This campaign finance report from missouri’s secretary of state, shows very clearly that the majority of money that flowed into the state to help elect Donald Trump is coming from Missouri residents who do not vote for him.
I’m sure most of us would agree that Missouri residents are not voting for Trump. Missouri is pretty much a swing state for Republicans because of the size of its population. If we go by the election results from 2011, it looks like a large portion of Missourians are not voting for Trump, and the rest of the state isn’t doing anything at all to help elect him.
The problem is that there is no way to know for sure how much political influence people have. However, the fact that the majority of contributions to federal campaigns come from outside Missouri is a problem. This means the state senate must act to pass legislation that limits what can be spent in Missouri. The law states that contributions must be reported to the Missouri secretary of state.
The problem with Missouri’s campaign finance law is that it is a total mystery how much influence people have. And because of this, it is a total mystery how much money we can expect to receive in contributions from outside the state. The Missouri legislature is trying to resolve this problem by passing a law that would require that all contributions to federal campaigns be reported to the Missouri secretary of state.
The problem with this law is that it would be too easy to game the system. If your campaign is not reported, how can we prove it, and how do we know whether the campaign is going to succeed? But the worst part is that the bill would probably be too complicated to pass.
That’s exactly what happened in Arkansas earlier this year. A bill proposed by a few legislators and signed into law by the governor was too complicated to read, and would have required the secretary of state to report any contributions made by outside individuals to federal campaigns. The bill was defeated by the legislature, but the governor, who is a lifelong supporter of the bill, did not even bother to sign it into law.
In Missouri, outside individuals are not given the same rights as other people. They are not allowed the same benefits, protections, or opportunities as other people. It’s all a little complicated.
The bill was a response to a Supreme Court ruling that said all campaign contributions would be reported to the IRS. The ruling was later overturned. Since most outside contributors do not want to have the IRS know that they contributed to a federal campaign, they’ve decided to do it themselves. It’s all very confusing, but it’s not illegal.
Its all very confusing for those who are unaware of campaign finance laws. One section of the law has been passed that allows the IRS to monitor all federal campaign contributions. If you contribute to a federal campaign, you are responsible for knowing that donations are tax-deductible. If you don’t contribute to a federal campaign, you are responsible for paying the IRS.
The good news is that there arent any federal campaign contributions to Missouri. The bad news is that if you are in violation of the law, you have to pay a $5,000 fine and spend another $10,000 in legal fees. You would think that would be enough to motivate some politicians to take a look at their policies and try to stop these kinds of violations.
