GOP allegedly using Twitter to bypass campaign finance law
Republicans and “outside groups” have been using Twitter Inc. to skirt laws governing what information can be shared between politicians and the people and organizations who donate money to their campaigns, according to a recent CNN report.
An anonymous Twitter account was found to be sharing internal polling information about House races in the form of a shorthand code. Here is one example of the cryptic tweets: “CA-40/43-44/49-44/44-50/36-44/49-10/16/14-52–>49/476-10s”
This might seem like nonsense, but to someone who knows how to decode the tweet, the information is quite valuable.
Campaign finance law governs the relationship between campaign donors and politicians. Who can give money to the campaign? How much can they give? What information can be shared between the two groups?
Similar to insider trading on Wall Street, there are strict limits on the information that can be shared between politicians and their financial backers. The law says that organizations can spend any amount of money on campaigns, as long as they do not collude on plans or strategies for the campaign.
The polling information shared in the tweets could be used by campaign donors, such as the so-called “super PACs,” to decide where they should focus their time and resources.
Breaking the law?
Whether or not the tweets broke the law is unclear. Kenneth Gross, former head of the Federal Election Commission’s enforcement division, said that it depends on what knowledge was shared privately between campaigns and donors.
According to Gross, if the tweets required an “Ovaltine decoder ring” that had to be shared privately, then they may have broken the law.
Gross said: “Just making it public is not enough. You have to further meet the requirement of no pre-arrangement or coordination. But it is the burden of the government to demonstrate that.”
David Mitrani, a Democratic campaign finance lawyer, called the tweets “risky” and said “it violates the spirit of the law.”
The money involved in political campaigns has been a hot button topic for nearly the entirety of American history, with numerous scandals over the years showing that there are plenty of businesses and politicians willing to flout the law to get what they want.
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