Question about campaign contributions

[Caution]

I know that the limit for a single contribution is $2000. Is that the sum total you can give to a candidate? Or is it the total per year you can give? How does this work. I just donated $10 to Dean and have donated about $400 total to various political causes so far this year, including MoveOn, Dean, the DNC, DU, and a couple of local type campaigns. Typically my donations go to charities but this year and next I will probably cut back on where I usually give and donate to campaigns (charities I donate to include Planned Parenthood, AIDS action committe, the Jimmy Fund, and Amnesty International...all good charities who need your donations!). I would like to max out my contribution to Dean and may be able to extend myself beyond the $2000, so I want to know how I can do this in a legal manner. Do contributor dinners count towards this total? IE, can I make a $2000 contribution to Dean and still attend a $500/plate fundraiser? As time goes on I know I will be able to donate to the DNC as a separate entity as well as to PACs like MoveOn (budgeted about $4000 which is spreading myself a lot thinner than I should but I think this is the single most important election of my lifetime), but I would like to get as much as possible to the candidate I'm supporting.

[Paschall]

1. Maybe this will help

OpenSecrets can use donations, too. ;-)

http://www.opensecrets.org/basics/law/index.asp

[HFishbine]

2. Answers

The $2,000 limit is total per individual and includes any type of contribution; cash, fund-raiser tickets, a $2,000 hot dog, or in-kind contributions.

The good news is that the limit is per election -- the primary counts as one election and the general election counts as another. So, if you haven't specifically designated your funds as for the primary or general election, you can keep giving until you've reached $2,000, then just designate your next $2,000 as for the general election.

One could even (as is done often) write two $2,000 checks and designate one as for the primary and the other for the general.

[Caution]

3. Thanks to both of you!

Thanks for the info and the resource. I appreciate the help.

[Orangepeel]

4. You can contribute $2000 total to any one candidate in any one election

You can contribute up to $2000 to Dean in the primary, plus another $2000 for the general election (to him or another candidate). The $2000 limit applies to federal candidates. Candidates for other offices will have different limits.

If you go to a Dean fundraising dinner or houseparty, that would count toward your total to Dean. If you go to a fundraiser for some other group -- like the Democratic party -- that is a contribution to them and thus doesn't count against your total to Dean.

You can contribute as much as you want total -- that is, contributions to other entities, like Moveon or to other candidates don't count against what you give to Dean.

[recidivist]

5. Link to FEC guidelines.

For a rundown of BCRA contribution limits, see: http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/contrib.htm

Individuals may contribute up to $2,000 PER ELECTION to a federal candidate. The primary and general elections count as separate elections. However, all contributions made in a CYCLE count so, for example, one must keep track of all contributions made to a U.S. Senator over an entire six-year cycle.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is a $95,000 biennial "global" limit. This is the maximum an individual can contribute to all federal campaigns, candidates, and committees over a two year period.

To further complicate the picture, there are sublimits on annual contributions to national party organizations, state and local party organizations, other federal political committees (e.g. PACs), and all individual candidates combined.

It is very confusing. It also creates much inadvertent noncompliance for major donor types. If you are in the habit of contributing five and six figure sums every year to a wide variety of candidates, causes, and committees, it is easy to lose track of a check you wrote several years ago. It is also easy to attend an event or contribute to a cause not realizing precisely which FEC pigeonhole the sponsoring organization inhabits. All you think you've done is pay $500 or $1,000 to attend a dinner for Senator X and, presto, you're in non-compliance.

As is usually the case when idiotic regulatory schemes stand in the way of market demand, people devise ways around the regulations. Both parties are now developing networks of "independent" groups to accept donations that escape BCRA's straightjacket.

To attempt to control these expenditures, BCRA's supporters, and now the FEC, propose to impose on "independent" groups a heavyhanded set of:

(1) Content restrictions. These are unquestionably unconstitutional, if the Constitution's plain language any longer has any meaning (which, to be sure, is much in doubt today).

(2) Coordination restrictions, which are probably unenforceable. There is simply no way to police every conversation among the interlocking networks of political professionals on both sides. The "independent" interest groups and the national parties will be perfectly aware of what the presidential nominees want, regardless of what the FEC may be saying about improper coordination. Even if you bugged every telephone and restaurant table in Washington, people would still find a way to talk.

As they should. It is the law that is wrong here, not the desire of people to be politically engaged.

It is a lousy system. A better approach would be to embrace the First Amendment, repeal the Federal Elections Act and BCRA, and let candidates get their money wherever they can, subject only to prompt public disclosure. Political participation is a good thing.