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* Axios…
A little-noticed line in a recent criminal filing suggests federal prosecutors consider a popular political fundraising tactic to be legally questionable.
Why it matters: Fundraisers often boast of “5x” or other contribution matches to coax small-dollar donations. The Justice Department indicated in a court filing Monday this could amount to “material misrepresentations” if, as critics often contend, there’s no evidence the match ever occurs.
* This has long been a problem…
Limited-time matching gives ideological supporters extra incentive to donate to a campaign they care about. But legal experts say it is hard to see how donation matching could happen given campaign contribution limits. And there are no accountability mechanisms to determine whether campaigns actually follow through with their promises.
“I think these promised matches are largely a marketing ploy from direct mail fundraising,” said Michael Kang, a law professor at Northwestern whose expertise includes campaign finance. “They stir up contrived urgency.”
Political campaigns have long use matching donations as a fundraising tactic. Roll Call identified several congressional campaigns, both Republican and Democratic, that said they would match donations during the last midterm cycle.
* I get these sorts of pleas a lot…
Rodney Davis has a CRITICAL end-of-month fundraising deadline coming up, and he’s falling behind his fundraising goal.
That’s why I’ve just activated an EMERGENCY 500% matching through MIDNIGHT tonight!
EMERGENCY 500% MATCH DONATE
* Raja Krishnamoorthi uses it often…
RAJA 2X-MATCH: ACTIVE
NAME: Rich Miller
I will personally ensure your gift is 2X-matched by major donors
* But it’s also being done by state campaigns. Here’s Alexi Giannoulias…
Our email match is still going and we are $13,400 short of our $25,000 goal for tomorrow. Can you chip in $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can to help us meet the matching donation?
* ILGOP…
Will you do me a favor and make a donation to the Independent Maps Fund today? I’ve personally authorized a 200% match on all contributions made BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 4:01 am
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Oooh - I intensely dislike this tactic, and lots of legitimate charities do it too. Sometimes I see in the fine print that the alleged “match” is capped at a low level, so in effect they have a large donor making part of their normal contribution. But as pointed out above, even this is more difficult to achieve when there are individual donor limits - you’d have to have a slew of donors legit “on standby” or be a Rauner/Pritzker type with the personal money to match.
Comment by lake county democrat Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 4:51 am
The match game, fill in the blank
Comment by Rabid Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 5:42 am
The candidate could find a match with personal funds, but most don’t have that kind of money. And a campaign bookkeeper could declare that “major donors” gave five or ten to one relative to small donors, but the problem with both of those scenarios is the implied contingency, that the small gift triggers the larger “match.” Might be more of a false advertising claim than a campaign finance violation but it could be both.
Comment by Socially DIstant watcher Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 7:38 am
Set up some guidelines and ignore smaller match donation drives. How much time/effort is it worth to enforce this? I would rather see more focus on real crimes and tax evasion.
Comment by froganon Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 8:17 am
The burden of proof is on the campaign to show how specific donations triggered specific matching donations. My guess is they can’t provide such proof and that the matching concept is just a grift.
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 8:18 am
I get bombarded with those kinds of e-mails from both political parties on a regular basis. I never have responded to any of them as I remain unclear as to who is doing the guaranteeing. I just routinely delete them, including those that threaten that it will be the last time they ever notify me again. I usually get another 10 of those after the last time warnings.
Comment by Louis G Atsaves Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 8:19 am
I read where the Trump campaign, and maybe others, used a gimmick that signed people up for recurring contributions without their consent. It was a technical bait-and-switch that led to many people giving a lot more money than intended.
I hope the Justice Department is also looking into that FR tactic. Matching donations is a marketing quirk. Intentionally tricking people into giving you their money is fraud. Not that anyone would ever accuse President Trump of fraud, but just to be safe, maybe have Justice take a look?
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 8:36 am
And I thought misleading statements and misinformation were only on facebook and twitter. And now I find out those that want to protect us from misinformation are actually perpetuating it.
Please help. What am I to do? /S
Comment by don the legend Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 8:41 am
The best practice I am familiar with was to get contributor to agree to have their large contribution be used as a match, or to specifically ask them to use it as a match for other contributor funds.
I would imagine this gets much foggier/maybe illegal if that step doesn’t occur. I am not aware of any campaign that returns a portion of the contributions but thanks to the GOP utilizing a firm that enrolled people in automatic and escalating campaign contributions by using confusing language and opt outs, I suspect we might see some tighter rules in the future if we ever elect a functional legislative branch.
Comment by Candy Dogood Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 9:12 am
They guy in Nevada who pleaded guilty acted in the true spririt of bi-partisanship, scamming both Trump and Biden donors.
He also scammed the PPP pandemic business loan system for two non-existent companies. What a guy….
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 9:18 am
Alexi and dishonesty? You don’t say…
Comment by ;) Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 9:33 am
GoofySmile/Empty Suit aka Ray LaHood’s son is always working this scam …I always assume if they can get 2X $ from some fat cat just nick them for #X and leave me out
Comment by Annonin' Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 9:36 am
Anyone that needs to type in all caps, is not worthwhile.
AMIRITE DJT?
Comment by Lurker Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 9:40 am
These classless people. No shame. First it was: “Won’t you please just send (fill in the blank -$) so we can do the Peoples Business….”. Then, “We Americans are in the fight of our life - please send $100 to stamp out (fill in the blank). Then “Okay, we’ve been nice up til now, but you gotta send us ($$$$) or we will be in DEEP ——“. very soon it will be…..”Hey, Schmuck, No More Mr. Nice Guy. Send me your VISA card. NOW! (P.S. I know where you live…”
Comment by Sayitaintso Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 9:43 am
I always chuckle at TV ads that say “If you call in the next 10 minutes…” Sounds like the same thing these campaigns are doing.
Comment by Skeptic Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 9:48 am
==They guy in Nevada who pleaded guilty acted in the true spririt of bi-partisanship, scamming both Trump and Biden donors.==
Do you know if he also scammed the Greens, Libertarians, and other third parties?
Comment by EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 9:50 am
Alexi with a way to scheme money?
Go Figure …
Comment by Go Figure ... Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 9:56 am
==Alexi with a way to scheme money?
Go Figure …==
Not only did he scheme kids out of their Bright Start college savings, he also schemed them out of their Hot Pockets, microwaves, and critical thinking skills too. lol
Comment by EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 10:00 am
“Do you know if he also scammed the Greens, Libertarians, and other third parties?” If he did then it would have been tri-partisan or tetra-partisan or something.
Comment by Skeptic Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 10:10 am
I don’t like it, but I sure hope they are taking action on more than just MAGA man’s group. fair is fair even if I do not like him.
Comment by Amalia Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 11:45 am
Did you all see that Republican Oklahoma Governor sending fundraising emails saying that Joe Biden’s “Marxist Agenda” is directly responsible for Chik-fil-a limiting customers to one sauce packet per item? I seriously thought it was a self-aware joke, then realized there is no bottom to these peoples’ cravenness and dishonesty.
Seriously, we need to start teaching about Marxism in schools. If only to provide a definition for people so they can’t just continue to say that everything they don’t like is Marxism, and have a significant of the general population believe them.
Comment by Commisar Gritty Tuesday, May 18, 21 @ 12:04 pm