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Donors use McCain law loophole

Both parties rake in big money

By Jim McElhatton THE WASHINGTON TIMES | Wednesday, May 28, 2008

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Sen. John McCain, who championed a law imposing strict new political contribution limits, is appearing at fundraisers nationwide where donors can give up to $70,100 each to help him win the presidency through a group set up jointly by his campaign and the Republican Party.

Democrats are launching a similar effort, as both sides expose how easy it is to raise money from donors even if they already have given the maximum amount to the presidential campaigns allowed under a law that Mr. McCain helped enact in 2002.

The McCain-Feingold law caps donations at $2,300 for individuals contributing to a presidential candidate's general election or primary election fund. But donors to the McCain Victory 2008 committee can give 30 times as much.

The contributions, capped at up to $70,100 each, then get split into smaller donations - all within federal donation limits - between the official McCain campaign, its legal and accounting fund, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and state party groups supporting Mr. McCain.

Some criticize the big-money fundraising at a time when campaigns are railing against one another over ties to lobbyists and corporate interests.

"It's all perfectly legal, but the point is there are people who can give sizable checks and spend more face time with candidates because they're able to write $70,000 checks," said David Donnelly, national campaigns director for the nonprofit Public Campaign Action Fund. "It seems like a gaping hole in the practice of how the McCain-Feingold law operates."

Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman, said joint fundraising is nothing new for presidential campaigns and that the practice "follows every letter of the law and is completely transparent."

"John McCain doesn't just have a reputation of rooting out the influence of money and special influence in politics, he has a record of it," Mr. Bounds said.

With Mr. McCain as the featured guest, the McCain Victory 2008 committee took in $7 million at a single fundraiser in New York on May 7 that included a $25,000-per-couple VIP reception and photo opportunity with the candidate. Yesterday, Mr. McCain was scheduled to attend a joint fundraiser and private reception for supporters in Colorado.

The McCain Victory committee has filed one quarterly financial activity report with the Federal Election Commission showing that 14 donors gave more than $300,000 in March. One donor, Connecticut banker Christian Oberbeck, contributed the maximum $2,300 for Mr. McCain's presidential primary campaign on March 17, then donated $28,500 10 days later through the McCain Victory fund, FEC records show.