|
 But the Department of Justice is unlikely to prosecute possible
violations and halt the funding free-for-all, say current and former
department officials.
With deadlock in the campaign finance regulator, the Federal
Election Commission, watchdog groups are calling on the Justice
Department to investigate contenders such as Republican Jeb Bush,
who they say is conducting a charade of "non candidacy" to skirt
federal election fundraising laws.
But interviews with 11 current and former Justice Department
officials indicate the department is unlikely to enforce rules
before the November 2016 election, or even after. That means the
election could unfold with record money - predictions are for
overall campaign chests of more than $5 billion, double the cost of
the 2012 election - but little regulation, they said.
The FEC, a six-person commission made up of three Democrats and
three Republicans, has become paralyzed because, for the most part,
partisan disputes have prevented the commissioners from opening new
investigations.
"The fact that the FEC is neutered is not going to motivate the DOJ
to go out on a limb and do a bunch of these cases," said former
federal prosecutor Jonathan Biran, who started his 17-year career at
the Justice Department in the criminal division's public integrity
section, which traditionally prosecutes campaign finance crimes.
Biran is now in private practice.
 All of the people interviewed said the department would be reluctant
to do anything during election season out of concern it would appear
politically motivated.
They also noted that, even after the election, campaign finance
cases would be extremely difficult to bring, especially since the
department has been spooked by some high-profile failures in recent
years.
There's also the fact that campaign finance is supposed to be
policed by the FEC, not the Justice Department.
The Justice Department declined comment.
FEC Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub says the agency is
"broken" and "beyond dysfunctional." Republican Commissioner Lee
Goodman counters that the FEC is succeeding in achieving more
compliance. (For a graphic on FEC fines, see http://reut.rs/1Jo19IN)
NEW FUNDRAISING CLIMATE
The new, fast-and-loose nature of campaign finance follows the
Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, which allowed
corporations and individuals to spend unlimited amounts of money to
advocate for and against candidates through independent political
action committees (PACs) so long as they did so without coordinating
with candidates.
The ruling, former and current Justice Department officials say, has
muddied the area and made it harder to ascertain what is and is not
legal.
At the same time, the ruling has ushered in an era of fundraising
experimentation, with the chief innovator being former Florida
Governor Bush, who has headlined dozens of political fundraisers on
behalf of his outside spending group, the Right to Rise Super PAC.
Campaign finance laws bar declared candidates from maintaining such
a close relationship with an independent PAC. But Bush is not
subject to such a bar since he has delayed his official announcement
- even though he launched his undeclared campaign months ago.
"We are fully complying with the law in all activities Governor Bush
is engaging in on the political front, and will continue to do so,"
Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell said in response to questions about
his fundraising activities.
 MISSION TO AVOID POLITICS
Late last month, two groups, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy
21, wrote to Attorney General Loretta Lynch urging her to appoint a
special independent counsel to investigate Bush. In an editorial
this week, The New York Times echoed their call.
Yet even the most cleancut cases involving election law violations
are perilous for federal prosecutors. As it turns out, one of the
Justice Department's missions is to avoid getting involved in
politics in the first place.
[to top of second column] |
"Anyone hoping the DOJ will suddenly become an aggressive campaign
finance police force will quickly be disappointed," said Michael
Johnston, a professor of political science at Colgate University.
Johnston said corruption charges filed this year against several New
York state politicians, including former New York State Assembly
Speaker Sheldon Silver and former New York State Senate Majority
Leader Dean Skelos, who had been in office for decades and had
allegedly broken the law for many years before being charged, were
examples of how slow the Justice Department typically is in bringing
public corruption cases. Both men have pleaded not guilty to the
charges.
A little-noticed passage of the official manual that guides federal
prosecutors specifically warns against interfering in elections. And
two Justice Department officials speaking on the condition of
anonymity said U.S. prosecutors are instructed to be cautious when
contemplating bringing cases against politicians.
DISAPPOINTING SETBACKS
Many criminal cases take longer to build than even the lengthy U.S.
election season.
When fundraiser Diana Durand was arrested in January 2014 for
illegally funneling money to two congressional campaigns, the
charges she faced were for crimes she committed in 2009 and 2010,
two election cycles earlier. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced in
March to three months in prison.
Additionally, those interviewed say the Justice Department has been
unnerved by recent disappointments in what were considered slam-dunk
cases. Those include a 2008 conviction against former Alaska Senator
Ted Stevens for illegal kickbacks that was later thrown out after a
judge determined prosecutors had hidden exculpatory evidence in the
case.
Another high-profile embarrassment was the Justice Department's case
against former Democratic presidential contender John Edwards, who
was charged with using $1 million in political donations to hide his
mistress and love child. In 2012, Edwards was partially acquitted.
The remaining charges were dropped.
SMOKING-GUN CASES
That's not to say campaign insiders couldn't come forward
-brandishing smoking-gun documents - that would incriminate
politicians and their staffers. With such blatant evidence of a
crime, prosecutors could be forced to act, but even then, insiders
say, they would not rush to make a case.
In February, prosecutors brought their first-ever "coordination
case" against a campaign manager, Tyler Harber, for illegally
working with an outside spending group.
The case's best evidence came from a whistleblower who passed on
documents showing Harber had used an alias in his dealings with the
outside group to avoid getting caught. Harber pleaded guilty to
breaking the law while working for a candidate in a 2012
congressional race.
But those interviewed by Reuters said the Harber case could hardly
be seen as a harbinger for cases in the presidential race. White
House contenders, they pointed out, have armies of well-seasoned
campaign finance lawyers whose job it is to build legal insulation
around their candidates.
(Reporting by Emily Flitter and Michelle Conlin; Editing by Frances
Kerry)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
