Last Friday, Hillary Clinton hosted an expensive fundraiser in California. How expensive? A seat at the main table with Clinton, actor George Clooney and human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney cost $353,400 per couple. While Clinton and Clooney argue that the money will go to down-ballot Democratic candidates for the House and Senate, others are skeptical. On Monday, Jeff Weaver, a top aide for Sen. Bernie Sanders, alleged that these funds are going to be used to help Clinton, not other Democrats.
Where will that money go?
The fundraiser was hosted by the Hillary Victory Fund, which is Clinton’s joint fundraising committee (JFC). A JFC is an organization created to serve as a “bundler” for donations to a variety of candidates, PACs and party committees. By having a single committee receive these contributions, wealthy donors can write a single check and let the JFC disburse the funds to affiliated committees.
According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Hillary Victory Fund is currently affiliated with 32 state Democratic Party committees, Clinton’s presidential campaign committee and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Currently, federal campaign finance law allows a donor to contribute up to $10,000 to each state party committee, $33,400 per year to the DNC and $5,400 to a candidate’s campaign committee ($2,700 each for the primary and general election phases). As a result, if a donor were to contribute the maximum to the Hillary Victory Fund, that donor would be able to write a single check for $358,800.
Where things get interesting, though, is what happens with the money the JFC sends to the state party committees. As the Center for Responsive Politics recently discovered, many of these state party committees quickly transfer most of their donations directly to the DNC. This is perfectly legal, as federal law allows for unlimited transfers among party committees.
The cost of those main-table tickets, $353,400 per couple, is particularly intriguing. Such a donation is equal to the maximum allowable contribution to the Hillary Victory Fund ($358,800), minus the contribution to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign ($5,400). This means that sitting at the main table would require a donor to give an amount equivalent to the maximum contribution to all 32 affiliated state party committees, totaling $320,000, and the DNC, totaling $33,400.
The amount makes it clear that a donation (through the JFC) to Clinton’s presidential campaign was not a requirement to sit at the main table. Of course, most of the attendees have likely already given to Clinton’s campaign or are planning to do so, but a seat at the main table would still cost the donor a maximum contribution to the affiliated party committees only.
The DNC can spend the money as it wishes.
After the DNC receives this money, it is free to use it for a variety of purposes. The DNC can spend the money to help competitive Democrats win their general elections, once the primaries have selected the party’s congressional candidates. Of course, the DNC can also spend this money to help Clinton in battleground states for the general election, but she is unlikely to need much financial assistance, as she already has a formidable war chest and should continue to add to it as the election campaign progresses.
While Sanders lacks the same degree of support from mega-wealthy donors as Clinton, he nevertheless is doing his best to help down-ballot Democratic candidates by directly soliciting donations to other progressive Democratic candidates.
In other words, both remaining Democratic presidential candidates are leveraging their unique fundraising strengths to help elect Democrats in down-ballot races, though they take very different approaches.
The Republicans use the rules similarly
Hillary Clinton has exploited an increasingly perverse campaign finance system to help Democrats. Republicans (like Karl Rove) have long exploited such loopholes. Changing these rules will almost certainly require a Democratic Congress. If Clinton’s goal is to change the campaign finance system, soliciting massive donations at her JFC’s fundraisers may be a way toward that goal.
Jack D. Collens is assistant professor of political science at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. Follow his students’ blog.