Subject: RE: Approval: Marshall Medium
From: "Wilson, Graham M. (Perkins Coie)" <[email-masked]>
To: "Dacey, Amy" <[email-masked]>, "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>
Cc: Brad Marshall <[email-masked]>, "Paustenbach, Mark" <[email-masked]>, "Elias, Marc (Perkins Coie)" <[email-masked]>, "Buckley, Kathryn (Perkins Coie)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 6 May 2016 15:22:57 +0000

A few comments/thoughts below in CAPS and blue. Marc may have additional thoughts as well.

Graham M. Wilson | Perkins Coie LLP
Direct. +1.202.434.1638

From: Dacey, Amy [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 7:00 PM
To: Miranda, Luis
Cc: Brad Marshall; Wilson, Graham M. (Perkins Coie); Paustenbach, Mark; Elias, Marc (Perkins Coie)
Subject: Re: Approval: Marshall Medium

Adding Marc...

Sent from my iPhone

On May 5, 2016, at 6:26 PM, Miranda, Luis <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:
Here's the initial draft of the Medium post. Brad, what do you think? Graham, any red flags?

From: Domino, Cate
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2016 6:16 PM
To: ContentApprovals_D; Walker, Eric
Cc: Miranda, Luis
Subject: Approval: Marshall Medium

Let us know what you think

TITLE: Democrats are ready for the general elections, thanks in part to joint victory funds
BYLINE: Brad Marshall

There has been a lot of misinformation about the joint victory funds the DNC has established to help fund our general election efforts. As someone who has managed the finances of the Party for more than two decades, I can tell you the criticisms are flat out wrong.

When I started working at the Democratic National Committee, the office was smaller, the computers were bigger, and if I wanted to talk through campaign finance, it meant blocking off a couple hours and heading down to the FEC to physically pull and copy records.

Since then, there have been a whole lot of changes. But like then, we are still using joint victory funds to make sure that every Democrat has the resources they need to succeed in November.

This year, we have established joint victory funds with both the Clinton and the Sanders campaigns, which is exactly what we did with the Obama campaign in 2012, with both the Obama and Clinton campaigns in 2008, [I DON'T THINK THAT THE DNC DID A JOINT FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE WITH CLINTON IN 2008, BUT MY PARALEGAL IS CHECKING - CC'D HERE] with the Kerry campaign in 2004, and with our other Democratic committees in the 90s. [I BELIEVE THIS IS ACCURATE, BUT KATE IS ALSO VERIFYING THAT THERE WERE 1990S JFCS WITH THE DNC]. You get the picture. Under these agreements LIKE THESE, our candidates can fundraise simultaneously for their campaigns, for the DNC, and for the state parties that do so much work to support down-ballot Democrats. [THE KERRY AND OBAMA 2008 VICTORY FUNDS DID NOT INCLUDE STATE PARTIES - SO I CHANGED IT TO AGREEMENTS "LIKE THESE' BUT AS A FLAG, WE SHOULD NOT SAY THAT ALL JFCS INCLUDE STATE PARTIES. JFCS CAN BE BETWEEN ANY COMMITTEES - LIKE A CAMPAIGN AND A LEADERSHIP PAC, AND NOT ALL OF THE DNC JOINT FUNDRAISING COMMITTEES HAVE INCLUDED STATE PARTIES]. And yes, these funds are absolutely allowed by the Federal Elections Commission.

[IMAGE<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pbs.twimg.com_media_CZ1wjBpWEAAWD3D.jpg&d=CwMF-g&c=XRWvQHnpdBDRh-yzrHjqLpXuHNC_9nanQc6pPG_SpT0&r=ztfeb3sYMwYJc4m6DQzcZ1EDxKmQmE8pe5TrXm4gdCU&m=keWFqlp6OLzU_U7tupFUicR--2WdrCkPJxNo4pilajk&s=4h46VxAmFtbiuQSSKK3Y56UDMNu0DVytvvDPUy6jo1c&e=> Caption: DNC CEO Amy K. Dacey on the trail for John Kerry in 2004]

As I said, there has been a lot of confusion and misinformation about the joint victory funds, so I want to correct a few points.

1. Joint Victory Funds are building our general election nest egg
Millions of dollars that we WILL USE have earmarked for the general election are sitting in the bank AT OUR JOINT FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE, ready to be distributed to state parties (and, for what it's worth, to the DNC) once the general election is officially underway . [I PROPOSED A DELETION HERE AS HVF HAS OBVIOUSLY MOVED SOME MONEY TO THE DNC AND STATE PARTIES ALREADY, AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO BEFORE THE CONVENTION, SO I DON'T THINK THAT WE WANT TO GIVE THE IMPRESSION THAT WE SHOULDN'T BE USING THESE FUNDS NOW - THEY WILL JUST BE USED TO PREPARE FOR THE GENERAL, SOME OF WHICH WILL HAPPEN NOW, AND SOME LATER].  You may have heard that state parties are only keeping 1% of the money being raised by Joint Victory Funds, but that's misleading [I THINK WE NEED TO BE STRONGER HERE THAN MISLEADING - "FALSE" "NOT CORRECT"]. It ignores the money that is being kept for general election needs. IT ALSO IGNORES THAT SOME STATE PARTIES HAVE SENT FUNDS TO THE DNC FOR THE DNC TO PAY FOR KEY INFRASTRUCTURE EXPENSES THAT THE DNC MAKES ON BEHALF OF THE ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC PARTY TO HELP CAMPAIGN, STATE PARTIES, AND CANDIDATES UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT. As more coordinated campaigns -[I PROPOSED A CHANGE HERE BECAUSE 'COORDINATED CAMPAIGNS' ARE NOT TECHNICALLY A THING - THEY ARE JUST WHAT WE CALL WHAT THE STATE PARTIES DO - AND I THINK IT IS A LITTLE TOO INSIDE BASEBALL THAT PEOPLE WON'T UNDERSTAND].  WORK STARTS TO BE DONE BY THE DNC AND STATE PARTIES TO PROVIDE A home base for Democrats working and volunteering TO SUPPORT THE PARTY AND HELP ELECT presidential, statewide, and local candidates - are established, that money will pay for staff and office space.

[IMAGE<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__pbs.twimg.com_media_BzHU3dDCEAI1lyX.jpg&d=CwMF-g&c=XRWvQHnpdBDRh-yzrHjqLpXuHNC_9nanQc6pPG_SpT0&r=ztfeb3sYMwYJc4m6DQzcZ1EDxKmQmE8pe5TrXm4gdCU&m=keWFqlp6OLzU_U7tupFUicR--2WdrCkPJxNo4pilajk&s=OkpkB-BFSp-TK8V3ySdVgyHVLJpB9pJ_mk8ZkZvl-MY&e=> Caption: VP Biden brings pizza for campaign staff and volunteers]

2. Joint Victory Funds pay for resources the state parties need
You probably know that the DNC manages a massive amount of voter data that everyone from our presidential campaigns down to candidates running for local office can leverage in their races. But that costs a lot of money, and the staff and vendors who manage that data are paid by the DNC. The DNC is also building the tools and staff to manage complex rapid response, communications, and digital organizing needs - again, we pay for it, and give the tools and resources to down-ballot Dems. FUNDS THAT THE DNC RECEIVES FROM JOINT VICTORY FUNDS, AND MONEY THAT THE STATE PARTIES RECEIVE FROM VICTORY FUNDS AND SEND TO THE DNC, HELP PAY FOR CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE JUST LIKE THIS.

[IMAGE<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.flickr.com_photos_barackobamadotcom_557897226_&d=CwMF-g&c=XRWvQHnpdBDRh-yzrHjqLpXuHNC_9nanQc6pPG_SpT0&r=ztfeb3sYMwYJc4m6DQzcZ1EDxKmQmE8pe5TrXm4gdCU&m=keWFqlp6OLzU_U7tupFUicR--2WdrCkPJxNo4pilajk&s=9SmQCaAG1xeWSwHwqjTcgZkp7m_IZvbZcrmcsLt18NQ&e=> Caption: Organizers for President Obama's 2008 primary campaign]

3. Joint Victory Funds are legal
It might sound strange coming from the guy who manages the Democratic Party's money, but I believe that putting commonsense limits on the amount of money any one person can give to a candidate or political party is good for our democracy. And that's also one of the good things about joint victory funds - they have a lot of legal limitations in place that help to keep the amount of money we raise under control and ensure that every dollar gets reported. [I WONDER IF THIS JUST WON'T RING TRUE GIVEN THE HUGE AMOUNTS HVF CAN ACCEPT - MAYBE INSTEAD WE GO FOR THE TRANSPARENCY ANGLE?  - SOMETHING LIKE THIS: IT MAY SOUND STRANGE COMING FROM THE GUY WHO MANAGES THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S MONEY, BUT I BELIEVE THAT ROBUST CAMPAIGN FINANCE RULES AND COMMONSENSE LIMITS ARE GOOD FOR OUR DEMOCRACY.  THE PRACTICES ALLOWED AFTER CITIZENS UNITED WHERE CORPORATIONS OR BILLIONAIRES CAN SPEND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO SUPPORT THEIR CANDIDATES AND ALSO DO IT WITH DARK MONEY COMPLETELY IN SECRET ARE COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE AND BAD FOR OUR COUNTRY. JOINT FUNDRAISING COMMITTEES DO NOT WORK LIKE SUPER PACS OR OTHER SECRET WAYS TO MOVE HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY INTO POLITICS. EVERY DOLLAR THAT COMES IN TO A JOINT FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE, WHO GAVE IT AND WHERE IT GOES IS FULLY REPORTED TO THE FEC, AND THE SAME CONTRIBUTION LIMITS AND PROHIBITIONS ON CORPORATE MONEY THAT APPLY TO CAMPAIGNS AND THE PARTY NORMALLY, ALSO APPLY TO JOINT FUNDRAISING COMMITTEES - IT JUST ALLOWS CAMPAIGNS AND ALL MANY DEMOCRATIC PARTY COMMITTEES TO WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE THE STRONGEST ORGANIZATION POSSIBLE GOING INTO THE 2016 ELECTION. ANY ALLEGATIONS THAT THERE MAY BE SOMETHING FISHY ABOUT OUR JOINT FUNDRAISING JUST ARE NOT TRUE.

But you don't have to trust me: Plenty of experts in campaign finance and election law have looked at the criticism of the DNC's use of joint victory funds and found they're pretty standard. One wrote of the criticisms, "legally, this seems weak."

The general election will be here before we know it, and I'm resting easier knowing that we have built the tools and saved the money we need to come out of the gate as strong as possible. If you care about electing Democrats, you should feel that way, too.

Brad Marshall is the Chief Financial Officer of the Democratic National Committee

________________________________

NOTICE: This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you have received it in error, please advise the sender by reply email and immediately delete the message and any attachments without copying or disclosing the contents. Thank you.