| | | Republicons are so stupid they openly confess to their crimes
vtdigger.org
Liam Madden, the Republican nominee in the open race for Vermont’s lone seat in the U.S. House, during a radio interview Thursday morning described in detail a self-funded scheme to inflate his campaign donations during the primary cycle in order to qualify for candidate debates.
Appearing on WVMT’s talk radio program Morning Drive, Madden claimed to have “drained” his wife’s business’s bank account and distributed roughly $25,000 amongst family members — including his toddler son, June — who then donated the money to his campaign. Madden said he is now recouping the money by collecting a salary from his campaign.
Saurav Ghosh, who works as director for federal campaign finance reform for the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C., told VTDigger on Friday that Madden’s self-described scheme “is so blatantly illegal.”
“He just appears to be ignorant of the fact that he's just confessed on an interview on air to breaking campaign finance laws,” said Ghosh, an attorney who previously worked for five years in the Federal Election Commission’s enforcement division.
Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Madden insisted that the scheme is legal. Asked who told him it is legal, he said, “It's just, I read the FEC rules.”
"You know, a family member can give another family member money for whatever reason, and then you can justify that just as a gift, and what they choose to do with that is up to them. They choose to donate to my campaign,” Madden said. “Those are all legal transactions."
Paul S. Ryan, a Washington, D.C.-based campaign finance law expert best known for filing legal complaints against former President Donald Trump and Michael Cohen for hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, told VTDigger in a phone interview Friday, “I’ll cut to the chase. This sounds very illegal.”
“This guy is just making up law. I mean, it's kind of wild that he's so vocal and confident,” Ryan said. “If the laws were as easy to get around as he thinks they are through his clever little machinations, the laws would be pointless. They're not that easy to get around.”
Namely, both Ryan and Ghosh said, Madden appears to have violated the FEC’s ban on contributions “in the name of another,” colloquially known as the straw donor ban. Ghosh said Madden’s case fits the “textbook definition” of the tactic. |
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