Kamala’s got her party by the short hairs
Now that Joe Biden has withdrawn from the 2024 campaign, Democrat leaders might try to redirect the campaign funds from Biden to Kamala Harris.
A lot is at stake. On the day he withdrew, the Biden for President war chest had $91.5 million cash on hand, but it’s worth was more like $240 million if you include the affiliated PAC money.
However, the little-known secret is that it is completely legal for a candidate to keep their campaign fund. There’s no federal law requiring any candidate to return any of the money. There also is no federal law or requirement for a halted campaign to hand off any of the money to another campaign!
So, now that Biden has called it quits after vowing he would not quit, he can retire in fat city, simply by transferring the funds to a charitable organization, such as a Biden Family Foundation, similar to the infamous Clinton Foundation.
But the question is: Is Biden sufficiently coherent to understand the jackpot he is sitting on? If ever there were a time for Joe to call on Hunter for help, this is it. But the question is: Does Hunter even know campaign law? Perhaps Jill does.
Here’s another ‘but.’ Kamala might claim the fund was in her name also and is entitled to half the loot. She might even be so bold as to argue that she owns all of it, since her ‘partner’ dropped out. Better watch out, Joe. Kamala might take your retirement that is far greater than that ‘penny ante’ Ukraine cash cow paid out to the Biden family.
Ah, plead as she might, federal law only allows Joe to give $2000 to $3300 of the fund to her presidential campaign. Sorry, Kamala.
So, who else might raid the Biden Piggy Bank? Ah, the Democrat Party has the legal right to receive limitless funds from any political candidate’s committee, but that committee must agree to hand it over. The pressure is on for Ol’ Joe to ‘do the noble thing’ and hand all the cash to the Democrat Party that just gave him the left foot of fellowship. Now who would fall for a crazy offer like that? Certainly not someone who was qualified to run the country 3½ years, right? Now, if this isn’t a cognitive test, I’m not sure what is. But we’ll see the results shortly.
Alternatively, federal law allows campaign funds to be transferred into a Political Action Committee (PAC) for Joe Biden’s future political activities of any kind, using all or part of the funds for his next chapter, such as running for dogcatcher, if he could even win that.
Instead of risking another political loss, Biden can become kingmaker. With all that cash he can legally contribute to a myriad of candidates as the new political candy man.
While federal law caps certain cash transfers to other political campaigns, there is no prohibition on transferring some or all of a campaign fund to a charitable or educational institution or foundation. Hey, how about giving it all to Dr. Jill, a well-known community college educator? It’s legal. And since he’s married to her, she might even give him a stipend salary from her new highly funded venture.
Another looming and imminent issue is if the Democrats do not choose Kamala Harris for the Presidential candidate, even if Biden voluntarily capitulates and coughs up the funds, the Democrat Party might not be able to give the cash legally to anyone other than Kamala.
To paraphrase Rudyard Kipling in his 1890 classic, “The Drums of the Fore and Aft,” Kamala might have just captured her party by the short hairs.
Jerry McGlothlin is a writer whose articles and editorials have been published in newspapers including USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, American Thinker, the Christian Post and the Washington Times. Jerry has also been featured as the topic of articles in the newspapers including the Washington Post and The New York Times. As a talk show booking agent for 35 years, Jerry has provided expert guests to a wide variety of programs shows including Oprah, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity. Jerry has worked with numerous celebrities including Barbara Walters and Ed McMahon, who Jerry placed as a guest on many talk shows.
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