Democratic voters deserve answers.

[Iamaartist]

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2016/3/14/bernie-sanders-potentially-illegal-campaign-contributions

[misterhighwasted]

1. HERE: (in case the link isn't working)

Accounting Error: Bernie's Growing Troubles with Illegal and Foreign Contributions

SNIP
Since October of 2015 to the end of January, the FEC counted a total of 665 potentially illegal foreign donations to the Sanders campaign, and hundreds of donors who have exceeded their contribution limits.
The FEC noted more foreign contributions in just the month of January than in the previous three months combined, and has flagged over 3,500 contributions as over-limit. 
Through the end of December alone, the Sanders campaign had collected more than $23 million in donations without sourcing them or certifying that those came from donors whose aggregate total giving is below $200.

For someone so interested about campaign - and even non-campaign - contributions to other candidates, the American people deserve to know where Sanders' money is coming from.
And no, Bernie's signature, dismissive diatribe of "our money comes from people giving $27" is just not cutting it anymore.

This is not Bernie Sanders' first federal campaign. He's been in elected federal office for 25 years.

The most benign of all possible explanations for these questions raised by the FEC on Sanders' campaign finances is an astounding level of incompetence.

SNIP
The same technological check would run on everyone, whether the number of donors is 10,000 or 3 million. Failing to implement that check properly or the failing to report it to the FEC properly is utterly incompetent. The failure to collect data on and/or report the data on contributions originating overseas is even more ridiculous.

SNIP
Right now, there remains at least $23 million - nearly a quarter of Bernie's total haul as of last reporting - completely unaccounted for.
Right now, there are nearly 700 contributions from people who, for all the FEC knows, could be foreign nationals. And the FEC continues to find new problems with every report.

Because of Bernie Sanders' boasting about how much money he is raising, it is a fact that his campaign has plenty of money to hire a competent accounting and technology team.
It also appears that he has both, given their social media campaigns and the speed with which they announce their fundraising totals by the night, including the precise number of donors and the average contribution down to the penny.
It is a legitimate question, then, to ask why his campaign cannot keep the books in order when it comes to actual official reporting.
It is a fair question to ask whether a candidate presiding over a campaign getting consecutive FEC notices with threats of audits can be entrusted with the United States Treasury.

[Iamaartist]

2. We need to know!!!

I had feeling about this along time ago ,where is he getting all that money surely not from 27.00 a donor this should be out there in all media news he has to answer by march 17th ........to the Treasury .......

[Iamaartist]

3. The Link works for us here,,,,at home ,

[misterhighwasted]

5. Yes mine works fine as well.

I was concerned about those who it may not work for..never know.
This is such an important OP you've brought to light that I don't want anyone to miss it.

Thanks for posting it lamaartist.

[Iamaartist]

7. Your welcome !

Just hope this story on Bernie dosen't just fade away.......

[misterhighwasted]

4. It's untraceable for a reason. And it's clearly not due to incompetance either.

Hillary Clinton 2016, so we can rid the election process of Citizens United forever.
She's the only honest candidate in the entire 2016 campaign.

[Iamaartist]

6. You Are Right!!!!

This needs to be out there in the news its to quiet about Bernie Sanders enough is enough time
to expose the truth on him it should have been before the March 17th date
Hillary is the only one telling the truth she is the best of all the candidates and smartest of all.....
We seen Bill Clinton in person when he came to our hometown in the 90s and yes we voted for him.........they are the best

[jmowreader]

25. The $27 is per donation, not per donor

A lot of Bernie's donors are people who rush to their computers and fire off another $10 or $20 donation every time Hillary touches up her lipstick, so he's getting millions of very small donations from quite a few people. But you are very right: there's no way the amount of money he is claiming to have is coming from $10 donations.

I think the Sanders campaign is somewhat like Romney 2012 - his advisors are doing a lot more things than they're telling him about. Bernie may have absolutely no idea of the specifics of his money. He knows he got...oh, $50 million this reporting quarter and his average donation is $27...but he DOESN'T know 85 percent of that came in $20 or less per donation and the rest is extralegal-sized/illegal foreign contributions. Sanders' isolation from the inner workings of his campaign also explains how Bernie "didn't see" Uretsky's stolen data but he sure was able to capitalize on it: his team just didn't tell him.

This is in opposition to Hillary's camp; over here, our candidate is tuned in enough that NOTHING escapes her eye.

[Iamaartist]

32. It was early morning lol

[riversedge]

28. "665 potentially illegal foreign donations to the Sanders campaign" Interesting

to say the least

[riversedge]

29. "$23 million - nearly a quarter of Bernie's total haul ..unaccounted for"

$23 million - nearly a quarter of Bernie's total haul as of last reporting - completely unaccounted for.

[Ford_Prefect]

8. IMHO it might make a more interesting commentary to post it where everyone can discuss it.

The results might surprise you.

[SharonClark]

9. Where is Tad Devine's snarky reply?

I'm sure that will help Bernie with the Feds.

[Thinkingabout]

10. Time is nearing the dead line, not only should Democrats know there

Are campaign laws on the books already which has to be followed.

[Iamaartist]

11. Date is getting closer......March 17th

keep the fire going burning scarecrow.....

[Her Sister]

12. legitimate questions

guess have to wait till Thursday for answers.

Thanks for posting!

[cosmicone]

13. Bernie's campaign manager

Weaver or whatever his name is, comes across as a scam artist. How many would buy a used car from him? The only question is, "What did Bernie know and when did he know it"

[Iamaartist]

33. How About This !!

[cosmicone]

34. LOL! n/t

[CajunBlazer]

14. I've been wondering whether some contributors to BS campaign...

... might be hitting their personal contribution limits. Without a PAC which can accept unlimited contributions Sanders puts himself at a real disadvantage in the general election if were to win the nomination. What happens when many of his biggest supporters can't give any more.

It appears that some have already hit that limit and we are not even out of the primaries. What's scary is that Sanders' campaign is continuing to accept their additional contributions in defiance of federal election laws.

This is mind boggling - back when I was contributing to Hillary's campaign back in 2008, I would get emails from her campaign specifying exactly how much more I could give before maxing out. I refuse to believe that Sanders campaign workers are so incompetent that they don't have the same type of information. I think that Bernie Sanders needs to take a real hard look at the people who are running his campaign before they get him in real trouble.

That said, what does it say about the financial viability of Sanders' campaign going forward if his biggest campaign contributors have already maxed out this early in the game.

[Her Sister]

15. people were quickly refunded

I understand that some people who gave more than maximum were quickly refunded by Obama and HRC in 2008.
Seemed pretty basic.

[misterhighwasted]

16. Kinda like Team Sanders saying "the kids stole the data"

His team, at this top level isn't made up of incompetant new people. They are professionals who know exactly what they're doing & why.

Its not incompetance, its intentional.

Can't blame this massive a fraud on the teenagers.
When is the RW lead Federal investigation?
Oh wait..they'll save that election bomb for the GE.

[CajunBlazer]

18. Yep, the Feds are going to get them, but their biggest problem is....

...they are going to run out of money. If their biggest supporters are already maxing out, what are they going to do for funding during the GE since they don't have a PAC.

[misterhighwasted]

19. wonder where Jane' Tax Free Charitable Family Trust Acct in the Caribbean

fits into this foreign untraceable money.
I'm sure its completely protected, however.

Why do people open offshore tax free charitable trusts anyway?
Wouldn't they support their local Credit Union if they continually advocate against big money?

Why would someone even open an offshore trust?
For what purpose?
hmmm

[CajunBlazer]

24. What is this Account?

What limit does such an account have when giving to a campaign?

[misterhighwasted]

21. Follow the Money..Follow the Money.

Greed for money ..the root of all evil.
And there's always a similar pathway to move or hide it.
Like the Feds don't know how this shit works.
Good Luck

[jmowreader]

26. The primary election and the GE are, by FEC rules, two different elections

Any of us can donate $2700 directly to any one candidate in the primary election, and another $2700 in the general election. You can donate to as many candidates as you want.

The real problem for Sanders, being that he's publicly repudiated PACs and SuperPACs, is a GE campaign is far more expensive than a series of primaries. I think in the 2016 GE, a billion dollars isn't going to be enough money. If Bernie doesn't take 529 money he's going to get buried, especially come October when some of the more "interesting" parts of his background show up in GOP attack ads. If he does take it, the GOP will bury him over that flip-flop.

With Bernie on our ticket, the only way the GOP loses is if they have an "Eagleton Moment." In 1972, Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton was originally picked by McGovern as his running mate...then information about Eagleton's several stays in a mental hospital (he had severe depression) became public and McGovern forced him off the ticket. In 2016, if the GOP nominates Ted Cruz and Cruz is later found constitutionally ineligible to run for president, they'll have to choose someone else quick - and my feeling is, they'll pick a respected, very senior member of Congress to run so he can have "former presidential candidate" in his obit.

[CajunBlazer]

27. Thanks for the info

I didn't know that the primaries and he GE were considered separate for the purpose of federal political contribution purposes. Thanks for that info and you insightful analysis.

So Sanders's has two problems with the situation that he isn't taking 529 money, and I don't see he can in the future given as much fuss as he has made about the issue:

1) How does he finish out the primaries if his biggest donors are already tapped out. Also if most of his contributors are truly people with limited incomes, how much more can they give without getting themselves into financial trouble regardless of whether they can lawfully give more or not. Complicating their decisions of whether to give more will be Sanders' dwindling chances of actually winning the nomination. Sooner or later folks, especially those with limited resources, are going to start wondering if they are throwing good money down a dry hole.

2) As you point out, how is Bernie going to survive in the general election when the Koch brothers and their brethren start running hundreds of millions of dollars through PAC's to Swift Boat him when he has no PAC money to defend him. They will eat him alive and prove that the results of those early one to one match up polls are absolutely meaningless. That will be when the dreamers get whacked in the face by reality.

Yet another reason why Sanders will never be President.

[jmowreader]

31. Well, let me see...

1) He's blowing off quite a few states: in the places his campaign is confident Hillary is going to stomp him, like NC and, I believe, FL, he's running very minimal advertising. It's very grassroots in those places; he has a lot of Berners who are more than happy to do word-of-mouth advertising for him. Unfortunately, this doesn't work all that well - I have two screens, and on my second one I have the New York Times delegate tracker...which shows Hillary with a FL 62-35 lead with 2 percent reporting, and a prior-to-today delegate count of 768 Clinton/554 Sanders. A very large part of Sanders' strategy is flipping superdelegates; I think it'll work but not quite in the way he thinks - once Hillary clears 1200 to 1500 pledged delegates, I think all Sanders' supers will move to her. If she only wins two-thirds the delegates available today, she's over 1000 at the end of the night, and I think she'll do better than that.

2) Well...he isn't. I'm not sure without PAC/SuperPAC/529 money he can survive this month. Next week, when UT and ID come in, he'll do very well...problem is, together those states produce 56 delegates, which any of the four big states tonight will surpass.

[fleabiscuit]

20. "...Team Sanders saying "the kids stole the data"

Now how freaking ironic is that thought considering the DNC-HRC database to begin with.

[misterhighwasted]

22. Are we seeing a pattern here?

Passing the buck..not my fault..the kids did it.

Hmmm

[kjones]

17. Claims he wants to clean up campaign finance...

...can't keep his own house in order.

...and if something so major as the finances of his own campaign
are that far out of his control, that just tells me he wouldn't
make a very good president.

A president has to delegate responsibility, not abdicate
and wash their hands of it.

[NurseJackie]

23. ... and choose honest & competent people.

[riversedge]

30. REC

[Iamaartist]

35. Bernie has to report today on this

http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/988/201602110300034988/201602110300034988.pdf

Hoping we will get answers and not fade away.........or are they going to say we dont keep track

example.. of someone who did was in question if was illegal...

I am German, live in Germany and just donated to Bernie Sanders' campaign on www.BernieSanders.com simply using my credit card - Is this illegal in any way?
UPDATE: Donation rescinded based on your answers. Liked Bernie's Facebook page instead

I think it's interesting, because on the website one of the contribution rules is "I am a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted permanent resident (i.e., green card holder)" which is not the case. Is this only so easy because I donated a small amount?
5 Answers
Doug Leonard
Doug Leonard, Swarthmore College 2019
9.5k Views • Upvoted by Michael Lee, Public Policy Analyst
Yes, this is illegal. The 1974 amendment to Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits campaign contributions by foreign nationals (green card holders are not considered foreign nationals).

If you really want to help Bernie Sanders' campaign, you should rescind your donation as soon as possible so they aren't running afoul of any laws.

Yes, this is illegal. The 1974 amendment to Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits campaign contributions by foreign nationals (green card holders are not considered foreign nationals).

If you really want to help Bernie Sanders' campaign, you should rescind your donation as soon as possible so they aren't running afoul of any laws.

[Her Sister]

36. waiting for answers!

Today's the day. waiting waiting

[Iamaartist]

37. Thousands of Bernie Sanders Contributions Are Illegal, Says FEC

http://spectator.org/blog/65707/thousands-bernie-sanders-contributions-are-illegal-says-fec

Maybe he can make some money off the coloring book issue here in this article ....lol

[Her Sister]

38. that's so strange

am speechless...