Campaign Finance

“This bill will enable security for incumbency,” Aunna Dennis, the executive director of Common Cause Georgia, told me. “It really tramples the person who wants to be the community change agent from becoming an elected official through the legislature, because it’s allowing big donors to create war chests for incumbents.”

Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert with the good-government advocacy group Common Cause, said he believes the Greene ad clearly crosses the line. “This communication constitutes an illegal solicitation by a member of Congress of unlimited funds,” Ryan said. The ban on soliciting unlimited donations, he said, “becomes meaningless if a candidate can do this.” Ryan said he’s never before seen a candidate reading a super PAC’s script in an ad that explicitly asks for money. That goes further, he said, than other instances where super PACs have repurposed footage of a candidate or hosted candidates at fundraisers that people have already paid to attend.

On May 21, Common Cause filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) violated the ‘soft money’ ban in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by soliciting unlimited contributions for a super PAC raising money for use in the Georgia Senate runoff elections. The allegations relate to a fundraising video that Rep. Greene recorded for the Stop Socialism NOW PAC, soliciting contributions to defeat candidates Rafael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s January Senate runoffs.

Today, Common Cause filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) violated the ‘soft money’ ban in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by soliciting unlimited contributions for a super PAC raising money for use in the Georgia Senate runoff elections. The allegations, first published by ProPublica, stem from a fundraising video that Rep. Greene recorded for the Stop Socialism NOW PAC, soliciting contributions to defeat candidates Rafael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s January Senate runoffs. 

Bell’s super-PAC reached more than 42,000 people with its fundraising emails—as many as 1,000 donated—and his “e-mail marketing contained material misrepresentations including promising ‘5X’ matching of any donation,” prosecutors noted. While that is a far cry from prosecuting anyone for using the tactic, according to Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at watchdog group Common Cause, it still raises the stakes for any campaign thinking about offering matches they can’t actually make. “Would the DOJ go after a PAC making legitimate political expenditures and contributions, but that falsely used ‘match’ language in its solicitation of contributions? I don’t know and won’t venture a guess,” Ryan says. “But candidates and PACs should now be on notice that the DOJ considers such false ‘match’ language to be a material misrepresentation to donors. All candidates and PACs should steer clear from using material misrepresentations when soliciting contributions.”

Today, the Senate Rules Committee took a historic step in considering the For the People Act (S. 1), comprehensive legislation to protect our freedom to vote, ensure that our voices are heard by preventing billionaires from buying our elections, and enable us to elect leaders who represent our interests by making sure district lines are drawn by nonpartisan commissions rather than behind closed doors by incumbent politicians. The bill now heads to the Senate floor. Although congressional Republicans and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell continue to obstruct this bill, the For the People Act remains popular among Republican, Democratic, and independent voters. In fact, key provisions of the bill have already been passed and proven successful in red, blue, and purple states.