Campaign Finance

“If she were to maintain the same relationship with this nonprofit and become a candidate, then legal risks do arise,” said Paul S. Ryan, an attorney for the liberal-leaning government watchdog group Common Cause.

On March 18, 2019, Common Cause filed complaints with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging reason to believe that a Florida businesswoman violated campaign finance laws by enlisting and reimbursing “straw donors” tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions related to the reelection efforts of Donald Trump. The New York Times had reported on March 16 that Li Juan “Cindy” Yang appears to have recruited a number of employees and family members in order to meet the $50,000 price tag for a photo with President Trump at a Republican National Committee fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, FL in March 2018. According to the report several of the employees of massage parlors and other businesses associated with Yang who contributed $5,400 appeared to be of modest means – working as receptionists and giving facials – and atypical of contributors giving such large amounts to political campaigns or committees.

Today, Common Cause filed complaints with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging reason to believe that a Florida businesswoman violated campaign finance laws by enlisting and reimbursing “straw donors” tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions related to the reelection efforts of Donald Trump.

Score one for the people. The House passed the For the People Act in the face of stiff opposition from K Street’s corporate lobbyists and special interests. The legislation truly is for the people, bundling together a comprehensive set of long-overdue democracy reforms at a time when democratic norms are under siege in our nation. Many of the reforms included in H.R. 1 are tested reforms that are working at the state and local level with bipartisan support to restore the rule of law, empower the voices of all Americans, curb abusive partisan gerrymandering, and strengthen the right to vote for every eligible American.

Today, Common Cause urged every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on the For the People Act (H.R. 1) when it goes to a floor vote on Friday. The letter notes that Common Cause plans to key-vote final passage of H.R. 1, as well as the motion-to-recommit (MTR), in our Democracy Scorecard, which we send to our 1.2 million members. The bill contains the most comprehensive set of democracy reforms to be introduced in Congress since the post-Watergate reforms were passed in the 1970s. The letter emphasizes that our democracy faces a crisis not seen since the Watergate era.

“To take a kind of esoteric issue, and executive branch ethics and campaign finance reform, and to bring that to life for people, and then it becomes this viral moment was really incredible,” says Karen Hobert Flynn, president of the grassroots organization Common Cause, and one of the expert witnesses at the H.R. 1 hearing.