Four, five, even six times per week, US presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton meets deep-pocketed supporters eager to shake hands with the celebrity Democrat — all-but-obligatory encounters helping her amass the war chest needed to win the White House.
Qualifying guests are invited to hold what is described as a “conversation with Hillary,” at a cost of US$2,700 — the legal limit set by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on donations to candidates in next year’s presidential primary cycle.
Once the primaries are decided, a supporter can contribute a fresh US$2,700 maximum to a candidate in the presidential election.
Clinton, a former secretary of state and the prohibitive favorite for the Democratic nomination, has participated in about 40 fundraising receptions since launching her campaign in April, according to the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan Washington organization that studies campaign financing. By any measure, it is an intense schedule to follow from now until election day — 17 months away — and more rigorous than the smattering of public events she has held as a candidate.
Clinton, 67, holds her first major campaign rally today in New York, one expected to draw thousands of voters. However, who attends the swankier, less-publicized functions?
Friends of Clinton, influential Democrats, executives, a Facebook cofounder, her husband, Bill, and clean-energy billionaire Tom Steyer have participated in the events. On June 29, rocker Jon Bon Jovi is to sing for one of the gatherings. Clinton participated in three receptions on Wednesday in three cities in the US northeast.
Regulatory loopholes could allow Clinton to extract more money from her donors, but the candidate has publicly committed to reforming campaign finance laws in order to dampen the growing influence of private donations on US elections.
Prominent Republican rival Jeb Bush regularly commands tens of thousands of dollars per attendee at certain events, in extraordinary cases up to US$100,000.
He avoids campaign ceilings through a legal formulation known as a “super PAC.”
These types of political action committees were born from a 2010 Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited contributions to such groups as a form of free expression, provided the entities remain independent from the candidates and their campaigns.
However, the alleged independence of such super PACs has come into question.
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s “Right to Rise” group is led by a close associate of the all-but-declared candidate and the organization is exclusively dedicated to supporting his run.
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