Subject: Re: FLAG: Politico asking state parties about HRC JFA direct transfers back to DNC
From: Lindsey Reynolds <[email-masked]>
To: "Walker, Eric" <[email-masked]>, "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>, "Paustenbach, Mark" <[email-masked]>, "Dillon, Lauren" <[email-masked]>, "Dacey, Amy" <[email-masked]>, Graham Wilson <[email-masked]>, "Bauer, R" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2016 12:31:55 -0700

Add FL to that list.

Lindsey Reynolds | Chief Operating Officer
Democratic National Committee
direct: 202.863.7166| cell: 202.215.9864

From: "Walker, Eric" <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>
Date: Monday, April 25, 2016 at 3:18 PM
To: Luis Miranda <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>, "Paustenbach, Mark" <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>, Lindsey Reynolds <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>, "Dillon, Lauren" <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>, Amy Dacey <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>, Graham Wilson <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>, "Bauer, R" <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>
Subject: FLAG: Politico asking state parties about HRC JFA direct transfers back to DNC

PA Dems and OH Dems just got a call about it from Politico. Reporter wants to know why the direct transfers have been happening for exact dollar amounts. He wants to write the Paul Blumenthal angl<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-victory-fund-campaign-finance_us_5682dcf1e4b0b958f65a9501>e, but Politico can be more aggressive and sensational.

I can supply the TPs that we’ve used before which nibble around the issue (JFA money goes to winning races up and down the ballot, investing in infrastructure, blah blah blah) but I think it may be worth adding an extra talking point if pressed.

·         It’s way too early to start determining where the money will be most useful in the run-up to the election, and even if it was time to make that determination, we wouldn’t discuss funding allocations in the press for the RNC to see what we’re doing.

Any objections?

TPs we’ve used before:

- For Background Only -

Talking Points on Joint Fundraising Committees

We welcome any effort by our candidates to help raise money for the DNC and state parties.
Similar agreements were set up with both the Clinton campaign and the Sanders campaign early in the cycle, precisely because of the urgency to build a strong national infrastructure now that will help elect Democrats up and down the ballot in November. The Sanders campaign has not used theirs.
It’s important to note, the funds that the DNC and state parties get through the joint victory funds help strengthen, for example, our national voter file and communications, research and digital support for state parties and down ballot candidates. That includes training across a variety of areas, for example, and access to media monitoring and rapid response support. This is helping us build infrastructure for the general election.

These arrangements are not new or unusual. Similar joint fundraising committees were established with our Democratic candidate in both 2008 and 2012. And again, both campaigns have signed on and have the option of using joint victory funds.

And let’s be clear, neither the DNC nor state parties are subsidizing fundraising through these committees for either campaign. For whatever each campaign raises under the agreement that then goes to their campaign, that campaign pays a directly proportional amount for the cost of that fundraising.
Rick Hasen, an influential academic on campaign finance, posted an analysis on the Election Law Blog that addressed this issue. Hasen states in the article that “it is hard to see what provision of the law” is at issue in the letter. As the blog points out, “legally” the criticism of the fund “seems weak.”   http://electionlawblog.org/?p=81996

Eric Walker
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
732-991-1489
@ericmwalker<https://twitter.com/ericmwalker>