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Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion: Presidential (Through Nov 2009) Donate to DU
 
MercutioATC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 01:37 AM
Original message
Question about the 10-year-old's donation to Clinton...
I was under the following two assumptions:

1) It was illegal to take money from another person and donate it in your name, and

2) People under the age of 16 were not allowed to donate to political campaigns.

Is either of these two assumptions untrue?

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leftofcool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 01:39 AM
Response to Original message
1. Parents can do as they please
even allow their children to donate or to donate in their children's name.
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MADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 01:52 AM
Response to Original message
2. They all take money from kids. So that dog just ain't hunting.
All the candidates do it. Obama is a prime offender, if you want to look at it that way.

The key is the kid has to raise the money themself, they can't be reimbursed by the parents, and it has to be their own decison. The FEC has come up with some new rules to pretty much rule out the diaper set.

A helpful article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102301882_pf.html

As Campaigns Chafe at Limits, Donors Might Be in Diapers

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 24, 2007; A06



Elrick Williams's toddler niece Carlyn may be one of the youngest contributors to this year's presidential campaign. The 2-year-old gave $2,300 to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

So did her sister and brother, Imara, 13, and Ishmael, 9, and her cousins Chan and Alexis, both 13. Altogether, according to newly released campaign finance reports, the extended family of Williams, a wealthy Chicago financier, handed over nearly a dozen checks in March for the maximum allowed under federal law to Obama.

Such campaign donations from young children would almost certainly run afoul of campaign finance regulations, several campaign lawyers said. But as bundlers seek to raise higher and higher sums for presidential contenders this year, the number who are turning to checks from underage givers appears to be on the rise.

"It's not difficult for a banker or a trial lawyer or a hedge fund manager to come up with $2,300, and they're often left wanting to do more," said Massie Ritsch, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. "That's when they look across the dinner table at their children and see an opportunity."

Asked about the Williams family giving, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, "As a policy, we don't take donations from anyone under the age of 15." After being asked by The Post about the matter, he said the children's donations will be returned......Congress tried to outlaw political contributions from those under age 18 as part of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002, but the Supreme Court struck down that provision as an infringement on the constitutional rights of minors. With that ruling in mind, the Federal Election Commission wrote new regulations two years ago that tried to balance what it considered a legitimate desire among some children to make political contributions against the possibility that parents would seek to pad their donations by funneling money through children.......

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musicblind Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 01:56 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. Interesting MADem. Thanks for posting :) n/t
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dorktv Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 01:58 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. I have a feeling that for the 10 year old, they may have quietly donated it
to a charity of some kind.
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MonkeyFunk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 02:01 AM
Response to Reply #2
5. thanks for that
some shitheels were complaining how awful it was for Clinton to take that money. Never mind it was the highlight of the kid's life to meet her and be mentioned by her in national speeches.
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MADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 02:14 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. The Supreme Court has ruled that money is speech, and a thinking kid, like that one,
has the right to "speak" with his money.

Now, a diapered two year old...that's a different story.
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Petrushka Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 02:33 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. "...a diapered two year old...." donating $2,300 to Obama's campaign? Now, THAT throws a new light
on the meaning of "small donors"!
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Swamp Rat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 02:56 AM
Response to Reply #6
10. Plus, the money would be all gooey.
:P
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MercutioATC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 02:43 AM
Response to Reply #2
9. That's exactly what I was asking.
Thanks.
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MADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 03:06 AM
Response to Reply #9
12. Happy to be of service. NT
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Hardrada Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 02:58 AM
Response to Reply #2
11. It all sounds vaguely Stalinist or Hitler Jugendlich.
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MattP Donating Member (525 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 02:38 AM
Response to Original message
8. So Obama is the one that has trouble with bundlers?
You are not going to tell me that Hillary doesn't have problems with donors that bundled illegally, I remember one of hers hiding out on a train.
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barack the house Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 07:52 AM
Response to Original message
13. It was anemotive plea for donations even her grown up supporters are not donating.
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