Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Pelosi PACs Penalized
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has paid some $21,000 in fines for violating federal campaign finance law. Pelosi is in the business of raising big bucks and giving them out to other candidates in her party. However, federal law limits the amount that she can give them from a Political Action Committee to $5000. No problem, thought Pelosi. She simply set up two different PACs and had each of them give candidates $5000. Pelosi staff claim here in the Washington Post that they had checked with the Federal Elections Commission and were told that this was legit. Maybe so, but you'd think that the people we elect to make our laws should be able to understand them. In any case, the good news is that this is just one more example that campaign finance laws can work. Break them, and you'll get caught and penalized. Maybe we should start thinking about a three strikes and you're out policy just to protect against repeat offenders.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has paid some $21,000 in fines for violating federal campaign finance law. Pelosi is in the business of raising big bucks and giving them out to other candidates in her party. However, federal law limits the amount that she can give them from a Political Action Committee to $5000. No problem, thought Pelosi. She simply set up two different PACs and had each of them give candidates $5000. Pelosi staff claim here in the Washington Post that they had checked with the Federal Elections Commission and were told that this was legit. Maybe so, but you'd think that the people we elect to make our laws should be able to understand them. In any case, the good news is that this is just one more example that campaign finance laws can work. Break them, and you'll get caught and penalized. Maybe we should start thinking about a three strikes and you're out policy just to protect against repeat offenders.
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