August 01, 2009 12:39 AM UTC

Polis-Markey connection illustrates how wealthy can get around campaign finance limits

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• by: BobMoore

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

See the note from ThillyWabbit in the comments below. It looks like I made a mistake by reading the campaign finance reports too literally. What appear to be separate contributions to the Jared Polis Victory Fund and the Markey and Maffei campaigns are, in reality, all from one originating contribution to JPVF. The money is then allocated on a proportional basis to the participating campaigns, up to the maximum $4,800 allowed by law.

In other words, nothing to see here, other than the inherent confusion in federal campaign finance law. I appreciate ThillyWabbit directing me to clarifying documents.

Here’s a link to a new Coloradoan blog, where I hope I do a better job of explaining this:  http://tr.im/v5FE

My original (inaccurate) diary follows:

Campaign-finance reform always spawns creative methods of getting around attempts to limit contributions. One example after McCain-Feingold was the explosion of joint fundraising committees.

The Denver Post had a good article earlier this week on the Jared Polis Victory Fund, which you can see here:

http://www.denverpost.com/nati…

The Victory Fund filed its report with the FEC today, and the donor list serves as a reminder of how wealthy donors can legally get around campaign finance limits.

The Victory Fund’s two biggest expenditures went to Betsy Markey in Colorado and Dan Maffei in New York, $20,000 each. Another 26 Democratic incumbents got $1,000 to $3,000 each.

The Victory Fund’s three biggest donors were Polis’ mother, Susan Schutz, $68,600; her husband, Stephen Schutz, $71,000; and Polis’ sister, Jordanna Schutz, $50,000. The congressman’s brother, Jorian Schutz, gave $14,400. Those four account for 85 percent of the contributions to the Jared Polis Victory Fund. Put another way, those four funded $17,000 of the $20,000 that the Jared Polis Victory Fund gave to the Markey campaign.

Dig into FEC records and you’ll find that all four of the Schutzes are max donors to Markey, having given the $4,800 each allowed by federal law, for a combined total of $19,200. But by donating money to the Jared Polis Victory Fund, which in turn donated money to Markey, the Schutz family has effectively given almost twice the legal limit to the Markey campaign.

The timing also is interesting. Three of the Schutzes made their contributions to the JPVF on June 26, with Joriann’s contribution coming three days later. The $20,000 JPVF contribution to Markey was made on June 26. The four Schutzes then made their $4,800 max contributions to Markey on June 29.

(All of the above also applies to Maffei, the other big recipient of JPVF money. All four Schutzes are max donors to his campaign, giving their $4,800 each on June 26 or 28. The $20,000 JPVF contribution to Maffei came on June 30.)

This is all perfectly legal, and it’s repeated by wealthy Republican and Democratic donors across the country. But it’s interesting to watch it play out on a local level.

For links and some other details, see my Coloradoan blog here: http://tr.im/uX2i