The Electoral College is set to meet in state capitols across the country on Monday, and Joe Biden is on track to receive far more than a majority of their votes. Donald Trump didn’t succeed in stopping this, but over the past month and a half he has done a pretty effective job of convincing many of his supporters that Biden’s election is somehow illegitimate and the result of vaguely described “election fraud.” He has used these accusations to raise a flood of contributions to his new leadership PAC, Save America.
This fundraising push has brought in a huge amount of cash. In reality, this money can’t be used to finance his campaign’s lawsuits, but it CAN be exploited by Trump for his personal use. In other words, Trump is misleading his loyal supporters for money.
He has dishonestly convinced small donors to give to what he terms an “election contest fund” to “stop the steal,” when in fact the PAC will be a post-presidency slush fund. Some of the fundraising tactics are outrageous: Rolling Stone, for instance, detailed a scheme on the Trump campaign website to con donors into donating 1000% of their initial donation.
However, the problem is larger than Trump, and solutions are needed.
As CLC’s Brendan Fischer and I shared in the Washington Post last month, leadership PAC funds could be used for all sorts of things, such as making contributions to candidates, financing Trump’s travels and rallies and paying for events at Trump properties. CLC and Issue One previously identified instances where politicians from both parties have used leadership PACs like these to pay for trips to Disney World, golf excursions, Broadway tickets and luxury hotel stays. Conservative writer Peter Schweizer has previously called politicians’ use of leadership PACs “a second personal bank account.”
It’s likely that Trump will take advantage of — and test the legal gray areas with — his leadership PAC.
Importantly, though, leadership PAC abuse and shady fundraising is a bipartisan concern. It’s clear that solutions and enforcement are needed. CLC has long been a leading advocate for them.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC), the agency responsible for enforcing the laws that govern the U.S. campaign finance system at the federal level, must play a key role. The FEC has been unable to do its job for most of the past election cycle, because it hasn’t had enough commissioners (a quorum) to take action and enforce our laws.
But this week, the U.S. Senate confirmed three new commissioners, giving the agency a quorum and thereby enabling it act again. One of the first items of business for the FEC to get to work on is to clearly articulate strong prohibitions against leadership PAC misuse, and that includes banning personal use of funds. The FEC then needs to enforce this.
CLC, Issue One and five former lawmakers from both parties called on the FEC to act on this in 2018. Since it has a full slate of commissioners again, it should act now.
When donors contribute to a political cause that’s important to them, they shouldn’t be misled. Preserving integrity in campaign finance fosters confidence in our political system, and that’s what we’ll continue to fight for at CLC.
The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every American’s rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic process.
