The FEC Asks Bernie Sanders About 69 Pages Of Prohibited or Impermissible Campaign Contributions

[George II]

THU, AUG 29TH, 2019 BY JASON EASLEY

The FEC is looking into 69 pages of potentially illegal contributions to the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign.

Dave Levinthal reported:

Link to tweet

Sixty-nine pages of potentially unallowed contributions suggest that the Sanders campaign needs to do a better job of monitoring who is giving, and how much they are giving. This is not on the same scale as the NRA potentially laundering Russian money for Trump or the dark money tactics that are favored by Republicans, but it shows that only taking individual donations does bring about its own set of problems.

The Sanders campaign, much like the Ron Paul campaigns before it, relies on a doner base of repeat givers. Sen. Sanders raised $18 million in the last quarter and has $30 million on hand. The campaign benefits from a Netflix style subscription model that allows donors to make automatic monthly donations of roughly $1 million a month. The problem with low dollar recurring donor models is that they require more oversight than a traditional fundraising model.

Not taking corporate or bundled donations is nice, but the best way to pay for elections remains public financing.

Any model that relies on private money can run into problems.

https://www.politicususa.com/2019/08/29/bernie-sanders-campaign-contributions.html

[Gothmog]

1. K&R

[mcar]

2. Kick

[bluewater]

3. Biden '08 campaign fined $219K by The Federal Election Commission

The Federal Election Commission has penalized Vice President Joe Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign $219,000 for accepting over-the-limit contributions and a discounted flight on a jet owned by a New York hedge fund. His campaign was also charged with sloppy record-keeping.

Biden’s campaign has indicated it will pay the penalty to the U.S. Treasury to resolve the campaign finance compliance issues, which were revealed in an audit report released Friday by the commission.

https://www.politico.com/story/2010/07/biden-08-campaign-fined-219k-039875

I guess campaign finance mistakes happen to even the best and most honest candidate's campaigns, eh?

[George II]

4. Mistakes are one thing, systemic mistakes are another.

In the last cycle more than 900,000 contributions to BS' campaign were flagged as impermissible (not 69 pages, but over 3000 pages!!). Those aren't simple "mistakes".

[vsrazdem]

5. Do you have a link to this?

[George II]

7. Here you are:

https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00577130/?tab=filings&cycle=2016

The letters are those referred to as "RFAI".

Here's the link to longest letter, 1192 pages:

https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/080/201607100300051080/201607100300051080.pdf

[vsrazdem]

16. Thanks.

[bluewater]

17. Obama 2008 campaign fined $375,000 by Federal Election Commission for campaign reporting violations

President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign was fined $375,000 by the Federal Election Commission for campaign reporting violations — one of the largest fees ever levied against a presidential campaign, POLITICO has learned.

The fine — laid out in detail in FEC documents that have yet to be made public — arose from an audit of the campaign, which was published in April. POLITICO obtained a copy of the conciliation agreement detailing the fine, which was sent to Sean Cairncross, the chief lawyer for the Republican National Committee, one of the groups that filed complaints about the campaign’s FEC reporting from 2008.

“$375,000 is a huge fine,” said Republican election lawyer Jason Torchinsky. “It may one of their top five- or 10-largest fines.”
But he added, “They’re also the first billion-dollar presidential campaign. Proportionally, it’s not out of line.”
FEC officials declined to comment on the fee or the existence of the agreement. But for context, failed Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole set a record for FEC fines on his 1996 campaign when he paid $100,000 two years later.

“At the time, the 2008 campaign was record breaking, with over 3 million grass-roots donors,” Obama campaign spokewoman Katie Hogan said. “The very few outstanding questions about the $750 million that was raised have now all been resolved.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/obama-2008-campaign-fined-375000-085784

So, even the best and most honest campaigns can make mistakes when there are millions of grass root donors, eh?

So why would anyone try to start a circular firing squad against a candidate for the Democratic 2020 nomination? Articles like this OP only serve to help Trump.

[bahrbearian]

20. Because Bernie's not a real Democrat. He is some far off lefty.

You know ,votes against war, "How could he", wants to give everyone health care and college, "How we going to pay for it", want people to have a living wage , Impossible, it shall never come to pass.

[George II]

22. So because Obama's campaign was fined every other campaign should get a pass? This isn't....

...."yeah but" stuff, this is campaign finance law.

However, you should read the actual document in the link you provided. In question were about 1200 contributions averaging about $1400 each, and the contributions in question were not made to Obama's campaign committee, but to another committee who transferred it to Obama's campaign. Entirely different from directly accepting hundreds of thousands of impermissible contributions.

Again, the fine was for 1200 contributions, not over 900,000 contributions.

[bluewater]

23. Circular firing squad OP?

Sadly, seems so.

Circular firing squad articles about candidates for the 2020 Democratic Nomination only help Trump.

[George II]

28. Rudimentary DU search for just this week:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287252975

Biden: "What's not to love about Vermont... ?"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287253085

Biden Campaign, get ready to hate David Axelrod again...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287254841

Biden PLUMMETS in A+ Rated Monmouth Poll

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287249901

Insurance lobby chief calls Biden, Sanders health plans 'similarly bad'

[bluewater]

29. Another Rudimentary DU search for just this week:

SF restaurant owner says Bernie Sanders was 'cranky,' rude to staff
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=255755

Joe Biden Crushes Bernie Sanders, Leads Elizabeth Warren in 6 Latest Polls
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287258289

Sanders: China had done more to address extreme poverty 'than any country.....
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287255987

Bernie Sanders has stepped up his attacks on Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren. That isn't wise
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=249856

Trump’s wall is child’s play compared to Bernie Sanders’s climate plan
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=253012

BS on SOTU - SMH...
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287254441

Sanders changes Medicare-for-all plan in face of opposition from organized labor
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287249530



And the BEST for last:

Who is bashing BS here?
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287251350#post28

[Eric J in MN]

6. People don't give their Social Security numbers to campaigns.

There isn't a unique identifier.

A campaign can treat an email address as a unique identifier, but some couples share an email address. And a donor can give different email addresses when donating.

Same name and address can be treated as the same person, but a donor may move.

[George II]

8. It is the responsibility of the Campaign Treasurer to verify contributions and accurately...

...report contributors' aggregate contributions.

[mopinko]

11. recurring contributions arent hard to track.

name + email + employer = pretty unique if you ask me.
if they have a system for recurring donors that doesnt automatically cap same, they arent doing it right

esp when they got nailed for the same thing last time.

[Eric J in MN]

13. People change jobs and change email addresses. NT

NT

[George II]

21. That's not an excuse - there is sophisticated software available to Treasurers to maintain records..

It is the responsibility of Treasurers to maintain accurate records and make certain that all contributions are legal and within the limits established by the FEC. I don't know how the FEC operates, but where I am Treasurers are not permitted to cash checks until the information provided with those checks is verified.

[mopinko]

27. you are gonna hurt yourself stretching that hard.

[George II]

25. They don't even ask for email address. What's required is:

Name
Address
Occupation
Employer (if over $200)

In the case of that one person, who has been described by the campaign as a "zealous supporter", none of that information changed over the course of 800 contributions in 95 days. In fact, the Bernie 2020 campaign reported about ten of her contributions made way back in 2015, still at the same address.

[lunamagica]

9. K&R for visibility

[yaesu]

10. why aren't they going after Cheeto Christ Stupid-CZAR? nt

[Lordquinton]

12. Whats the line here?

"Trump has done worse, this is nothing" Or does that only count for your candidate?

[lapucelle]

14. Bump for visibility. N/T

[sinkingfeeling]

15. What FEC? Thought It had been dismantled.

[NYMinute]

18. uh oh nt

[Cha]

19. Good Luck FEC.

[betsuni]

24. K&R

[Tarheel_Dem]

26. K&R