Protestantism

» Migisi - Campaign profiteering - Red

In response to Compulsory voting posted by redback:
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Basically, you're talking about campaign cost reimbursement after the election - to winner ~and~ losers?
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In the case of the independents, they can get back more than they spend so can be worthwhile to stand for office solely on that score?
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Even if he loses, he wins! Who keeps the profit in OZ ... the candidate who ran and lost, or the party? Here, the ~individual~ candidate who loses, or even drops out, gets to keep unused campaign contributions.
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Just FYI, quoting from:
Where Do The Campaign Contributions Go When Candidates Drop Out??? Seriously!
http://loanon.blogspot.com/2007/11/hopel...
"According to the Federal Election Commission, there is a law called the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act. That law takes $3 from every willing income tax filer and puts it in a big fund. Once Chris Dodd raised $10 million evenly throughout 20 states, he then became eligible to have his funds matched by the federal government using taxpayer dollars. That's right- if you checked the $3 box to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, you were likely giving your money to every candidate with a good donation base, whether you would vote for them or not...
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"----- FEC stipulates that Chris Dodd (or any other candidate) is allowed to retain his money for a future election once he decides to call it quits in any given election.
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"----- FEC stipulates that a presidential candidate can donate his money to a non-profit organization of his choosing so long as it has 501 (c) tax status. That includes interest groups [Migisi: lobbyists and political action committees - PACs]. That candidate may donate to organizations ranging from the National Rifle Association to MoveOn.org. It doesn't matter a bit if you want your [tax contribution] money to go to that group or not.
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"----- FEC stipulates that a presidential candidate can donate his funds to another campaign committee. So if you donated to an underdog candidate or pay federal income tax, there is a pretty healthy chance that you have bankrolled one of the top tier candidates, again whether you support that candidate or not." (end)
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The candidate isn't supposed to use campaign profits for personal gain. Um, yeah, right.
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The good 'Reverend' Sharpton is currently under FBI and IRS investigation that he - "improperly misstated the amount of money he raised during his 2004 White House run to illegally obtain federal matching funds"; and tax fraud - "commingled funds from his nonprofit National Action Network [religious org] with several of his for-profit ventures [six businesses]"; and misused campaign funds for "swanky hotels" and other ~personal~ luxuries. I'm sure he's not the only one misusing and abusing the system.
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Campaign fraud:
The candidate ~him(her)self~ may be above reproach, but their backers and contributors may not be. Like Hong Kong businessman, Norman Hsu - a fugitive from the law (convicted of defrauding investors in California) - who has raised hundreds of thousands for the Dem party since 2003... which both Billary and Obama received. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/us/pol...

-- posted by Migisi