The comedienne said she didn’t want to over donate
Celebrities do have the most influential power, especially if they are currently at the peak of their career. This may also be used not just to their own advantage, but also to some politicians especially those who are running for office. It is not something new, they have been doing it for so many years now.
According to historians, celebrities have been endorsing politicians for the elections since the 1920s. In the 2016 United States Presidential campaign, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were both highly endorsed by some of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood.
Some of Clinton’s biggest celebrity endorsers are Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, Katy Perry, Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, Lebron James and more. Most celebrities supported Clinton but Trump has managed to have some celebrities support him as well such as Mike Tyson, Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris and more. Recently even if he already won, rapper Kanye West had been openly supporting him on Twitter, which has definitely turned into a backlash on the Grammy award-winning rapper.
Celebrities endorsing Hillary Clinton on the 2016 presidential campaign
Celebrities do give a huge boost for politicians, then again, some notable people aren’t just endorsing them, some have actually donated a huge amount of money to support the campaign. Contribution on political campaigns are allowed, but just like everything in this world, there has to be a limit. Comedienne and host Rosie O’Donnell is currently facing allegations with her over-sized donations to not just one but five federal candidates based on the most recent analysis of the campaign findings.
Illegally Exceeded Contributions
Known in the Hollywood industry as a host of The Rosie O’Donnell Show, she has definitely caught the attention of the public not just by making them laugh but also by being an activist towards LGBT rights. However, O’Donnell is currently facing a serious controversy with the recent report that she had exceeded the limit on her donations. According to a report from the New York Post, the host and comedienne have broken the Federal Election Commission by giving more than $2,700 per candidate during a campaign period.
This limit is said to be applied to runoffs as well as on primaries and just elections in general. In a statement, O’Donnell said that she makes donations really often but it wasn’t exactly her intentions to over donate. She knew about the limits and is not directly giving the money to the candidates but through the online liberal fundraising platform which is called as ActBlue.
She also mentioned how it must be the responsibility of the candidates to just get the $2,700 from her donations since they know very well that it is the maximum amount they are allowed to get. However, the candidates actually took more than they should. Just like Senator Doug James who actually got $4,700 but refused to give a comment on the issue.
The representative of Pennsylvania, Conor Lamb, got $3,600 from the comedienne’s donation for the general election last March, wherein he actually won. He got another $1,000 since he is running for a full two-year term in the congressional district. His campaign manager, however, said that they will be refunding $900 from O’Donnell’s donation.
Campaign Filings Analysis
All of this information came from the recent analysis of the campaign filings. It turns out that O’Donnell has managed to give a total of $5,400 to five candidates which are clearly over the said limit. O’Donnell has also reportedly used not just one but four different addresses all over New York under four variations of her name, which is still unclear if it would also be a violation. The comedienne said that it is actually her brother who handles her money and that she thought ActBlue is the one limiting the money once exceeded. Over the past year, she has managed to give almost a hundred thousand dollars to 50 different candidates.
According to experts, it is not just the donor who will be held liable for donating more than the allowed amount, but also the candidates who benefited from the donations. However, there will be no legal action or even a penalty to those who have donated over the limit, instead, they will simply have a refund of their money and if they choose not to, they could counter it to the next election. Campaign finance lawyer from Washington D.C. Jan Baran said that only those who are hiding their donations are most likely to receive an ample punishment for their actions such as paying for fines or if worse, it may lead to an investigation.