20. Fundraising did not stop for snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor a pandemic
Trump attended many political fundraisers in person during the coronavirus pandemic, including a $250,000 per person fundraiser at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey right before revealing that he tested positive for Covid-19 in October.
19. Campaign finance crimes don’t pay
Ex-congressman Duncan Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in jail for his personal use of campaign funds, including flying the family rabbit Eggburt on vacation. His wife Margaret Hunter was sentenced to 8 months of home confinement in August for her role in the crime.
18. There is still an appetite for campaign finance reform
In Alaska, voters passed Measure 2, which included campaign finance reform including greater transparency of money in politics.
17. The Meadowlarks learned to sing new tune
Oregon was one of the only states that lacked campaign contribution limits because of a 1997 state supreme court ruling that they violated the state’s constitution. This year, Oregonians passed a constitutional amendment to create caps on contributions to candidates.
16. The candidate with more money won most of the time
The presidential election in 2016 was an outlier because the candidate with less money won: Trump. But in 2020, the candidate with the most fundraising success also had electoral success: Biden. In fact, Joe Biden raised more money in a month in 2020 than Trump did in his entire 2016 run. In Congressional races in 2020, the candidate with more money won over 88 percent of the time.
15. The rules of game changed for the worse (example 1)
14. The rules of game changed for the worse (example 2)
One of the unsolved problems of campaign finance is the lack of transparency about who is spending in elections. One way that transparency is lost is when opaque nonprofits are used to create dark money. The IRS changed the rules in May to make dark money darker by deleting the requirement that dark money nonprofits file a list of donors with the IRS.
13. Dark money went digital
After concerns that foreign actors like Russia were spending money in U.S. elections through social media, Facebook and Google became more transparent about who was buying political ads on their platforms. This allowed researchers to see new vistas of dark money being spent in American elections in near real-time in 2020. According to the Wesleyan Media Project, $26 million was spent by the top 15 biggest dark spenders on Facebook and Google ads during 2020.
12. Even the president’s daughter is not above the law
The Trump inaugural committee is still being investigated because millions of dollars seemed to disappear and some of the money came from foreign sources, which is illegal. A lot of the funds ended up at the Trump Organization. The District of Columbia is pursuing its investigation through a civil suit. In November, the president’s daughter Ivanka was deposed by the DC attorney general’s office for possibly misusing inaugural funds by overcharging the inaugural committee for space in the a Trump hotel.
11. Yarn from the Ukraine scandal kept unraveling
In October 2020, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman pled not guilty again to various crimes including campaign finance crimes. Parnas and Fruman stand accused of violating the ban on foreign donations by facilitating payments from foreigners to an American Super PAC allegedly in exchange for getting the U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine fired. Their scheme allegedly included $2 million going through an entity called Fraud Guarantee.
10. Trump’s campaign managers kept getting in trouble
Billionaire candidates made a lot of waves during the Democratic primary. But all the billionaires failed to clinch the presidency. Michael Bloomberg spent $1 billion and Tom Steyer spent $340 million, and neither one got the nomination.
8. There may have been more campaign finance crimes in the 2016 election by Trump
7. A pardon may have been for sale at the White House
A batch of presidential pardons in February all seemed to have links to campaign finance donors, but it may have been a pardon that Trump did not grant — to Hugh Leslie Baras (who later died) — that may lead to criminal trouble. An unsealed court document indicates that a campaign-donations-for-pardons scheme could have occurred at the White House in connection with the would-be Baras pardon.
6. Courts still believe in transparency
The ruling in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) was a win for disclosure of money in politics and a loss for dark money groups that had relied on the FEC’s lax rules to do business. The decision by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals will likely make a difference in post-2020 elections once the FEC regains its quorum under the incoming Biden administration.
5. Who is postmaster general actually matters
Until 2020, few knew who happened to be the postmaster general. But in 2020, when Trump donor Louis DeJoy assumed the post, he drew ire for two reasons related to elections: slowing the mail when millions of voters were voting by mail and possibly violating laws that govern money in politics. He may have violated campaign finance laws before he joined the government by making his private sector employees donate and then paying them back. This is the same type of action landed George Steinbrenner with a criminal record.
4. Winning control of the Senate will cost a pretty penny
In 2020, $1.5 billion was spent on Senate races, and the Georgia runoff on January 5 will determine who controls it next year. So campaign money is pouring in on all sides for a race that started in 2020 and will end in 2021. Thus, Georgia’s runoff elections are on pace to be first and second most expensive senate seat fights in history.
3. Congress can ignore an elephant in the room during impeachment
Although the House considered including campaign finance crimes in its articles of impeachment since soliciting a thing of value (opposition research on the Biden family) from a foreign government (Ukraine) during an election was arguably a federal crime, it chose not to. Thus, Trump’s impeachment and trial, which ended in February, weirdly skipped campaign finance law.
2. Dark money can hide a criminal conspiracy
The Speaker of the House of Ohio Larry Householder was arrested and indicted for his alleged role in a dark money bribery scheme that involved a company called First Energy and $60 million changing hands. Some of this money was spent in Ohio through dark money conduits controlled by Householder, and he was ousted as speaker. But in a less encouraging turn of events, Householder won reelection in 2020, so he is still in the legislature.
1. It’s never too late to soak contributors for one last dime
The 2020 election was the most expensive federal election ever. After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, he continued to fundraise, ostensibly to fund the legal battles in multiple states seeking baselessly to overturn the election. However, fine print in the solicitations for money indicate that most of the money is not going to the legal bills at all, but rather fund political committees, including one called Save America, that Trump will control post-presidency. In fact, Trump seemed to raise more money postelection that he did on election eve, in what appears to be a one last grift of his loyal supporters.
The views expressed are the author’s own and not necessarily those of the Brennan Center.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
