Audio By Carbonatix
As word spread that Scott Rothstein’s associates might be charged in the federal investigation for circumventing campaign finance laws, it must have made a whole lot of Broward folks anxious. If you work for a developer or for any firm that depends on government contracts or that’s lobbying for a specific policy, chances are your bosses have a system for bonuses similar to the one described in the information filed against Rothstein:
Prior to the receipt of the bonuses, the employees were instructed
to make large contributions to political candidates in the
employers’ names. Such conduct was designed to conceal the true source
of the contribution and to illegally circumvent
campaign finance laws.
This is one very common means
through which contributors get around the $500 individual limit. If
you’re curious whether your friends and neighbors are bundling money,
just pop over to the Federal Elections Commission database.
I send you there only because it’s the one database that allows you to search by employer — even though it’s still misleading. Bundled money also flows through attorneys or through shell companies or through family members. It’s a little harder to detect bundlers on the state and local level, but the date of the contribution is often a clue. If the contributor doesn’t seem to be very wealthy or to have much interest in politics but he’s giving $500 to a campaign on the same day as his boss, it’s probably because he’s getting that money back from his boss in the form of a bonus, plus a little extra to make it worth his while.
But rest easy, small-time bundlers. Even if you are circumventing the campaign finance laws, you aren’t liable to get federal agents’ attention unless you do so at a scale like that of Rothstein and his cohorts. Check out this Pulp post, in which Bob Norman finds nearly a half-million dollars donated by Rothstein partner Stuart Rosenfeldt and his wife during a period in which the couple lived in a Boca house worth roughly half of that. This article in yesterday’s Sun-Sentinel has more details on how Rothstein used his firm as a campaign finance conduit.
And this behavior is still so common that federal investigators would likely need extra inducement to open a file: Like for the bundled money has to come from a criminal enterprise. Like Rothstein’s Ponzi scheme.
Still, for those of us who don’t toil for companies where money-bundling is part of the corporate culture, it’s exciting to imagine the feds cracking down on the garden variety campaign finance cheats. Because for those offending companies, excessive campaign donations are a cost of doing business that’s ultimately paid by consumers.
