June 12, 2015

Jeb Bush’s Nonexistent Campaign Faces Nonexistent Hurdles

Jeb Bush at The World Affairs Council in September, 2012. (cropped from original image)<a href=https://www.flickr.com/photos/wacphiladelphia/8033641249/in/photolist-deUvE2-dfQ7FF-deUpt9-mhqvcP-mhpDiF-mhreMC-mhpBfH-mhqhSX-mhq3tr-mhrc8Q-mhrtWj-mhqkJP-ppGRvp-q3yPGu-tBAHMt-q6k3ye-9kEW9V-7dot1V-cmp9xY-7vW1FB-rJL2we-7vW1DH-cmp9oy-msRVJK-qHGsTx-qFzghC-deU85K-qRXrrS-qZyCRx-paCfbP-deUhtz-dfPXtt-deUsze-deUc7N-deUwHm-deUdxP-deUeZj-7dskV5-oWrEiX-7vW2rR-7vZRuL-7vW1gR-7vZQau-7vZRKW-7vZQ6Y-7vZRD5-7vZQzA-7vZRyS-7vZQhu-7vZQkw>TheWorldAffairsCouncil</a>/Flickr

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Technically, Jeb Bush is not yet running for president. So technically, there have not been recent staff changes in the former Florida governor’s presidential campaign.

According to an NBC Nightly News report on Wednesday, two top campaign aides, Danny Diaz and David Kochel, were given new titles and new responsibilities. Diaz became campaign manager, and Kochel became chief strategist. While on a trip to Europe, Bush was asked by NBC’s Chris Jansing why he replaced his campaign manager, and his reply was firm. “Well first of all, we don’t have a campaign,” Bush said. “So there was no switching.”

Bush’s strategy seems to be to eliminate any potential questions about internal campaign discord by insisting that the campaign itself does not exist.

But what works for a staff shake up may not be so effective with the Federal Election Commission. Some watchdog organizations contend that this non-campaign campaign could get him into legal hot water. Candidates must follow strict FEC regulations when they raise their campaign war chests, but those regulations don’t apply to candidates who are merely “testing the waters.”  Bush’s ambivalence has attracted the attention of some watchdog organizations. Yesterday, the nonpartisan watchdog groups Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 sent a letter to the Department of Justice urging it to “investigate apparent campaign finance violations by Jeb Bush and his associated Super PAC.” The groups allege that Bush’s super-PAC has violated federal contribution laws in the way it has raised and spent its money:

We are writing to make clear that Bush’s formal declaration of candidacy has absolutely no effect on the allegations made in our May 27 letter requesting an investigation of the Bush Super PAC scheme. In the letter, we showed that Bush already is, and has for some time been, a candidate for federal office under the statutory definition of “candidate” set forth in the federal campaign finance laws. Bush cannot evade the statutory definition of “candidate” by proclaiming he is not a candidate.

On Monday, Bush is expected to announce that his presidential campaign actually does exist.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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