Two good government groups are warning members of Congress that soliciting donations for “Super PACs” would be illegal. In a letter to members of the House and Senate, Campaign Legal Center President Trevor Potter and Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer wrote that the members of Congress themselves would be breaking the law if they agreed to solicit funds on behalf of the groups.
After Republican lawyer James Bopp set up “Republican Super PAC” and asserted that the ban on coordination between such groups and candidates only applied to how money was spent (not how it was raised), Democratic groups asked if that scheme was legal and said they’d join in if it was. But Potter and Wertheimer said both sides of the aisle should steer clear of the idea for now.
“This scheme for federal candidates and officeholders to solicit unlimited contributions is plainly illegal under federal campaign finance law, regardless of whether the funds are earmarked to be spent for the election of the officeholder or candidate soliciting the money,” they wrote in their letter to Congress.
“The argument that officeholders and candidates can solicit unlimited contributions for Super PACs is in direct conflict with the language and purpose of the federal statutory prohibition on officeholders and candidates soliciting unlimited contributions,” they continue.
“This argument would lead to an absurd and obviously corrupting result that a President or member of Congress could solicit a $5 million donation for a Super PAC with the understanding that the PAC will spend the money on ‘independent’ expenditures to benefit that particular federal officeholder or candidate,” Potter and Wertheimer write.
Their full letter is republished below:
May 25, 2011Dear Senator (Representative),
Given recent press reports, you as a Member of Congress may be approached to solicit contributions for a so-called Super PAC, which is an entity that may receive unlimited contributions (including corporate and labor union contributions) and makes only independent expenditures in federal elections. Both Republican and Democratic organizations have expressed an interest in having members of Congress make such solicitations.
Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center are writing to inform you that in our view any federal officeholder or candidate who solicits unlimited contributions for an independent-spending Super PAC is violating the federal law that prohibits federal officeholders and candidates from soliciting unlimited contributions in connection with a federal election.
The ban on soft money enacted in 2002 prohibits federal officeholders and candidates from soliciting or directing any funds in connection with a federal election “unless the funds are subject to the limitations, prohibitions and reporting requirements” of the law. This solicitation prohibition has been upheld by the Supreme Court.
Soliciting unlimited contributions for a Super PAC would violate this prohibition.
This issue arose recently when three members of the RNC formed “Republican Super PAC” (RSPAC) to make independent expenditures in federal elections. RSPAC announced plans to have federal officeholders and candidates solicit unlimited contributions for the PAC.
A RSPAC founder, furthermore, said that the federal officeholders and candidates who solicit such unlimited contributions for RSPAC will be able to earmark those funds to be spent by the PAC to support the election of the federal officeholder or candidate soliciting the funds.
This scheme for federal candidates and officeholders to solicit unlimited contributions is plainly illegal under federal campaign finance law, regardless of whether the funds are earmarked to be spent for the election of the officeholder or candidate soliciting the money.
The argument that officeholders and candidates can solicit unlimited contributions for Super PACs is in direct conflict with the language and purpose of the federal statutory prohibition on officeholders and candidates soliciting unlimited contributions.
This argument would lead to an absurd and obviously corrupting result that a President or member of Congress could solicit a $5 million donation for a Super PAC with the understanding that the PAC will spend the money on “independent” expenditures to benefit that particular federal officeholder or candidate.
As a practical matter, this kind of solicitation is just as corrupting and creates just as much an appearance of corruption as if the officeholder or candidate was soliciting and receiving a $5 million donation for his or her own campaign committee.
Federal law prohibits candidates from accepting any corporate or labor union contributions for their campaigns and limits individual contributions to $2,500 per donor per election.
One of the founders of RSPAC has misleadingly argued that officeholders and candidates can solicit unlimited contributions for a Super PAC because the federal ban on coordination between candidates and independent groups applies only to spending, not to fundraising.
But, in fact, the coordination provision is not the provision that is applicable here. It is the ban on solicitation of unlimited contributions, not the coordination restriction, which prohibits you and every other federal officeholder from raising unlimited contributions for a Super PAC.
PAGE: 1 2Top Stories From TPM
Disqus Conversations
Click here to read the Disqus Commenting FAQ.