Need help in answering a question!

[CLANG]

I have always been under the impression that the maximum donation to a candidate for any election is $2000 per person. Is that true? And if so, and corporations are people, shouldn't they have to abide by that limit also?

Thanks in advance!

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1. Maybe others are wondering this too

I have 3 recs so far and no responses! :spray:

[RM33]

2. Limits don't matter

Congress comes up with all sorts of gimicks to prevent people from donating to much money. But there are always ways around these rules.

Here is an example, a rich guy gives the Republican Party a billion dollars, and then the party gives it to the candidate. No money was given directly.

Or they give money to a group that does the leg work for the candidate. Suppose there is a group called Americans for a Sane Society who want babies to own guns. The rich guy will give the money to the group, the group creates fliers or radio ads. The candidate benefits but no money was given directly.

[sabrina 1]

3. I don't know the answer, it's a good question though.

I doubt that Corporations would have subjected themselves to such a restriction though, so I'm sure that even though in our Orwellian world, the fact that they are now 'persons', doesn't prevent them from giving millions of dollars to buy a candidate's vote. Look at the money the Health Insurance Ind. spent to get politicians to vote their way.

Still, if there was a way to make them REAL persons who had to abide by the same rules, that would be great.

[Mike 03]

4. I think it depends on the election. Here in my town, we were limited to $50 for some

candidates in certain offices, and $200 for others, and it made no sense to me.

[Mike 03]

5. BTW, this is a fantastic question, and hopefully someone can answer. K/R. NT

[The Doctor.]

6. Well, here's the problem;

No one can donate more than the $2000 limit to a candidate, but anyone can donate an unlimited amount to a party. They can also spend an unlimited amount on a private campaign either supporting or tearing down a candidate... so long as they do not coordinate with any candidate's campaign.

Corporations get around the limits, unless I'm mistaken, by donating on behalf of their employees. So, if you're a corporation with 1000 employees, you circulate a memo saying why donating to a given candidate is a good idea, and ask the employees for permission to donate on their behalf.

Now you can donate 1,000,000 to a candidate so long as you have a list of 'donors' from your company.

If I'm mistaken, clarity would be appreciated.

[CLANG]

7. Thank you to The Doctor, and RM33!

They're going to have to somehow find a way to throttle this kind of money. There is NO WAY a democratic representative republic can survive for long without a sound campaign finance regulation regime.