Dark Money Has Bolstered Bernie’s Campaign From the Start
An outside dark money group has boosted presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders since announcing his campaign last February.
Sanders founded Our Revolution, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group that can accept unlimited contributions without disclosing the identities of its donors, in 2016, and one campaign finance expert believes the group’s work to help Sanders achieve his presidential aspirations could be violating the law.
“Any entity established by a federal officeholder can only raise and spend money under federal contribution limits for any activities in connection with a federal election,” Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert with the watchdog group Common Cause, told the Associated Press. “Our Revolution was undoubtedly established by Sen. Sanders, is subject to these laws — and is seemingly in violation of them.”
Campaign finance laws state that groups “directly or indirectly established” by federal officeholders such as Sanders can’t “solicit, receive, direct, transfer, or spend funds” for federal electoral activity that exceeds the limitations of the law, which in Our Revolution’s case would be $5,000 per election.
Our Revolution, however, has sent dozens of emails in recent weeks to its supporters touting the work it’s doing to get Sanders elected. The group’s chairman, Larry Cohen, detailed in an email Monday how he had spent a week in Iowa mobilizing 5,000 volunteers to caucus for Sanders. (Read more from “Dark Money Has Bolstered Bernie’s Campaign From the Start” HERE)
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