Posted on 07/15/2007 11:28:06 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Mark Burnett, meet the Federal Election Commission.
Burnett, the reality TV pioneer behind “Survivor” and “The Apprentice,” is teaming with MySpace on a politically themed reality show with an interesting twist. Unfortunately for him, this one could run afoul of federal campaign finance laws.
The show, called “Independent,” aims to launch next year in time for the real presidential election, though it’s still network shopping.
The concept -- as presented in a hyperbolic press release predicting the show “will help reshape the face of American politics, including the next presidential election” -- is clever. Contestants will deal with issues proposed by MySpace users and the show’s viewers that will require interactions with supporters, protesters and activists.
“Over the course of the series, through a combination of Internet-powered direct democracy and the broad reach of TV, viewers will be empowered to put a genuine stamp on which issues they care about most and identify the one who truly represents them,” says the release, which predicts the winner will become “the nation’s next great politician.”
That person will get a $1 million prize, but not to keep. Instead, the release says, the winner must choose how to spend it from “a list of options, all political in nature.”
Jim Dowd, a spokesman for Burnett, couldn’t provide such a list, but the release poses a few hypotheticals.
“Will the winner choose to donate the money to a political action group (e.g., global warming or education reform)?” it asks. “Will they provide the initial donation to form a third political party that better represents the voices of young Americans? Will they make their own run for the White House in 2008? All of these decisions will be shaped by viewers who watch the show, and influence our winner.”
Here’s where the reality “candidate” might run into real problems with the really complex real laws governing how much real candidates, committees and parties can raise and spend for real elections.
Federal candidates can give as much of their own money as they want to their campaigns. (That’s why political parties recruit millionaires to run for Congress and why the possibility of a Michael Bloomberg independent presidential run is so intriguing.) But the issue here is whether the $1 million would truly belong to the winner, with no strings attached.
If “the winnings becomes the personal property of the winner,” said Brett Kappel, a campaign finance lawyer for the firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, “he or she can do with it as they wish, including running for federal office.”
But that could require some nifty legal work by Burnett, MySpace and the network. If the contestants’ contracts stipulate the money be spent on politics, that could cause serious problems. That’s because election laws at the federal level and in many states bar campaign contributions -- whether to yourself or others -- from corporations, which would include MySpace (owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation), Mark Burnett Productions and all the major television networks.
If the prize money were “earmarked for campaign purposes,” then the winner would “serve as a conduit to funnel the corporate funds into federal politics,” which would be illegal, said Craig Holman, a campaign finance lobbyist for Public Citizen, a nonpartisan group working to reduce the role of money in politics. “This alone should nix the show.”
The Federal Election Commission, which enforces campaign laws, would examine the contract and other specifics before determining how to treat the winnings, said FEC Vice Chairman David Mason. But based on the details provided in the release, he said he’d consider the show’s backers to be the source of the money, meaning using it for a real White House run by the winner “is probably not legal.”
Even if they were able to clear the corporate cash ban, though, $1 million won’t go far in a 2008 presidential race expected to top $1 billion in spending -- especially after taxes.
And setting aside the issue of corporate cash, if the winner opts instead to give away the $1 million, there’s the little matter of campaign contribution limits. The federal government and all but a handful of states cap the amount of money an individual can contribute to political candidates, committees or parties.
At the federal level, the maximum an individual can donate to a candidate is $4,600 per election. The limit is $5,000 per year to political committees and $28,500 per year to party committees.
So, you say, the winner could spread the $1 million around by maxing out to a whole bunch of federal candidates and groups, right? If he or she is really patient, perhaps; at the federal level the total amount any person can give to all candidates and committees combined in any two-year election cycle is capped at $108,200.
Of course, there are scads of organizations that could be categorized as political, but that aren’t subject to campaign contributions, such as lobbying groups that support or oppose abortion rights or gun control. But disagreements over the distinction between lobbying and electioneering occasionally land such groups in court or before the FEC.
As for using the cash to starting a political party for young folks, the FEC recently ruled that a fledgling party called Unity08 was subject to campaign contributions, though the group is suing to reverse that decision.
“Maybe they could work the lawsuit angle into the reality show,” quipped Mason, the FEC vice chairman. “It is conceivable -- to me at least -- that there might be conditions under which nascent parties could accept corporate or excessive contributions for certain types of activities,” he said, but he added that “this is a highly regulated area.”
Dowd, the Burnett spokesman, said he wasn’t sure if contribution limits and other campaign finance rules were weighed during the brainstorming that resulted in “Independent.”
“But on every Mark Burnett show, there’s a team of lawyers whose job it is to make sure that everything is done completely under the law,” he said. “They’re very careful about that.”
Holman suggested Burnett and MySpace might be wise to consult a lawyer who specializes in elections and campaign finance before finalizing the show’s details.
“The producer of this reality show has not thought this one through,” he said.
Burnett should figure out a way to tie this in with Unity08.
Might be a clever angle...
First thing, they'd best be putting away at least 50% for taxes = LOL
And BTW - " My Space" = overwhelmingly young folk still wet behind the ears - and had little more in the government schools than Socialist/Communist indoctrination.
Unless that has been counterpointed with good conservative parents - the outcome is predictable
Let us hope that someone keeps this bread-and-circuses-for-the-ignoramus-class clown far, far away from the political process, or any ''contribution'' to or representation thereof.
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