John Anthony La Pietra for
Fairer, Better Elections
Secretary of State * Green Party
386 Boyer Court * Marshall, MI 49068
http://members.triton.net/jalp/jalp4FBE.html
How to Donate
I said it in my flyer, and I’m sticking to it: “I’ll take 100% of anyone’s vote – and I won’t take more than $100 of anyone’s money.” I’m running to do a job For the People – all the people – and I don’t want to be or appear beholden to any one person more than everyone else. (For the same reason, I – like many other Green Party of Michigan candidates – won’t take PAC money. And I won’t take any more than $100 from the party itself, either. They, like the big PACs, could legally give me up to $34,000! – as a candidate for a statewide office.)
But $100 is also the threshold value for more detailed reporting about contributors – not just a donor’s own name and address, but also occupation, employer, and business address. (See the standard report pages for itemizing cash and in-kind contributions, with instructions. If you want to look into this even more, see the manual and appendices for campaign-finance reporting by candidate committees . . . or visit the Bureau of Elections “Publications and Forms” page.)
So am I trying to get out of that kind of accountability? No. In fact, I want to be able to report fully on every contribution. And that affects how I want you to donate. But more about that below.
What, No PayPal?!
My mother ran perhaps the second-smallest children’s bookstore in the world for 20 years in Marshall. It was small enough that taking credit cards would have been more trouble and expense than it was worth. And Mom knew her regular customers well enough – built enough of a personal relationship as she recommended and found books for them – that there was never any point to credit cards anyway.
When the PATRIOT Act was passed, Mom found a humorous fringe benefit: it gave her another justification for not taking credit cards. Now it also meant she could offer her customers a measure of privacy and security in their reading choices: she didn’t have any credit-card sales records the FBI could subpoena.
Obviously, I have different disclosure requirements – and I support them. But I do want to honor Mom’s memory . . . and to have the same kind of personal relationship with you who choose to support me that she had with those who chose to support her business. Besides, I think enough of our money goes to credit-card companies and banks anyway. So I’m not going to have an on-line donation link. If you want to give me money, you’ll have to do it by cash (no more than $20), check, or money order.
So What Do We Do Instead?
Well, if I’m not offering donors the convenience of on-line credit-card donations, what can I offer instead?
If you send me a contribution the information I would need to report your contribution in detail (as mentioned above), I will write you back with a personal thank-you letter. Or an e-mail, if you prefer. And if you’d like something enclosed or attached, let me know. (If we don’t have it yet, I’ll tell you. And maybe your request – and those of others – will encourage me to get some.)
Maybe you want to make a non-money donation, something in the form of “goods, services, and facilities provided to the committee at no cost or at a discount.” That’s how Michigan defines an in-kind contribution. Depending on what you want to contribute in-kind, we may need to arrange for pick-up, drop-off, or otherwise delivery. So please feel free to contact me. Then you may get two thank-yous: one in person, and another in letter form. (But again, I’ll still need all the same identifying information for my reports.)
A Few Final Cautions
But before I get you too enthusiastic about donating, let’s go over the kinds of donations Michigan law doesn’t allow.
• Anonymous contributions: If you send me a contribution but don’t tell me even your name and address, I have to give it to a tax-exempt charitable organization – and get a receipt for it, too, for my records. (And you can’t make a donation by any name other than the name by which you are “identified for legal reasons”. We want the public to know who’s really giving that money to that candidate, or that referendum committee, or that recall drive.)
• Cash over $20: As I mentioned above, $20 is the limit for a cash donation. It also used to be the threshold for reporting a separate “itemized” contribution at all, but now any contribution of $1 or more has to be itemized. For anything $20.01 and up, there has to be a “written instrument” giving your name, the date, the amount, and the name of the committee you’re giving to. My committee’s full official name is John Anthony La Pietra for Fairer, Better Elections – honoring my father this time, and clarifying that “La” isn’t my middle name. “JALP for FBE” (or even “JALP4FBE” might work – but I haven’t gotten clearance from the bank yet.)
• Contributions from one candidate committee to another: The only exception is if candidate A holds a fundraiser and candidate B buys a ticket to it – limit $100 per calendar year.
• Corporations, joint stock companies, labor organizations, or domestic dependent sovereigns (Indian tribes): I can’t take a contribution of money from treasury funds, goods, services, discounts, or free use of facilities from any of these.
• Dependent minors: Young people still living with their parents can give money – but their contributions are counted towards the contribution limits for their parents.
• Earmarked contributions: No kind of campaign committee can accept a contribution burdened with an “agreement or arrangement” that the money is “earmarked” to go to a particular candidate.
• Foreign nationals: This one is from Federal law. No human being who is not a US citizen may make a donation or expenditure – even an independent expenditure – in connection with any US elections. And it’s illegal to solicit, accept, or receive a donation from a foreign national.
(For more details on prohibited contributions, see Appendix O in the collected campaign-finance report manual appendices. Its title, appropriately enough, is “Prohibited Contributions”.)
So if you’re still here, and not discouraged or disqualified by all of the above, I’d be honored to receive your contribution of $100 or less. And I’ll say so again when I get your donation . . . with that public-disclosure information, remember.
Oh, yes – one last thing. I would appreciate it if the contribution were at least $1. To cover the cost of our two stamps, anyway. . . .
John Anthony La Pietra for
Fairer, Better Elections
Secretary of State * Green Party
386 Boyer Court * Marshall, MI 49068