How Do Political Donations Work? | Civics Made Easy — Transcript

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1. 0:00- Did you get a lot of political fundraising texts
2. 0:02in the last election?
3. 0:03- I did.
4. 0:04- It was nonstop.
5. 0:05- A bunch.
6. 0:06- I probably got like 60 texts a day.
7. 0:08- Did any of them work?
8. 0:09Did you end up donating as a result?
9. 0:11- No.
10. 0:12- No.
11. 0:14- In order to run for office candidates need money,
12. 0:16which is why, at some point,
13. 0:17you've probably gotten
14. 0:18a political fundraising text.
15. 0:20Maybe you donate or unsubscribe
16. 0:22or take a screenshot of your snarky reply
17. 0:24to show Instagram how fun you are,
18. 0:25which I've done.
19. 0:27But if you feel like you're getting more texts than normal,
20. 0:29you are.
21. 0:30In 2022, the number of political fundraising texts
22. 0:32hit 15 million.
23. 0:34How are these people getting your number
24. 0:36and where is this money going?
25. 0:37By the end of this,
26. 0:38I promise you'll have a better understanding
27. 0:40of why Martin Sheen or Hulk Hogan
28. 0:42or whoever is asking for your hard earned cash.
29. 0:44I'm Ben Sheehan, and this is "Civics Made Easy."
30. 0:48To start, you kind of did this to yourself.
31. 0:50If you're a registered voter,
32. 0:51your contact information is on file with your state
33. 0:54or county elections office,
34. 0:55and political parties, campaigns,
35. 0:56and fundraising groups have access to it.
36. 0:58And if you've previously donated
37. 0:59to a candidate or group,
38. 1:00your info is in database somewhere
39. 1:02because you've been tagged by a data firm
40. 1:04as someone who donates.
41. 1:05See, third-party data brokers build profiles
42. 1:08of people who are more likely to give money to politics.
43. 1:10According to the FCC,
44. 1:12the Federal Communications Commission,
45. 1:13the government agency that monitors our communication
46. 1:15like TV and satellite and radio,
47. 1:17calls and texts that ask for political donations
48. 1:20are exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry.
49. 1:23And while a political candidate
50. 1:24or group needs your permission before auto-dialing you
51. 1:27using software to randomly generate your phone number
52. 1:29and contact you,
53. 1:30if they get your number from a list,
54. 1:32say, one put together by a data broker,
55. 1:34they don't need your permission.
56. 1:36And you can thank the Supreme Court for that.
57. 1:38In their unanimous decision in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid,
58. 1:41the justice has ruled that while it's illegal
59. 1:43to auto-dial or auto-text you without your consent,
60. 1:45if a company is contacting you
61. 1:47without automatically generating your number,
62. 1:49then it's not illegal.
63. 1:50And unlike your friend putting you on a group text
64. 1:52without asking,
65. 1:53people who mass text in a business sense
66. 1:54have to follow some rules.
67. 1:56They have to let you unsubscribe by replying, "Stop,"
68. 1:58and they can't impersonate another business or group.
69. 2:01If you think a text you got is doing that, you can report it
70. 2:03by forwarding it to 7726.
71. 2:05This reports it to the FEC, the Federal Election Commission.
72. 2:09But let's step back.
73. 2:10How did we even get
74. 2:11to this point with political fundraising?
75. 2:12When did fundraising and campaigning start?
76. 2:15It might surprise you
77. 2:16that campaigns and fundraising are not in our constitution.
78. 2:18Back then, it was tacky
79. 2:20to announce people were running for office,
80. 2:21so mostly rich dudes ran and self-funded their campaigns,
81. 2:24which let's be honest still happens.
82. 2:26But the first presidential candidate to campaign
83. 2:28as we know it today was Andrew Jackson.
84. 2:30In 1828, 4 years after a stinging loss,
85. 2:33Jackson ran again,
86. 2:34but this time, with campaign offices, print media behind him
87. 2:36and supporters holding events for him across the country.
88. 2:39He was also the first candidate
89. 2:40to appear on campaign buttons,
90. 2:41and while he didn't make fundraising pitches himself,
91. 2:43his supporters did.
92. 2:44Jackson's campaign raised a million dollars,
93. 2:47which today would be 30 billion.
94. 2:49At the time, it was a massive amount,
95. 2:51but compared to 2020 when the Biden campaign
96. 2:53became the first to raise a billion dollars, it's not.
97. 2:56After Jackson set that precedent,
98. 2:57future candidates followed his lead.
99. 2:59And by the 1900s, candidates were raising
100. 3:01and spending as much as $16 million.
101. 3:03Voters noticed. They didn't love it.
102. 3:05Starting in 1867 and continuing sporadically for 100 years,
103. 3:09Congress passed a handful of campaign finance laws.
104. 3:11It banned corporations from giving money
105. 3:13to campaigns in 1907
106. 3:14and unions from doing that in 1943.
107. 3:16To get around this ban,
108. 3:17unions created PACs, Political Action Committees,
109. 3:20which are technically separate groups
110. 3:21and gave to campaigns through those.
111. 3:23But things came to a head in 1972,
112. 3:26when burglars broke into the Democratic Party headquarters
113. 3:28in the Watergate Building in Washington D.C..
114. 3:31The resulting scandal and investigation, known as Watergate,
115. 3:34led to the discovery of illegal contributions
116. 3:36to Nixon's reelection.
117. 3:37In response, Congress created the FEC in 1974,
118. 3:41the Federal Election Commission,
119. 3:42to better enforce campaign finance laws.
120. 3:44The commission has six members
121. 3:46where more than three can't be from the same party
122. 3:47and four votes are needed to make a decision,
123. 3:49forcing them to be bipartisan.
124. 3:51In the years since there have been more laws
125. 3:52in Supreme Court rulings dealing with campaign finance,
126. 3:55often creating new norms and new loopholes.
127. 3:57For example, Congress passed
128. 3:58the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002,
129. 4:01which among other things,
130. 4:02now requires candidates to put their names
131. 4:04on their ads, like this.
132. 4:05- [George] I'm George W. Bush
133. 4:07and I approve this message.
134. 4:08- To get a better understanding
135. 4:09of how political donations work,
136. 4:11I decided it was time to meet with an expert in D.C..
137. 4:14Ellen Weintraub is the former chair
138. 4:16of the Federal Election Commission.
139. 4:18I guess I'd like to start by asking you what the FEC does.
140. 4:23- The FEC monitors money and politics.
141. 4:26We don't run the elections.
142. 4:28We don't count the votes.
143. 4:29All we do is monitor the money.
144. 4:31But there is quite a lot of money in politics,
145. 4:33so there is enough to do right there.
146. 4:35- How does the FEC enforce violations
147. 4:38of campaign finance law?
148. 4:39- Anybody can file a complaint.
149. 4:41Our lawyers will look at every single complaint.
150. 4:43They will present a recommendation to the commission,
151. 4:45and the commission will vote
152. 4:46on whether to move forward with that complaint.
153. 4:48- How often do people actually paying financial penalties
154. 4:51and I mean, has anyone recently been prosecuted
155. 4:54with an actual crime by the Justice Department
156. 4:56for violating these laws?
157. 4:58- Yes, absolutely.
158. 4:59You may recall a certain congressman named Santos
159. 5:02who are rather a former congressman.
160. 5:04- I do. I remember him now.
161. 5:05- He was prosecuted by the Justice Department
162. 5:07for campaign finance violations, among other things.
163. 5:09- What do you think the FEC does particularly well
164. 5:12and is there anything you think it could improve upon?
165. 5:15- I think that we do a really good job at disclosure.
166. 5:17It is the core mission of the agency,
167. 5:20is making sure that the American people are well-informed
168. 5:23about who's spending money in politics.
169. 5:25What do we do a less good job of?
170. 5:28I think that we should be doing
171. 5:30more on the enforcement side.
172. 5:33- How much money can you legally give directly
173. 5:36to a candidate running for president?
174. 5:37- Maybe a couple thousand dollars.
175. 5:39I couldn't put an exact number on it, but I'm not sure.
176. 5:41- It might be more for president,
177. 5:43but I think it's at least 6,000 for the primary
178. 5:46and 6,000 for the general.
179. 5:47- I mean, theoretically, I guess, however much they want.
180. 5:50- How do political donations work today?
181. 5:53There are lots of ways that an individual like yourself
182. 5:55can donate to politics.
183. 5:56Now, this next part is dense,
184. 5:58so I'm gonna explain as simply as I can,
185. 6:00while occasionally throwing a stack of money in the air.
186. 6:05The first way for a person like you to donate
187. 6:07is by giving to a campaign.
188. 6:08In 2025 and 2026, you can give someone running for president
189. 6:12or Congress a max of $7,000,
190. 6:14half of that in the primaries
191. 6:15and half during the general election.
192. 6:17And that amount goes up in every odd numbered year
193. 6:19to keep up with inflation.
194. 6:24The second way is by giving to a Political Action Committee.
195. 6:26A regular PAC, not a super one,
196. 6:28collects and distributes money to candidates.
197. 6:30You can give a federal PAC up to $5,000 a year
198. 6:33and they can give that same amount directly to a candidate.
199. 6:36Why not give that candidate the money yourself?
200. 6:38Well, PACs do research
201. 6:40about how candidates feel on different issues
202. 6:42and follow many races across the country with polling
203. 6:45to see who has the best chance of winning.
204. 6:47So if you wanna affect a particular cause or issue or party,
205. 6:50but you don't have time to do all that research,
206. 6:52a PAC can be helpful.
207. 6:54A third way is by contributing to a political party.
208. 6:57You can give a state party
209. 6:58like the North Carolina Libertarian Party
210. 7:00up to $10,000 a year,
211. 7:02but you can give a federal political party,
212. 7:04meaning at the national level, way more.
213. 7:07As an individual,
214. 7:08you can give the National Republican Party,
215. 7:09your Green Party, or whomever,
216. 7:11a total of $44,300.
217. 7:13Federal or national parties also have additional accounts
218. 7:16that handle things like their convention, legal fees,
219. 7:19and rent for office buildings.
220. 7:20You can give each of those accounts
221. 7:22an additional $132,900 a year.
222. 7:28Stephen Accounting says,
223. 7:29"Stop doing that with our petty cash."
224. 7:32Lastly, let's say you have unlimited money,
225. 7:34which must be nice,
226. 7:36and you wanna give as much as you can
227. 7:38to help one party's candidate for president.
228. 7:40Here's how much you can legally give:
229. 7:42$7,000 directly to the campaign,
230. 7:45$44,300 to the candidate's national party,
231. 7:49$10,000 to each of that party's state parties,
232. 7:52so 50 plus D.C.,
233. 7:53and $132,900 to each
234. 7:57of the national party's three additional accounts
235. 8:00for their rent, convention, and legal fees,
236. 8:02for a total of $960,000.
237. 8:05And if that's not enough for you,
238. 8:07you can give another $44,300
239. 8:10to the parties group that helps its US House races,
240. 8:12another 44,300 to the group that helps its Senate races,
241. 8:15and an additional $132,900
242. 8:18to each of those group's rent accounts and legal accounts,
243. 8:21for a grand total of $1,580,200.
244. 8:26All of this money goes directly
245. 8:28to a campaign or political party.
246. 8:30In other words, I'm not including super PACs
247. 8:32or 501 groups, which are also called dark money.
248. 8:36Let's say 1.6 million isn't enough, you're a billionaire.
249. 8:39Well, you're in luck,
250. 8:40because there are ways to give with no limits.
251. 8:43One, as I've mentioned, is a super PAC.
252. 8:45What is a super PAC?
253. 8:47- I have no idea.
254. 8:49- I think they're pretty much like a special interest group.
255. 8:51- It's like a donor base, right?
256. 8:53- I'm not sure.
257. 8:54- Unlike a regular PAC that collects
258. 8:56and gives money to candidates with limits,
259. 8:58a super PAC can raise and spend unlimited money
260. 9:00as long as it does not coordinate that spending
261. 9:02with a candidate or campaign.
262. 9:04The Supreme Court's logic in allowing this
263. 9:06is that money is speech,
264. 9:07and if you wanna spend a billion dollars on TV ads
265. 9:09saying why your candidate is good
266. 9:10and another one is bad,
267. 9:11you should be allowed to do that.
268. 9:13- What the court said was that if money is given
269. 9:16to an independent spending group,
270. 9:18then there's no possibility of corruption,
271. 9:20so there can't be any limits on how much money goes
272. 9:23into these political committees.
273. 9:26There's still political committees
274. 9:27they still have to disclose to us,
275. 9:29but there are no limits on amounts
276. 9:31and they're allowed to accept labor union
277. 9:33and corporate contributions,
278. 9:34which candidates and party committees are not.
279. 9:36- In 2020, super PACs raised more than $2 billion
280. 9:39and spent half of that,
281. 9:40leaving a lot of money for future elections.
282. 9:43And 501 groups can also raise
283. 9:45and spend unlimited amounts
284. 9:47as long as political activity is not their primary purpose.
285. 9:50s, as they're known, are also nonprofits,
286. 9:53which means they don't pay taxes.
287. 9:55And they're called dark money groups
288. 9:56because they don't have to disclose their donors.
289. 9:58And because, let's be honest, it sounds cool and mysterious.
290. 10:01How are you able to know if somebody is donating money
291. 10:04who legally shouldn't be
292. 10:06if they're not disclosing who gives them money?
293. 10:08- That does raise a serious problem
294. 10:10in the way the whole campaign finance system is set up now
295. 10:14because these 501 organizations
296. 10:16are generally corporations,
297. 10:18so they're not allowed to give directly
298. 10:19to candidates or party committees.
299. 10:21They can give to super PACs.
300. 10:22We probably could go further
301. 10:24in trying to ensure the kind of transparency
302. 10:26that I think the American people really deserve.
303. 10:28They deserve to know where the money's coming from
304. 10:30and where the money's going
305. 10:32and who is trying to influence their politics.
306. 10:34And the Supreme Court has, in fact, robustly endorsed that
307. 10:37as a principle.
308. 10:38- In 2020, dark money groups spend more
309. 10:40than 1 billion dollars,
310. 10:41and a lot of that went to super PACs.
311. 10:44And lastly, everything I just described is mostly spending
312. 10:47on federal elections.
313. 10:49I'm not including money spent on governor's races
314. 10:51or state House or state Senate seats.
315. 10:53The limits on those vary massively from state to state.
316. 10:56Some have limits below the federal level.
317. 10:58For example, Colorado lets you donate at most $2,500
318. 11:02to someone running for governor,
319. 11:03less than half of what you can give a candidate
320. 11:05for president,
321. 11:06while other states have no limits.
322. 11:08In these 12 states,
323. 11:09an individual like yourself
324. 11:10can give as much as you want directly
325. 11:13to someone running for governor, state attorney general,
326. 11:15or other state-level office.
327. 11:16And in these five states, if you're a corporation,
328. 11:19you can give unlimited money directly
329. 11:22to candidates running for state office.
330. 11:24If some corporation wants to make you governor of Nebraska,
331. 11:26it could launch a billion dollar ad campaign starring you.
332. 11:29Not that a company would do that,
333. 11:31but if it happens, I want a commission.
334. 11:33Now that you're likely feeling nauseous,
335. 11:35I'll end by giving you something that costs nothing
336. 11:37that has an unlimited potential for a return on investment:
337. 11:40Hope.
338. 11:41Money doesn't vote. People do.
339. 11:43You can hit every contribution limit,
340. 11:45spend every dollar you have,
341. 11:47but at the end of the day,
342. 11:48money has to convince people to vote a certain way.
343. 11:51Now, does money help?
344. 11:52Of course.
345. 11:53It gets out the word,
346. 11:54pays for polling and campaign staff and yard signs.
347. 11:57It blasts the airwaves with your message
348. 11:59and it clogs up our inboxes and mailboxes.
349. 12:01But it doesn't always mean success.
350. 12:03In 2016, the Clinton campaign raised almost twice
351. 12:06as much money as the Trump campaign,
352. 12:07but Donald Trump won.
353. 12:09In 2018, in the Democratic primary
354. 12:11in New York's 14th Congressional District,
355. 12:13representative Joe Crowley raised more than $3 million.
356. 12:16His challenger, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, raised 300,000.
357. 12:20That's a 10 to 1 difference, and AOC won by 15 points.
358. 12:25Finally, if you only remember one thing from what I said,
359. 12:28make it this:
360. 12:29Unlike buying a vacuum with a year warranty,
361. 12:31if you donate to a candidate
362. 12:32and you don't like what they do when they take office,
363. 12:34you have to wait till next election
364. 12:35at least two years to fix it.
365. 12:37So spend wisely.
366. 12:39I'm Ben Sheehan and I hope you learn something.
367. 12:41I have one final question.
368. 12:42Is there anything that you can do
369. 12:44to help us get fewer fundraising text messages
370. 12:48on a daily basis?
371. 12:49- I'm afraid not.
372. 12:51- That's not what I wanted to hear.
373. 12:52For more episodes of "Civics Made Easy,"
374. 12:54subscribe to the PBS YouTube channel.
375. 12:56You can also DM me anytime on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube.
376. 12:59I promise there are no stupid questions.
377. 13:18One more for the road.
378. 13:21God, that's fun.