Democrats raising money during General Assembly
By Brian Kirwin | Saturday, January 17th, 2009 | UncategorizedThis past week, we’ve heard speeches and speeches about how Democrats would never e-v-e-r even think of fundraising during the General Assembly session.
Except, on the Democratic blog www.vbdems.org and the fundraising website www.actblue.com, they continue to do so. Del. Bobby Mathieson and Del. Joe Bouchard have specific fundraising appeals on VBDems’ blog, a site that they surely have visited.
Not only is it illegal to solicit contributions during a General Assembly session, anyone who “aids, abets, or participates in the violation of” the ban also violates the law. (24.2-954)
This screenshot was taken today:
VBDems focuses on Virginia Beach Delegates and Act Blue raises money for every Democratic member of the Virginia House and Senate by name!!!
Act Blue even lists how much was raised for each Delegate and Senator so far. ($2,105 for Mathieson, for example). It would be hard to believe any claims that knowledge of these appeals didn’t exist when they’ve accepted contributions from them.
Seems like VBDems and ActBlue continue to “aid, abet and participate” in illegal fundraising, and the elected officials who are complicit in these efforts have a lot to answer for as well.
Tags:
Contribute for Conservatism!
Share this post
About the author
The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
We're 75% there! Thank you to everyone who has so far contributed! Just $2000 to go!
Comments
9 Responses to "Democrats raising money during General Assembly"
[...] state campaign contributions law or just a false alarm? Via their Twitter feed, I saw this post over on Bearing Drift this morning regarding the Democrats’ continued fundraising efforts in Virginia in violation [...]
How is this different from what RedStormPAC is doing? It seems like both are third party groups raising money for General Assembly members.
Nevermind. I just saw it took down its fundraising links for those effected by the law.
Is it possible that they won’t accept these contributions until after the session? I’m not entirely sure of the law on this one. I could of just as easily had both Bouchard and Mathieson on my ActBlue page, linked from Virginia Beach Progressives. If LaCombe had won, it looks like I’d be violating this law too. Hmmm.
I don’t think collecting money for legislators and holding on to it until it’s legal is what the law meant to allow.
It appears ActBlue is doing the same thing RedStorm PAC is doing: they aren’t accepting donations for seated GA members while the GA is in session.
What the law is meant to do and what it says are two entirely different thing. Intended meaning does not hold up in court.
Perhaps this exposes that the law needs to be changed.
I think I can understand the reason for the law, however I do not think the law took into account the momentum of internet fundraising.
Must a candidate be held responsible for every internet site that continues to raise money while the General Assembly is in session? Is every candidate going to be at the mercy of each and every blog administrator that supports him/her?
What happens if someone opposed to the candidate attempts to raise money for the candidate during the General Assembly just so the candidate gets drug into court for doing it?
People need to read the statute closely because they’re missing something important. Everyone knows fundraising is banned during sessions. However, included in “fundraising during session” are contributions or promises of contributions to be delivered after session ends.
As such, it is ILLEGAL to solicit funds for Delegate A during session even if those funds are to be delivered after session. In that case, you are soliciting contributions during session to be delivered after session which is covered and illegal. In my humble opinion, a PAC soliciting funds during session that are tied to a specific Delegate (as evidenced by the screen capture above) violates the spirit AND letter of the law.
Salem Republicans,
I take issue with your statement: “Everyone knows fundraising is banned during sessions.”
Your own comment points towards how generally everyone might misunderstand the fine points of the law.
Must every blog administrator be a lawyer or have a high powered law firm on the payroll? What happens when the blog administrator resides out of state with no idea about Virginia’s campaign finance laws but continues to solicit because he is motivated to support any candidate from his party? (Virginia is one of only two states with upcoming races for Governor and thus this race might merit national attention.)
Leave your response