Greedy Trial Lawyer
One Reason Never To Contribute To A Politician
Category: Gaming The System
It turns out Rep. Mark Foley (the ex-Congressman who is rehabilitating his drinking and email habits) probably will have the best legal defense his campaign treasury can buy. I think a better use of the funds would be to finance the investigation of Foley and the others in Congress who aided and abetted his illegal habits.
Foley May Be Able to Spend Campaign Contributions on Legal Defense
Mark Foley faces an ongoing FBI investigation into whether he committed crimes by sending sexually explicit Internet messages to minors, but the disgraced former congressman may not have to worry about where he'll get the money to defend himself.Federal law allows Foley to use his $2.7 million campaign war chest to pay any legal fees he incurs that are related to his status as a member of Congress.
Under the law, Foley might even be able to tap that pot of money to hire public relations experts to respond to the press.
Foley abruptly quit Congress and abandoned his reelection campaign on Sept. 29, after being confronted by ABC News with graphic electronic messages he'd sent to teenage congressional pages. But his principal campaign committee, Lake Worth, Fla.-based Friends of Mark Foley, remains active and brimming with cash.
Whether Foley will be able to spend his contributors' donations on defense lawyers and publicists will ultimately depend on how the Federal Election Commission interprets U.S. election law. But in a half-dozen legal opinions since 1995, commissioners have interpreted broadly the ability of candidates to use campaign funds to pay legal fees.
Today, Foley can't legally raise funds because he's no longer a candidate.
But his campaign account continues to swell.
Since the start of the year, Friends of Mark Foley has earned nearly $100,000 in interest, according to the most recent report filed by campaign treasurer Donna Winterson, who is also Foley's sister.
The campaign also stands to collect thousands of dollars via a special joint fundraising committee that was formed by Foley and a dozen other Republican members of Congress less than two weeks before the scandal broke.
The committee, Physicians to Retain Our Majority, or PROM, aimed to raise money from doctors, and its registered participants from Florida, besides Foley, were Rep. Clay Shaw of Fort Lauderdale, Rep. Ric Keller of Orlando and Rep. Cliff Stearns of Silver Springs.
Physicians to Retain Our Majority will have to find some other white knight to carry its banner in Washington. Or, have to rename itself. I suggest Physicians to Practice Better Medicine.
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