The definition of a "Uncandidate" is a presidential aspirant campaigning now in plain sight and filling their coffers even as they skirt campaign finance laws by coyly insisting they have not yet formally declared that they are running.
For voters who are being promised straight talk by the uncadidates, these uncadidates know they have little to fear from government enforcement of money caps on their undisguised campaigning.
Complaints about this evasion were filed last month with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by two nonpartisan watchdog groups, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21. They claim that the growing practice of remaining undeclared while collecting contributions is not just deceptive but illegal.
Voters should not expect much enforcement from the partisan gridlocked FEC, but the groups complaints present a clear warning about the 2016 presidential contest already deep into fund-raising mischief and Dark Money donors.
The uncadidates cited in the complaint are: Jeb Bush (R), Scott Walker (R), Rick Santorum (R), and Martin O'Malley (D). Their campaigns insist they have been strictly following current federal campaign laws. But the watchdog groups properly complain that, based on the candidates' activities, they should be registered with the commission and subject to testing the waters regulations that limit individual contributions to $2,700 not the $100,000-a-head donations that some have been collecting at partisan dinners.
Mr. Bush stands to also benefit from a new campaign twist by which a supposedly "independent" nonprofit policy group created by a friend and former staff member will be free to raise unlimited donations and keep it contributors secret. The group registered in Arkansas is tax-exempt. They group "Right to Rise Policy Solutions" insists it will operate as a "social welfare" organization. But it is hard to believe there will be no interplay as the name of the Bush two PACs is "Right to Rise".
The use of nonprofit groups for partisan politics has been growing as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has failed to draw firm lines against blatant politicking. The creation of groups floated by secret donors can only advance the nonprofit guise further, and rivals can be expected to match fund raising, with little fear from the IRS or the FEC.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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