U]nder a Carson administration, if another country attacks us with a cyber attack, they’re going to get hit so hard, it’s going to take them a long time to recover,” he said, according to a transcript of the speech (PDF) he gave there.
After the candidate’s remarks, National Press Club President John Hughes questioned Carson more about what he would do if he gets elected. Carson said he would work with Turkey to establish a no-fly zone over Syria and that he would call a joint session of Congress to tell them to “recognize that the people are at the pinnacle, and that we work for them, and they don’t work for us.”
All of that sounds way more like presidential politicking than book-selling.
“Even though he never says ‘Vote for me as president,’ he’s clearly discussing his candidacy. What he’s supposed to say in that situation is, ‘I‘m really not here to discuss my campaign for president; I’m here to to discuss my book,’” Noble said.
That, of course, is not what Carson said.
Noble added that if another campaign filed a complaint with the FEC regarding Carson’s comments at the Press Club, the commission would likely take that complaint seriously.
“They’d at least need to take a look at it,” he said.
Carson is not under investigation by the FEC but formal complaints can be filed by any person who spots a potential violation. The FEC doesn’t comment on the activity of candidates and has noted in the past that there is always a possibility that matters related to the campaign could come before the commission.
Bennett said he doesn’t think Carson has broken any FEC rules.
“The book publisher has attorneys and we have attorneys,” he said. “It was all vetted.”
A publicity contact for Sentinel has not yet returned a request for comment. We also left a voicemail for Premiere Collectibles, which is billed as promoting his tour, and didn’t get a response by press time.
Carson’s Press Club comments aren’t the only part of his book tour to worry campaign finance law watchdogs. Bennett confirmed to The Daily Beast that from October 4 to October 11, the publisher paid for Carson’s transportation and lodging because he was promoting his book. During this time, the candidate made the rounds on cable TV, discussing current events and his presidential campaign.
“My view is that multiple appearances by a candidate on talk shows to discuss politics amounts to campaign activity and, consequently, that the campaign should have paid some of the transportation and lodging expenses,” emailed Paul Ryan, a spokesperson for the Campaign Legal Center.
Ryan added that similar situations have divided the FEC.
“At any rate, the commission deadlocked so there’s no formal guidance from the commission on this point of law,” he said.
That means Carson stepped into a legal gray area every time he did interviews with political reporters during the week of October 4. Two days later he appeared on Fox and Friends to discuss his campaign.
“I don’t want to be the establishment candidate,” he said. “What has the establishment really gotten us?”
He added that he wouldn’t have met with the families of victims of the Umpqua shooting if he were president.
“I would have so many things on my agenda that I would go to the next one,” he said.
He also appeared on The View on October 6, The Kelly File later that day, and on Hannity on October 7.
This week Carson will juggle fundraising events and book tour stops in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. On some days, like October 18, campaign events are wedged in between book tour stops. Next Sunday, Carson will promote his book in the Woodlands, Texas, at 2:30 p.m., hustle to a forum at a Baptist church in Plano at 5:25 p.m.—which is a campaign event—and get to San Antonio by 8 p.m. for another book stop. In an effort to avoid FEC violations, the campaign says staffers will only show up at the Plano pit stop.
“FEC rules and regulations call for the separation of campaign and non-campaign finances,” said Ying Ma, deputy communications director for the Carson campaign. “We’re trying to do our best to abide by all requirements. Campaign staff will be at campaign events. That’s what campaign staff do.”
By: Gideon Resnick and Betsy Woodruff, The Daily Beast, October 19, 2015
“Electioneering Committees”: Buying A President For 30 Bucks And Change
For today’s report, I have a bunch of statistics for you. Wait — don’t run away! Where are you going? Come back here and sit still while I drill these stats into your head! It’ll be fun, and you’ll learn something.
I realize that numbers can numb the brain, but this is a good story, and I promise that these statistics are easy to absorb. In fact, the number 400 pretty much sums up this story of political intrigue and corruption involving some of America’s wealthiest families and corporations.
Let’s start with the “Billionaire 400,” a clique of the elite organized by the conniving Koch brothers. These ultra-rich right wingers gather each winter in some warm-weather resort for a secretive, invitation-only retreat. There, they plot strategies and pledge money to elect politicos who’ll support their vision of corporate rule in America. For the 2016 elections, they’ve already committed nearly a billion dollars to impose their vision of plutocracy over our democratic ideals — double the combined amount that the Republican and Democratic parties will spend. I wonder: What do they think they’re getting for that price?
Then there are the secretive SuperPACs that are sacking up tens of millions of dollars to back various presidential candidates. Again, a few hundred corporations and rich families — each writing checks for hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars — have put up nearly half of all the money in these electioneering committees.
Keep that 400 number in mind when I offer my sincerest congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Middle-Class America, since they are all the rage in this present presidential contest, for Jeb, Hillary, and all the rest — even The Donald — say their campaigns are all about the hurting middle class that hasn’t yet recovered from the Great Recession. Well, don’t look now, but after each one promises that they’ll do the most for the Great Mass of the Middle Class, they disappear into the shadows and scurry off to schmooze with the little group of Americans they truly love: The exclusive club of multimillionaires and billionaires, who are shoveling those big bucks into those campaign pockets.
Now, back to our statistics: Jeb Bush got a million dollars each from 26 of his SuperPAC backers; Hillary Clinton took a million each from nine funders; of the $16 million in Marco Rubio’s PAC, 78 percent came from only four donors; and Ted Cruz got the most from the fewest, taking practically all of his $37 million from just three fat-cat families.
So while candidates for the highest office in our land are soaking up applause for the grand rhetoric they’re giving to the middle class, they’re also quietly collecting millions of dollars by pledging their steadfast fealty to the ruling class. Donating millions is not an innocent or noble political transaction. Written on the back of each of their checks is their own corporate agenda, trumping the people’s agenda.
Ironically, it’s Donnie Trump, the bombastic billionaire, who candidly admits that these so-called “gifts” amount to the outright, plutocratic purchase of politicians. He’s long been a campaign donor in order to secure political favors, he confesses, and it works: “When I need something from them … they are there for me.” There’s a word for that: Corruption.
But now, here comes the antidote to this corruption of our politics by fat cats. Instead of being financed by 400 special interests, Bernie Sanders’ campaign has raised its $15 million (as of July) from over 400,000 ordinary Americans. In fact, the average donation to Bernie is a heartwarming, soul-saving $31.30!
You can’t buy a president for just over 30 bucks — but you can help elect one who isn’t owned by Big Money. And isn’t that the way democracy ought to be?
By: Jim Hightower, The National Memo, September 9, 2015
“Blind Spots Are Unacceptable”: Presidential Candidates Will Need To Listen
The most recent AP-GfK poll found something interesting.
Even as the public remains closely divided about his presidency, Barack Obama is holding on to his support from the so-called “Obama coalition” of minorities, liberals and young Americans, an Associated Press-GfK poll shows, creating an incentive for the next Democratic presidential nominee to stick with him and his policies.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, by comparison, is viewed somewhat less favorably by the key voting groups whose record-setting turnout in 2008 propelled Obama to the White House and will be crucial to her own success.
Roughly two-thirds of Hispanics view Obama favorably, compared to just over half of Hispanics who say the same about Clinton. Among self-identified liberals, Obama’s favorability stands at 87 percent, to Clinton’s 72 percent. Half of Americans under the age of 30 view Obama favorably, compared to just 38 percent for his former secretary of state.
The findings offer a window into the factors at play as Clinton decides how closely to embrace Obama, his record and his policies in her campaign for president. Although associating herself with Obama could turn off some independent and Republican-leaning voters, electoral math and changing demographics make it critical for Democrats to turn out high numbers of Hispanics, African Americans and young voters.
From the moment Hillary Clinton officially launched her 2016 campaign, it has been clear that she is actively courting “the Obama coalition.” She came out of the gate talking about things like criminal justice reform, immigration reform and voting rights – all issues that are of primary concern to people of color, especially young people. Based on reports like this, that is not an accident.
“This is the strongest start when it comes to diversity in presidential politics that I’ve seen and I’ve been doing this for over 20 years,” says Jamal Simmons, a principal at The Raben Group, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm. “She is hiring Black and Latino department heads and women in important positions. It’s aggressive and to be commended.”
According to Simmons, it’s not only the Democratic thing to do because the party says it values diversity, but it’s also important to have people on her staff who come from the same communities as her prospective voters.
Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, agrees.
“The first thing [such hires] does is show our community that the campaign is concerned about who we are and what our issues are and I think that’s very, very important,” she said. “It also says to our community that there are people in that campaign with whom we have some genuine ability to talk to and who understand what we’re talking about.”
To the extent that Hillary listens to the diverse members of her staff, she is unlikely to make the same mistakes that Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders did yesterday in response to challenges from people involved in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. They will tell her things like: saying “all lives matter” is “perceived as erasure rather than inclusion” and that tackling the issue of income inequality is a necessary but insufficient way to address structural racism.
Like it or not, this presidential campaign is going to require candidates to deal with the issues that are important to people of color, and white people inherently have blind spots in those areas. It will become increasingly important for candidates to pay heed to the words of the Dalai Lama.
By: Nancy LeTourneau, Political Animal Blog, The Washington Monthly, July 19, 2015
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