Can a (national) politician keep unspent campaign funds?

[BarnOwl]

I seem to remember this issue arising some years ago, and I think Congress passed a bill in favor of themselves on this score.

If it's true, Barack could be a little more prudent in his spending and end up, win or lose, with millions of bucks. So might the others, but they don't compare to the Democratic front runner's bankroll.

BTW this isn't an Obama smear. I'm one of his ardent supporters. Just curious.

[friedo]

No, they can't keep it for themselves. If there is an excess, it must be used to pay any outstanding debts of the campaign, or it can be saved for a future campaign, or donated to somebody else's campaign, or to charity.

[Chez Guevara]

Originally Posted by friedo

.....or donated to somebody else's campaign.....

No.

Recent thread on the same subject.

[Elendil's Heir]

friedo has it in one.

On the flip side, when John Glenn's presidential campaign folded in 1984, he owed a lot of money to various suppliers (for posters, phones, buttons, air travel, etc.) but the campaign was tapped out. IIRC, the FEC said he couldn't pay them himself (he's a wealthy man), or use surplus funds (of which he had many) from his U.S. Senate campaign committee, but had to raise money expressly to satisfy those prior obligations.

Needless to say, most donors don't want to give money to an already-defunct campaign. Many of his suppliers ended up getting only pennies on the dollar - very unfortunate, but not Glenn's fault. I'm convinced he genuinely wanted to see that everyone got paid, but the FEC's interpretation of the law was such that he couldn't. Don't know how much the campaign finance laws have changed since then.

[BarnOwl]

I'm a little surprised by the John Glenn thing.

In the 60's. I worked for a small ad agency, and when any pol approached us for
campaign work, it was standard procedure to demand payment up front because politicians already had a bad rep for doing doing exactly what Glenn's campaign did to some supporters who provided services and products.

[Otto]

Originally Posted by Chez Guevara

No.

Recent thread on the same subject.

Not "no." Yes, within the limits for campaign contributions that apply to everyone else, Clinton or Obama or whoever may doanate excess campaign funds to other candidates, per your own cite from the linked thread.

[mks57]

Many years ago, I was told that one of my neighbors, Harold Stassen, was a perpetual candidate for President, long after he had any realistic chance of being elected. It reminded me of "The Producers", and I always wondered what financial angles he was exploiting.

[Chez Guevara]

Originally Posted by Otto

Not "no." Yes, within the limits for campaign contributions that apply to everyone else, Clinton or Obama or whoever may doanate excess campaign funds to other candidates, per your own cite from the linked thread.

That limit being $2,000.

friedo states as follows:

If there is an excess, it must be used to pay any outstanding debts of the campaign, or it can be saved for a future campaign, or donated to somebody else's campaign, or to charity.

As per my cite from the linked thread a candidate's campaign funds, over and above $2,000, cannot be donated to somebody else's campaign.

I should point out that the OP is talking about 'millions of bucks' but nevertheless I beg forgiveness for failing to mention the $2,000 in this thread as well as the other one.