2021 03 04 DID YOU KNOW THE FEC STILL DOES NOT SPECIFICALLY OUTLAW BRIBERY EXTORTION MONEY LAUNDERING

Did You Know The FEC Still Does Not Specifically Outlaw Bribery, Extortion, Money Laundering?

By Matt Berman March 4, 2021 Nobody Asked Me

The FEC governs sets forth the rules that govern campaign finance law. We have now seen Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and a slew of other candidates on both sides of the aisle talking about getting “big money” out of politics. In principle the debate is over how much money corporations or “special interests” can contribute to a candidate or campaign. The thinking is that money buys votes or decisions in some way. While people don’t usually use the word “bribe” to describe this action, that’s what they imply.

It was such a theme in the Democrat Presidential primary, Michael Bloomberg was accused of trying to buy the election. The argument? He had unlimited money to spend on advertising. Let’s be real clear about something here, folks: advertising is persuasive, and can even be manipulative, but it isn’t buying a vote.

There have been many cases in the past of petty bribery in elections. Usually it involves paying somebody in money, food, or drugs, to fake voter registrations or stuff ballot boxes. But there are other forms of campaign bribery. Usually they look like favors. Or gifts.

PHILADELPHIA GOVERNMENT LEVERAGED THE FEC LOOPHOLE ABOUT BRIBERY

For example, the city of Philadelphia specifically rejected my ability to purchase advertising for Donald Trump’s campaign last year. Here is the email to prove it:

Aaron Ritz, Philadelphia City Employee

Shortly after this interaction, the city sponsored thousands of Joe Biden ads all over city property. Land, street poles, trees, parks, and other places. They were hung by local unions who had their organizations’ names clearly printed on the media. However, no city employee’s name or department was written on the ads. The city gave this to the Biden campaign for free.

The city gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of advertising space and didn’t even make it competitive by allowing another candidate to bid on it. This has been brought to a lot of people’s attention, including the FEC. That brings us to today’s point. I reached out to Myles G. Martin, Public Affairs Specialist for the Press Office at the FEC. Here is his reply:

Myles G. Martin says that the FEC does not specifically address unconstitutional favors.

THE FEC DOESN’T SPECIFICALLY OUTLAW OR GOVERN MAJOR FINANCIAL CRIMES

Myles is right – in a way. But he is wrong – in the most important way. But he’s a press guy, so I don’t expect him to know or care about the law. It is troubling to realize that’s who is fielding these questions, though. The FEC does not cover this kind of thing. But it should. In fact, if it doesn’t cover this, I really don’t know what they exist for.

One of the biggest things I’ve learned over the years as it pertains to the law is that proper jurisdiction is critical. If you sue in the wrong place, your case can be thrown out easily. Or if you’re approaching the wrong government office, you will be frustrated by their lack of support. However, sometimes government officials act like something is not their job, due to ignorance, complicity, or direct cover up of malfeasance. I’m not sure what we’re facing in this situation yet, but I know that it’s problematic.

That is the 256 page FEC rules book. It’s really simple: do a document search for the words “bribe,” “extortion,” and “laundering.” You will not find those words in this entire document even one single time. There is no reference to these words. Not even a mention. That is peculiar, perturbing, and a major problem. This means that the FEC is not legally obligated to investigate nor incentivized to catch any of these crimes. Their rules do not cover it. Those are federal offenses, mind you. But this organization is not concerned with that. It seems like their biggest problems are making sure nobody is given too expensive of a fruit basket gift.

…THAT’S ALL, FOLKS

That’s the end of the article. Their rules do not address the most severe financial crimes we should worry about. Let corporations spend as much money as they want on advertising. Just don’t block people from the right to purchase it, or at least bid on it. The only reason to block a political opponent from advertising is because of the perceived effect it will have on voting. Therefore, we need the FEC to watch out for unfair competition with respect to political messaging. That’s all these campaigns are, now.

Opportunities to raise & spend money. But if people are getting away with bribery, extortion, and laundering schemes we need to stop that. Because the lack of interdisciplinary thinking in the FEC is alarming.