as you've probably noticed running for
political office costs money
raising that money is one of the most important
things that a candidate does but there's a
wrong way to do it and a
right way to do it
seriously though you need to know the
rules of campaign finance this stuff is
incredibly complex so we can only just
scratch the surface here but we'll
focus on the federal system as an
example and deal with two basic areas
what candidates can receive in
contributions and what they can spend
you should know too that spending money
on candidates in an election is entirely
different than lobbying which covers
spending to support or oppose a specific law
a contribution is defined as
anything of value given or loaned to
influence an election a gift is probably
preferred to a loan you'll notice that
the rule doesn't cover everything given
or loaned just those gifts and loans given
to influence elections so birthday
presents are still ok
usually it doesn't matter if you
contribute money, investments, gold, or any
other item of value it doesn't matter if
you give it yourself or through someone
else it doesn't matter if the
contribution is in the form of services
all of these things count as contributions
one exception is that
volunteer services don't count as long
as no one pays for them
this includes letting the campaign use
your house or building for an event the
only time a loan doesn't count as a
contribution is when the loan is made in
the course of regular business under the
same expectations as any other loan
it's important to keep track of what counts
as a contribution because candidates can
only get so much from any one person and
they have to return the extra
individuals and groups can contribute up
to $2,300 every election
cycle to a candidate
political action committees or PACs can be formed as
long as they exist for 6 months, take
contributions from more than 50 people
and contribute to at least 5 candidates
and they can give $5,000
per candidate per election an individual
can give $5,000 to a PAC, $10,000 to their
state party, and $28,500 to their national
party though they can't give more than
$42,700 total to candidates and
$65,500 to all PACs and parties
a PAC can give $5,000 to a candidate and can also
give $5,000 to another PAC or state party
PACs can give $15,000 to a national party
state and national parties can give up to
$5,000 to candidates and another $5,000 to
PACs and can share as much
money as they want to between each other
other candidates can give each other up to $2,000
a person called a bundler
is someone who collects or
bundles other people's contributions for
the campaign basically serving
as a mobile fundraiser
it's all okay as long as you don't get too enthusiastic
now given how expensive
campaigns are every dollar is
appreciated some campaigns use the money
a little more wisely than others
each national party can have 3 committees
one for the whole party one
for the House and one for the Senate
there's a $50 limit on
anonymous contributions and a
$100 limit on cash contributions
regardless of the size of the bills one
way to keep people from cheating is that
the limit on PAC contributions counts
towards all PACs controlled by the same
person, organization, or group
you can't just form 100 PACs and
give $500,000 these limits apply once in
the primary and once again in the
general election if a candidate runs in both
if a candidate doesn't collect and
spend all of the money allowed in a
primary they can carry that unused part
over to the general election even if
they ran unopposed in the primary
a candidate can even collect and spend money in
an election where no one is running
against them corporations cannot
contribute directly to candidates though
partnerships can the difference between
a corporation and a partnership is largely
in who can be sued in connection to the
business candidates could find other
ways to get money directly from
corporations though people under the age
of 18 are allowed to contribute to a
candidate provided they do so on their
own and that the money is under their
control and not just coming from someone
else to give to the candidate this could
be a key demographic for fundraisers
after the Supreme Court's "Citizens
United" decision corporations, banks, and
unions can create a political committee
that will donate to candidates called a
"Super PAC" this means any kind of
corporation of any size organized for
any reason not just big companies like
Pepsi and Microsoft although they can too
corporations are still prohibited from
giving unlimited amounts to political
parties called "soft money" under one of
the provisions of the McCain-Feingold Act
government contractors are not
allowed to contribute to a political
campaign even from their personal funds
due to the potential for corruption family
members and employees of government
contractors can still contribute though
citizens of other countries are also
prohibited from contributing the
candidates for similar reasons
in fact it's a crime to knowingly ask
for campaign contributions from foreign
citizens or to assist them in
contributing to a political campaign
someone with a green card can contribute
which is somewhat confusing as the cards
are often not green at all and the
American subsidiary of a foreign company
can contribute to committees as long as all
the money comes from the subsidiary
finally any political organization that
deals with more than $25,000
a year has to disclose the identity of
their donors except for 3 types of
organizations: trade associations, labor
organizations, and social welfare organizations
none of these groups can
spend more than 1/2 their time and money on
campaign activities but they also don't
have to disclose who gave them money
sometimes they work with a super PAC
so if that's all the way the campaign can
get money how can a campaign spend money
a candidate can spend as much of their
own money on their election as they want
parties can spend their own money on a
candidate aside from contributing
directly to the campaign. the spending limit
for the party is determined by a formula
that includes variables like the
population in the district and the cost of living there
the party can also distribute
general campaign materials like pins,
signs, brochures, and posters without
limit as long as the materials are
distributed by volunteers in person any
person or group can spend as much money
as they want to on election activities
as long as they don't coordinate with the candidates
spending is coordinated
with the candidate if the candidate
helps pay for it,
requests it, decides what the activity
will be, or discusses what to do with the
person spending the money
due to Citizens United corporations and unions now have
no limit on the money they can spend to
directly advocate for or against a
candidate as long as they indicate who
is spending the money and don't
coordinate with the campaign corporations
and unions cannot directly collect money for
the campaign but they can run drives to
get out the vote campaigns are not
allowed to spend campaign money on the
candidates' personal uses
what counts as a personal use is pretty specific and
includes the rent, utilities, or mortgage
on the candidate's personal residence
tickets to movies or sporting events
for the candidate or, and this is specifically
listed, "funeral or cremation expenses"
because someone apparently tried to do
that so now you know a little bit more
about campaign finance
and there you have it