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So why was Dinesh D’Souza “treated very unfairly by our government”? https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1002177521599860736 /1
Section 315 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (or “McCain-Feingold”) mandated criminal penalties for contributions in the name of another, when involving amounts of more than $10,000. /2
Section 315 was a Republican response to the 1996 DNC fundraising scandals. Sen. Bond of Missouri offered it as Amendment 166 on the floor during Senate debate. /3
Sen. Bond: “It is a misdemeanor offense to make a campaign contribution in the name of another … As simply a misdemeanor offense, those intent on corrupting the process do not fearthe consequences. Despite the scale of some of the abuses, the offense is rarely prosecuted." /4
More Sen. Bond: "When it is, the offenders are handed minimal fines and no jail time. The message from the so-called prosecutions is that there is no threat of jail time for those who break campaign finance laws. If it feels good, do it.” /5
More Sen. Bond: “My amendment would make it a felony to knowingly make conduit contributions … Maybe the Johnny Chungs and the Charlie Tries of this world will understand there are consequences for their actions and no longer violate campaign finance laws with impunity.” /6
More Sen. Bond: “As a felony offense, violators will be subject to either jail time or a stiff fine, or perhaps both ... The amendment requires, not suggests, that the FEC refer these cases to the Justice Department.” /7
More Sen. Bond: “By taking this step, Congress will be sending a clear message that it considers the funneling of illegal campaign contributions a serious offense to be punished accordingly.” /8
More Sen. Bond: “This amendment goes after law- breaking contributors to any candidate of any party. Contributors to all parties are required by law to disclose their donations properly. Concealing the source of a donation is illegal. If you do it, you can expect punishment.” /9
Sen. Bond’s full remarks are here (at S3187-88): https://www.congress.gov/crec/2001/03/30/CREC-2001-03-30.pdf. /10
With small modification and virtually no debate, the Senate passed Senator Bond’s amendment by unanimous consent. /11
The only contrary voice was Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, who didn’t object, but said: "I disagree with the method of appearing to single out one type of violation for enhanced enforcement or prosecution, namely conduit contributions in the name of another.” /12
Sen. Dodd added: “An unintended result of the amendment of Senator Bond may be the appearance and reality of selective prosecution.” /13
The Bond amendment, along with the rest of the McCain-Feingold bill, was signed into law by President George W. Bush. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020327.html <fin>
