Tag: campaign finance
Igor Fruman, Former Associate Of Giuliani, Will Plead Guilty

Igor Fruman, Former Associate Of Giuliani, Will Plead Guilty

(Reuters) - Igor Fruman, a former associate of Rudolph Giuliani, told a New York court hearing on Friday he will plead guilty to one criminal count in a campaign finance case.

Fruman worked to collect damaging information about Joe Biden before he became president. Giuliani, a one-time lawyer for former President Donald Trump, has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing although he is under federal investigation in the Southern District of New York.

(Reporting by Jon Stempel in New York and writing by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware)

'Scandalous' Violations Of Campaign Finance Law By Top GOP Funding Site

'Scandalous' Violations Of Campaign Finance Law By Top GOP Funding Site

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

In 2019, the Republican Party launched its fundraising platform, WinRed, a GOP counterpart to the Democratic fundrasing behemoth ActBlue. And in the 2020 election, according to Daily Beast reporter Roger Sollenberger, WinRed "raised more than $2.24 billion for GOP campaigns and committees." Sollenberger reports that according to campaign finance experts the Beast interviewed, WinRed "has not disclosed possibly tens of millions of dollars in PAC expenses" and "has kept secret the identities of the people and firms who work for it and provide its services."

"According to these experts, based on WinRed's disclosures, the PAC appears to have potentially crossed the blurry lines of federal campaign finance laws," Sollenberger reports.

One of the interviewees for Sollenberger's article was former Federal Election Commission Commissioner Ann Ravel, who described WinRed's filings as "nothing short of scandalous" and "absurd."

Ravel told the Beast, "I can't think of any mechanism or loophole that would permit this. Really. It has the appearance of being, if not outright fraudulent, at least not complying with the intent of disclosure laws. On its face, that's what any reasonable federal auditor would think."

Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, was equally critical of WinRed's filings and told the Beast, "This isn't like anything we've seen on this scale. With the publicly available information we have, it appears potentially illegal."

According to Sollenberger, WinRed hasn't reported many of the types of expenses that ActBlue has reported, such as "transaction fees, travel and meals, Uber rides, rent, administrative costs, communications, legal and accounting work, payroll taxes and bank fees."

"WinRed's PAC claims to pay for none of those things," Sollenberger reports. "Disclosure is the heart of campaign finance law. And if WinRed doesn't disclose its expenses, that means donors, campaigns, regulators and the public cannot see who the organization pays. But according to filings with the Federal Election Commission, the PAC paid a grand total of $1522.55 for the 2020 election. All of that meager amount went to its sister company, a for-profit corporation called WinRed Technical Services LLC, for 'merchandise.'"

Sollenberger adds, "Over the same period, ActBlue — a nonprofit — raised double that amount, $4.4 billion. It reported spending a little over $42 million on operating costs, about one percent of its total. To put that in perspective, WinRed PAC's $1502.55 budget was around 3.57 thousandths of one percent the size of ActBlue's. If WinRed expended one percent of its $2.24 billion — ActBlue's approximate rate — its operating budget would be $22.4 million."

Sen. Rick Scott

Corporate PACs Resume Giving To GOP Insurrectionists

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who voted to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election, is in charge of his party's effort to regain a majority in the Senate. Despite his attempts to throw out President Joe Biden's electors, several corporate PACs gave tens of thousands last quarter to his group — including some PACs that pledged not to.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Scott chairs, disclosed its finances on Tuesday for the first three months of 2021 to the Federal Election Commission. It reported receiving more than $750,000 in contributions from political action committees associated with corporations and trade associations.

According to research by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, several of those PACs had been critical of Scott and other Republican lawmakers who voted against accepting Biden's victory on January 6. Some companies had promised to pause their PAC giving; others explicitly vowed to stop funding those legislators:

CVS

CVS Health said in January its future PAC donations were "under review based on the events of the past few weeks." It gave $15,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee on March 30.

Home Depot

Home Depot released a Jan. 27 statement that it was "pausing to take time to carefully review and reevaluate each of the members who voted to object to the election results before considering further contributions to them." On March 31, it sent $15,000.

Intel

Intel's PAC gave the party committee $15,000 on March 2. According to Popular Information, the tech giant said in January that its political action committee "continuously reevaluates its contributions to candidates to ensure that they align with our values, policies and priorities," and that "we will not contribute to members of Congress who voted against certification of the Electoral College results as we feel that action was counter to our company's values."

Oracle

National Republican Senatorial Committee received $3,750 from Oracle PAC on March 25. On January 17, the company promised it would "pause contributions to anyone who voted against certifying the November 2020 election results."

PG&E

Pacific Gas & Electric released a January statement, saying, "The lawlessness and mob violence we all witnessed last week is completely unacceptable," and that it planned listening sessions "to better understand our common positions and determine the best path forward." Its PAC donated $15,000 to NRSC on March 9.

Pfizer

"Pfizer PAC will not contribute to any of the 147 Members of Congress who voted against certifying the Electoral College results after the violence we all witnessed," the company reportedly said in a January internal email. "After six months, we will review our decision." The PAC gave $15,000 on March 2, less than two months later.

PNC Financial Services

PNC Financial Services Group sent $15,000 on March 24. They claimed in January that they had "suspended contributions to those members of Congress who voted against the certification of the nation's valid Electoral College votes."

Sanofi

Chemical & Engineering Newsreported in January that Sanofi and other pharmaceutical firms were cutting off donations to those who objected to the Electoral College count. The company PAC gave $15,000 on March 17.

After his actions in January, Scott faced calls to resign from his National Republican Senatorial Committee post. The editorial board of the Orlando Sentinelblasted him as "unfit for office" and one of "Florida's enemies of democracy."

But rather than hold him accountable as they promised, these eight corporations combined to give him at least $108,750 to support his efforts to elect a GOP Senate in 2022.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.