New McCain Fund Gets Around Donation Limits
April 19th, 2008
By PAUL SILVER
Perhaps these maneuvers are what Senator Obama had in mind when he said he wanted to negotiate with the Republican Nominee on a fair campaign finance agreement. I also imagine that the FEC might have something to say about these tactics if they had a quorum.
The new structure allows up to $70,000 in individual contributions by channeling the money into different McCain-centric funds.
My thinking about campaign finance is constantly evolving, trying to balance freedom of speech with preventing special interests from buying elections and candidates. As of today my notion is to allow a candidate and supporters to raise as much money as they want to mount their campaign. Meanwhile a qualified candidate who choses not to pander can receive the equivalent public funds. And the source of these funds would be largely from the media industry that is the eventual beneficiary of most campaign spending.
Since it is almost futile to stop the invasion of money into politics perhaps the better part of valor is to try to neutralize it.
To help ease their fund-raising woes, John McCain’s campaign has devised a new system to increase the maximum amount an individual can donate to the unofficial Republican nominee’s election efforts.
Campaign manager Rick Davis released the details of the “McCain Victory 08” fund on Friday. He said the entity is a joint committee, combining the McCain campaign, the Republican National Committee and four key states under a “hybrid legal structure.”
The idea is to tap donors for more than the $2,300 limit set by campaign finance laws. Under legislation pushed by McCain in his role as a senator from Arizona, an individual can donate a maximum of $2,300 to a presidential primary campaign and the same amount to the general election campaign. Although McCain received the number of delegates necessary to secure the nomination in March, he will not be the party’s official nominee until the convention in September—so he is still running a primary campaign.
The new structure allows up to $70,000 in individual contributions by channeling the money into different McCain-centric funds. The first $2,300 of that would go to McCain’s primary campaign. The Republican National Committee would receive $28,500 of the donation. The remaining funds would be divided equally, up to $10,000 a piece, among four states the campaign has designated as battlegrounds for November: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and New Mexico.
Davis said those four states were selected because they “probably don’t have the capacity to fund directly out of their own organic resources in state.” He added: “They will benefit from a national fund raising effort that will help funnel money to those state Victory programs.”
The campaign also has individual Victory Fund programs in California, Ohio and Florida. Each of those states can also receive a maximum of $10,000 from an individual, Davis said.
Still in question is whether or not the McCain campaign will accept public financing for his general election campaign. In order to receive the money, McCain would have to abide by spending limits—roughly $85 million from the time he receives the nomination at the convention through Nov. 4. One of his Democratic opponents, Barack Obama, has expressed doubts about taking public financing and abiding by the spending limits. The McCain campaign said they will reserve judgment on their participation until the general election competition becomes clearer.
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Campaign Reform. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
