The Vermont Progressive Party is joining its 2014 nominee for Lieutenant Governor, Dean Corren, concerning a campaign finance matter. The lawsuit, Corren v Sorrell was filed by Corren in U.S. District Court on March 20, 2015. Now the Progressive Party will be a co-plaintiff. Corren was told last year by the Attorney General that he broke campaign finance laws and is to be fined $72,000. The charge is that the Vermont Democratic Party sent an e-mail to its list of supporters, inviting them to a rally at which Bernie Sanders, Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin, and Corren, were speaking. The Vermont Attorney General says that was an illegal campaign contribution to Corren.
Corren accepted public funding last year. He is a member of the Progressive Party and he was the party’s nominee, but he was also the Democratic nominee. So far not much of substance has happened in Corren’s federal lawsuit, which seeks to block his fine.
This shows one of the problems with campaign finance regulation. Political organizations that communicate with their supporters on a regular basis should be allowed to send communications which include information about candidates. Such communication is a free speech right of the organization involved – in this case the Vermont Democratic Party.
If the communication in question is considered an “in kind” contribution to a candidate, what about a newspaper editorial urging a vote for a candidate? Why would it not be considered a “contribution” to the endorsed candidate.
The real issue here is the free speech right of political organizations.
In this case, the communication was not an innocuous, “vote for all the Democrat candidates” e-mail. It was an invitation to a campaign rally, at which Corren’s appearance was highlighted and coordinated, and the Democratic Party brought in a non-party member, Bernie Sanders to attract voters.
Vermont law makes an explicit distinction between party communication on behalf of 6 or more candidates, and party communications on behalf of 6 or fewer candidates.
The fundamental problem is the public funding of candidates. Curren was able to gather $17,500 from donations of less $50. He was given $180,000, along with his pledge not to accept non-qualifying contributions.
In Vermont, political parties are permitted to make unlimited contributions to candidates.
So you either have an obvious violation of the campaign finance laws, or you have a loophole.