Bloomberg and the Sham Donation

In the USA we have campaign finance laws that limit how much a person can contribute to a candidate for federal office or to a political party.  The only exception is that an individual can spend his or her own money in unlimited amounts on his or her own campaign.  That's what Michael Bloomberg did before he gave up on his presidential campaign.  Bloomie spent over half a billion dollars running TV ads and hiring staff, etc, on his own campaign.  He took no money from anyone else.  That mega-spending was totally legal.

Now, however, Bloomberg has done something that may be illegal.  He tool the money left in his campaign -- all his own money -- and gave it to the DNC.  That's right, Bloomberg "donated" 18 million bucks to the DNC.  Campaigns are allowed to give left over contribution monies to the national party.  No one, though, ever contemplated that we would have one individual who first shoveled millions into his own campaign only to drop out and transfer the cash to the party.

This contribution is an indirect way of doing something that is a crime under US law.  There ought to be an investigation by the Justice Department into what Bloomberg has done and the government should prosecute him for violation of the law.  Indeed, even if there is no criminal prosecution, the DNC ought to be ordered by a court to return the cash in excess of the individual contribution limits to Bloomberg.

For a party that spent so much time smashing evil billionaires, the Democrats seem to have no problem raking in the cash from those billionaires.  It's just wrong.