Posted on 02/18/2010 9:32:32 PM PST by Kellis91789
Does anybody know what it takes to be legal in terms of accepting political donations to funnel to a candidate or issue ?
Do you need to be a PAC, or what ?
It occurs to me that one could suck in donations from Dims, but have very little actually reach their candidate or cause after the fundraising expenses. Just by spending most of the funds on the overhead, salaries, advertising, etc. there might be only 10% left over to forward to the candidate. In this way, you could starve a candidate of campaign funds just by being an inefficient "bundler". Would it be illegal to pay yourself a high salary as a "bundler" ?
The Rat Mafia will be at your door if you take too big a slice.
That is, unless they owe you a favor.
2ndDivisionVet might know a thing or two about this.
Before welfare reform in the 1990s the government workers were keeping 72cents of every welfare dollar for themselves.
As a professional Democrat fund raiser you should be able to keep more than that.
It’s much simpler than you might think: I ASK for the money!! That’s it! I use a Who’s Who (there are various versions) from the library. Look up the phone numbers and call them. The people listed in those have their political affiliation listed. I call Republicans and Independents. I also go to political blogs and put a contribution link in comments. That’s how I raised a little over $40,000 for Fred...
If you deposit checks for a candidate or issue, you must register as a PAC of one sort or another. That means restrictions and reporting requirements.
So a “bundler” can’t actually have any expenses paid for out of the funds raised ?
In order to have expenses, including staff salaries, you would have to be registered as a PAC ?
What would be involved in doing that ? Would you need to have multiple officers to sign off on expenditures, so it couldn’t be a one-man show ? How odious are the reporting requirements ?
I had a vision of creating a website that was a gateway for people to contribute small amounts to a variety of liberal candidates and issues, like Boxer, Pelosi, McCain, the CardCheck bill, the Healthcare bill, etc. and using up most of the funds in “operating expenses” running the website and paying myself a lordly salary.
I think you’re referring to a 501(3)c, which I know almost nothing about. There’s a “Dummies” book that explains it, IIRC.
I’m heading to a bookstore tomorrow, I’ll have to look for the Dummies guide.
PAC filing requirements vary from state to state and are different from the federal government to the states. The details can be accessed via state elections websites and the Federal Elections Commission website.
Even for the inexperienced, PAC and campaign reporting requirements can be burdensome due to the strict time schedules. A CPA and an attorney are often engaged to set up a PAC and keep it in compliance. In such instances, the CPA often acts as the treasurer.
The plan that you outline would almost certainly get you into trouble. PAC reports are public record and it would not take long for someone to figure out what you are up to and file a complaint, leading to fines and potentially even criminal charges.
“The plan that you outline would almost certainly get you into trouble. PAC reports are public record and it would not take long for someone to figure out what you are up to and file a complaint, leading to fines and potentially even criminal charges. “
Well, this is why I asked what would be involved in making sure it was legal. There are real expenses involved in running a website, paying a CPA, credit card processing fees, staff, and board members also need to be compensated. Many of these are fixed costs unrelated to how successful the fund raising actually is. Depending on the total revenue, the net proceeds going to the candidate or cause could be a lot or a little after expenses.
I recall reading about a Hillary Clinton fund raising party that raised a lot of money, but the cost of throwing the party ate up almost all of it. So I can’t see how there could be a hard and fast rule about what constitutes a reasonable portion of revenues going to expenses.
Hillary's fundraisers use campaign contributions as a cover for a venue to set up future promises that far exceed anything reported.
Genuine and sham enterprises can be distinguished based on the experience of the management, the way the enterprise is planned and run, and the results. What you describe is that you have no experience in political fund raising and expect that ‘expenses’ will consume almost all the contributions. Under scrutiny, you would be put in the awkward position of saying that you are incapable but not crooked.
Small businesses frequently lose money in their first year or so. Nobody claims the management are crooks.
Why should anybody expect a non-profit enterprise to have net earnings immediately ? There are start-up costs that take time to recoup and processes to learn and fine-tune.
What is the the typical percentage of contributions to a PAC that eventually goes to a candidate’s or issues’ own campaign coffers ? After putting out ads and information itself, I don’t think a PAC would necessarily have anything “left over”.
Actually, people often get sued and prosecuted for investment and business fraud.
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