No other American presidential candidate has ever left the US to garner campaign contributions from foreign citizens. There is a reason for this, one that Romney and his staff seem oblivious to and the mainstream media had ignored until just recently.
Using foreign contributions in any American election is a felony. Hello Romney campaign…is anybody home, hello? Below, Fox News identifies illegal fundraising in both Israel and in London, no donor is identified, no records are kept. Gosh, does that look like someone might be trying to circumvent the law?
If you go outside the US, if you stay inside the US, if your contributor is living in the US but not a citizen, any money you get can mean years in jail.
Romney went the whole way, personally campaigning outside the US, soliciting foreign citizens, and humiliating himself and his country with his ignorance and flagrant attempts to trade illegal cash for promises of illegal war. One could hardly break more laws if one wanted.
Romney has raised millions in foreign cash at fundraising event across Israel and London, those that we know of so far. One table alone gave him a million in cash. None was from American citizens. Fewer than 10% of Romney’s contributors in Israel are estimated to be “dual citizens.” Others may have just flown the money in.
A real question many might ask, why would a presidential candidate travel outside the US to seek campaign money at all? As the Supreme Court points out, in the decision Bluman, et al., v. Federal Elections Commission, no foreign cash, especially collected overseas, can ever be used in an American campaign.
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Here is what the New York Times reports on recent court decisions that disqualify Romney as a candidate:
January 9, 2012, 3:34 pm
Supreme Court Retains Ban on Foreign Campaign Donations
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN JR.In a terse four words, the Supreme Court on Monday issued an order upholding prohibitions against foreigners making contributions to influence American elections.
The decision clamped shut an opening that some thought the court had created two years ago in its Citizens United decision, when it relaxed campaign-finance limits on corporations and labor unions. On Monday the Supreme Court, upholding a lower court’s decision in Bluman, et al., v. Federal Election Commission, refused to extend its reasoning in Citizens United to cover foreigners living temporarily here.
Foreign nationals, other than lawful permanent residents, are completely banned from donating to candidates or parties, or making independent expenditures in federal, state or local elections.
The Supreme Court’s order did not discuss the merits or suggest that there was any dissent among the justices.
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The iconic photo below, from the Washington Post, hands Romney out to dry:
