Subject: RE: FLAG: NEWS: Politico Exposes Clinton Campaign ‘Money-Laundering’ Scheme
From: "Helmstetter, TJ" <[email-masked]>
To: "Brinster, Jeremy" <[email-masked]>, Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2016 11:56:47 -0700

Flag, this story is now making its way outside the beltway rags

http://gawker.com/the-clinton-campaign-is-keeping-a-lot-of-that-joint-f-1774246567?rev=1462207215144&utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

The Clinton Campaign Is Keeping a Lot of That "Joint" Fundraising Money For Itself<http://gawker.com/the-clinton-campaign-is-keeping-a-lot-of-that-joint-f-1774246567>

Just before launching the rather specifically-named Hillary Victory Fund, ostensibly formed to help “rebuild” the Democratic Party “from the ground up,” Hillary Clinton declared<http://articles.philly.com/2015-08-29/news/66006747_1_o-malley-democratic-party-party-leaders>, “When our state parties are strong, we win. That’s what will happen.” According to Politico<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/clinton-fundraising-leaves-little-for-state-parties-222670>, however, less than 1 percent of the $61 million raised by the fund has remained with the state parties.
A “joint fundraising committee,” the Hillary Victory Fund, includes the Democratic National Committee and a record 32 state party committees.Thanks to a 2014 Supreme Court ruling<http://gawker.com/campaign-finance-reform-is-going-backwards-1669743137#_ga=1.217080086.1009132410.1459962711>, individuals can give donations to the fund 130 times greater than what they could give directly to the Clinton campaign for the primaries—$350,000 or more.
State party committees have received $3.8 million from the victory fund; however, 88 percent of that money ($3.3 million) was transferred shortly thereafter to the DNC. (How funds are allocated is up to the committee’s treasurer, Elizabeth Jones. She is also the COO of the Clinton campaign.) As Politico reports<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/clinton-fundraising-leaves-little-for-state-parties-222670>:
By contrast, the victory fund has transferred $15.4 million to Clinton’s campaign and $5.7 million to the DNC, which will work closely with Clinton’s campaign if and when she becomes the party’s nominee. And most of the $23.3 million spent directly by the victory fund has gone towards expenses that appear to have directly benefited Clinton’s campaign, including $2.8 million for “salary and overhead” and $8.6 million for web advertising that mostly looks indistinguishable from Clinton campaign ads and that has helped Clinton build a network of small donors who will be critical in a general election expected to cost each side well in excess of $1 billion.
A seat at the head table at a Victory Fund party last month, hosted by “Uber for Planes<http://valleywag.gawker.com/jay-z-and-ashton-kutcher-backed-uber-for-planes-grind-1467083423>” investor Sherwin Pishevar<http://valleywag.gawker.com/oversharing-uber-investor-shervin-pishevar-is-dating-ty-1498826537> and George and Amal Clooney<http://gawker.com/want-to-sit-with-hillary-clinton-at-george-and-amal-clo-1766974330>, cost $353,400. Days later, Bernie Sanders campaign lawyer sent an open letter to the DNC, arguing that the victory fund<http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/sanders-clinton-dnc-campaign-finance-laws-222102/> “skirts legal limits on federal campaign donations.” (The Sanders campaign has also signed a joint fundraising agreement, but has not leaned so heavily on it as the Clinton campaign.)
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook called the accusation “shameful.” Maybe, but then again calling a joint fundraising committee the “Hillary Victory Fund” is pretty shameless, so let’s call it a wash.

From: Brinster, Jeremy
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2016 12:09 PM
To: Comm_D
Subject: FLAG: NEWS: Politico Exposes Clinton Campaign ‘Money-Laundering’ Scheme

Weaver calls Joint Fundraising Committee “money-laundering” scheme

From: Michael Briggs [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2016 12:07 PM
To: Brinster, Jeremy
Subject: NEWS: Politico Exposes Clinton Campaign ‘Money-Laundering’ Scheme

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Politico Exposes Clinton Campaign ‘Money-Laundering’ Scheme

May 2, 2016
Contact: Michael Briggs (802) 233-8653

BURLINGTON, Vt. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, on Monday criticized a Hillary Clinton campaign fundraising scheme that state party leaders told Politico<http://sendy.berniesanders.com/l/DfrPBYJWWKIFXgZ763cGcMqQ/oGBNof3UBoDBjaNQNa6h0w/uYvdKjbV7632vO892kpilqumBw> has been used as a self-serving “money-laundering" conduit.

Despite Clinton’s pledges to rebuild state parties, Politico found that less than 1 percent of the $61 million raised by the Victory Fund has stayed in the state parties’ coffers.

“Secretary Clinton is looting funds meant for the state parties to skirt fundraising limits on her presidential campaign,” Weaver said. “We think the Clinton campaign should let the state parties keep their fair share of the cash.”

Sanders’ and Clinton’s primary campaigns both raised about $26 million in April, but Politico documented how the Hillary Victory Fund, a supposedly joint fundraising committee, has been exploited to inflate her presidential primary campaign.

“Secretary Clinton has exploited the rules in ways that let her high-dollar donors like Alice Walton of Wal-Mart fame and the actor George Clooney and his super-rich Hollywood friends skirt legal limits on campaign contributions,” Weaver added. “If Secretary Clinton can't raise the funds needed to run in a competitive primary without resorting to laundering, how will she compete against Donald Trump in a general election?”

The Sanders campaign first raised questions about the arrangement in an April 18 letter from Brad Deutsch, the attorney for Sanders’ campaign, to U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the DNC.

"Hillary Clinton says that campaign finance reform is one of the most important issues facing our country but her campaign's use of the Victory Fund to essentially launder money proves otherwise," Weaver said. "You cannot exploit a broken campaign finance system one day and vow to get big money out of politics the next."

Sanders last month raised money for three progressive Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives. Unlike the Hillary Victory Fund, every dollar went directly to helping the candidates. The senator has also raised significant sums for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
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