Posted on 03/27/2008 8:10:08 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
Are Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Elton John breaking U.S. laws by allowing the British pop singer, a foreign national, to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign by performing a concert on her behalf?
That's the question Inside the Beltway put to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) yesterday, which does not rule out the possibility.
First, some background supplied by the FEC: The goal of the 1966 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was to "minimize foreign intervention" in U.S. elections by establishing a series of limitations on foreign nationals. In 1974, the prohibition was incorporated into the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), giving the FEC jurisdiction over its enforcement and interpretation.
According to the FEC, FECA "prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly. It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations from them. Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment."
The question now is whether Elton John is contributing "indirectly" to Mrs. Clinton's campaign and whether the candidate herself has sought to "solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations" from a foreign national, which is unlawful.
That said, the act does provide a volunteer "exemption" as long as the foreign national performing a service is not compensated by anyone. But this exemption gets tricky and might not apply to Elton John.
Consider that in a 1987 advisory opinion, the commission allowed a foreign national student to provide uncompensated volunteer services to a presidential campaign.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Change that to read, "subject to fines and/or imprisonment...unless named Clinton."
McCain was just in the UK doing fund-raising as well.
End of story, move along.
Elton is Gay, so it’s okay.
Look’s like The Bitch is Back . . . . . .
Since she’s a Democrat, no decision will be made until after the election is over.
The article leaves out a significant difficulty, which I suspect trumps everything else.
The Democrat congress has refused to hold hearings on confirming Bush's new appointees to vacancies on the FEC. Until these appointments are made, the FEC lacks a quorum, and CANNOT ACT OFFICIALLY.
So, here we are in the midddle of an election year, and the FEC is unable to do anything, regardless of how many campaign laws are broken. They can issue an informal opinion, but they cannot act on it. At least, that's my understanding.
Paging DFU and Peter Paul to this thread.
What about George Soros and his billions buying off politicians and financing all leftist groups (Code Pink, Moveon.org etc) for the last 21 years? Doesn't that count at all??
Was McCain getting money from americans abroad, though, or were his donors foreigners?
But if they pay him.... not necessarily his going rate. The greasy wench will slip out of this one too.
Both Peter and I have already sent messages to McCaslin. :)
One gay to a bi.
Didn’t McCain just hold a fundraiser over there?
Soros is a naturalized American citizen, therefore, he’s free to donate as he wishes. He’s ironically destroying the country he immigrated to and had an oath to protect when he gained his citizenship.
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