Isn’t it hilarious how liberals decry money in politics when it comes from people like the Koch brothers but those like George Soros aren’t an issue?
After ending his presidential campaign, Michael Bloomberg transferred his remaining campaign funds to the DNC. The sum totaled around $18 million dollars.
Normally this wouldn’t be an issue. It’s quite common for campaigns of failed candidates to transfer their remaining funds to the general party fund.
This situation, however, is different in that Michael Bloomberg self-funded his campaign. He therefore was able to make a “backdoor” contribution to the DNC thousands of times larger than any normal citizen would be allowed to make.
Citizens United, a group famous for its Supreme Court case involving campaign finance, has recently demanded that the Federal Election Commission close the so-named “Bloomberg loophole.”
Fox News provides the latest on this matter:
Citizens United is calling on the Federal Election Commission to end what it calls a campaign finance “loophole” after Mike Bloomberg transferred more than $18 million from his now-suspended, self-funded presidential campaign to the Democratic National Committee.
Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit famous for its role in actually loosening campaign finance restrictions, filed a petition with the FEC this week. The filing, exclusively obtained by Fox News, pushes to limit the amount that a federal candidate may transfer to a committee of a national political party in order to prevent a self-funded candidate, like Bloomberg, from transferring what are essentially personal funds in amounts that otherwise exceed annual limits.
The petition states that “since 1980, the Federal Elections Campaign Act has allowed candidates for federal office to transfer surplus funds to their official campaign accounts to national, State or local party committees without limitation.”
But the filing notes that, historically, such transfers were largely composed of contributions made within normal limits from a combination of individuals, political action committees and parties.
“Last month, however, a major loophole came to light,” the petition reads.
That’s a reference to Bloomberg’s transfer of $18 million of “surplus” campaign funds to the DNC. The billionaire and former New York City mayor announced the transfer shortly after suspending his presidential campaign.
“Those funds, however, were not made up of contributions from sources subject to FECA’s contribution limits, but were instead derived from the candidate’s personal funds, which are not subject to any contribution limits,” Citizens United says in the petition. “While Bloomberg’s transfer may fall within the letter of the regulation governing transfers of candidate funds to national political party committees, it certainly does not fall within the spirit of the law.”
Citizens United adds that “the Bloomberg transfer appears to be the first time that a candidate has transferred funds derived entirely from his or her personal funds in an amount that far exceeds the amounts that the candidate could directly contribute to a national party committee.”
Under current FEC rules, Bloomberg’s maximum contribution to any committee of a party during the 2019-2020 calendar year would have been $35,000.
Check out what’s circulating on Twitter:
Interestingly, many former Bloomberg campaign workers allege they were not paid for their work. Lawsuits against the former Democrat presidential candidate have been piling up.
The Daily Wire has more details to provide:
Last week, Americans for Public Trust filed a petition with the FEC alleging that the Bloomberg campaign’s donation did violate the law and that Bloomberg should be held accountable for “circumvent[ing] federal contribution limits,” according to The Washington Post. The pro-Trump Great America PAC has also asked the elections oversight agency to investigate Bloomberg.
The former New York City mayor dropped out of the Democratic primary on March 4 after a being trounced on Super Tuesday despite spending hundreds of millions on an aggressive advertising campaign. Bloomberg managed to win 45 delegates, spending roughly $12.2 million per before exiting.
Bloomberg’s exit surprised many, especially his staffers, after his continued promised to stay in the race until the convention. The wealthy New Yorker also allegedly promised his staff that, no matter the outcome, he would continue to pay them through the November election. Bloomberg laid off thousands after dropping out and providing the DNC with $18 million from his campaign treasury.
Bloomberg’s fired campaign staff sued the billionaire in late March alleging that thousands of former staffers were promised a steady paycheck for the rest of the election cycle. Bloomberg later attempted to soften the blow of unemployment to his former staffers by gifting them their work laptops and iPhones.
Take a look at The Hill's discussion on Bloomberg's issues with former staffers and his exploitation of campaign finance laws:
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