The RNC announced it will file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the Obama campaign. (Source)
The complaint centers around all those small donors that have given nearly half a billion dollars to the campaign. The RNC asserts that there’s no way to prove these donors are legit, because they fall under the $200 disclosure limit.
According to the FEC website:
The FECA requires candidate committees, party committees and PACs to file periodic reports disclosing the money they raise and spend. Candidates must identify, for example, all PACs and party committees that give them contributions, and they must identify individuals who give them more than $200 in an election cycle. Additionally, they must disclose expenditures exceeding $200 per election cycle to any individual or vendor.
In essence, any donor that contributes a total of $200 over the course of the campaign must be disclosed. This rule seems to refute part of the claim by the RNC that “little is known about many of Obama’s donors because the campaign is not required to disclose detailed information about people who give less than $200.”
The small donor explosion started back in December of 2007. From Q4 2007 to his disclosure covering the month of January, Obama’s fundraising jumped dramatically. The Q4 disclosure shows $23.5m for the months of Oct.-Dec. Obama’s January disclosure shows $36.7m in one month, a huge explosion of donations. This trend has continued since. His last disclosure reports some $57m of donations. (Source)
Newsweek reported on Saturday about two donors that donated more than the federal limit allows, and under false names. The money from both donors has been returned. “While no organization is completely protected from Internet fraud, we will continue to review our fund-raising procedures,” said Ben Lablot an Obama Spokesman.
McCain has had his own fundraising problems. Back in August the Washington Post reported that bundlers may have used names of people who, in fact, did not donate any money to the campaign. The McCain campaign returned the money.
The RNC is well within their rights to raise questions about Obama’s donors, but in doing so, they also raise questions about themselves. Considering the Republican Party’s history of voter suppression tactics and Tom DeLay style attacks based on unsubstantiated rumors (I don’ know if candidate x is a {list of rumors}, but I can’t prove he/she’s not.) this attack on small donors seems to fit their modus operandi nicely. Of course, when you’re getting your ass kicked in the polls I guess anything goes.
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