Let it never be said that anthropomorphic slimeball John Ellis “Jeb” Bush does not have a creative outlet. He has discovered campaign financing innovations that are so visionary and inventive that they are pure art.
Some of them are also “likely breaking federal law,” according to Campaign Legal Center, a campaign finance reform group. But it doesn’t matter because the people in charge of the Federal Election Commission, who enforce these laws, have been bound and gagged (figuratively) by Republicans (more about the dysfunctional FEC later today).
That leaves “Jeb” free to perform fiscal pirouettes to his heart’s content.
Democrats usually have an edge when it comes to grassroots organizing, but Republicans are owning the money game. What else is new?
At the heart of Jeb’s strategy is a cute-as-a-button little lie: He’s not running for president. Not yet, anyway. Still thinking it over. No official campaign.
And wonderful as it would be for him to decide to crawl back under the Bush family rock, everyone knows exactly what’s going on here. He’s running for president, and has been for years. But because he doesn’t have an “official” campaign, he doesn’t have to follow any official campaign rules.
Another Bush III innovation: His “team is preparing to give responsibility for much of the nuts-and-bolts work of running a presidential race to his super PAC, Right to Rise.” Under super PAC rules, Right to Rise (which sounds like a male fertility potion) can eat unlimited amounts of money, and doesn’t have to report any donors. It’s probably raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million, according to an MSNBC estimate. Once Bush officially declares his candidacy, Right to Rise will probably take the lead in campaigning on his behalf.
Of course, super PACs and candidates aren’t allowed to coordinate. But as the AP reports, “Mike Murphy, Bush’s longtime political confidant, would probably run the super PAC once Bush enters the race.”
Is this legal? Lots of people think: Nope. There’s a rule about super PACs not spending money on behalf of candidates who were involved in their own financing. But candidates have been ignoring that law because, hey, why not? The FEC has been stacked with polarized Republicans and Democrats to the point that every enforcement vote ends in a tie, so they’ll probably be unable to take any action against maneuvers like this. (Again, more on the FEC a little later today.)
The organizations Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 plan to file a complaint with the FEC. Their complaint may get some attention, but more likely will be carefully placed in a locked filing cabinet, which will then be filled with concrete and dumped in the Delaware River at 2 am.
Jeb’s not the only one up to no good: As has been widely reported, Scott Walker’s super PAC is run by his former chief of staff; Rand Paul’s is run by his former campaign manager; Marco Rubio’s is run by a colleague of the guy who runs another Rubio-controlled PAC. It’s all one big slithering orgy of dollar bills and coordinated political actions.
Bush, by the way, is going to need all the financial help he can get. He’s polling at around 5 percent in Iowa. Conservative voters have been rating him as not being conservative enough, so he’ll probably use his millions of dollars to try convince them that he does, you know, dislike gay people and love guns and hate universal health care and adore oil drilling. I can’t wait to see how much shitty rhetoric $100 million can buy.
