The Hillary Victory Fund and DNC kicks back less than 1% of Money Raised to 32 state parties

Remember when Hillary people informed us that she was doing the state parties a big favor by creating her Hillary Victory Fund, whereby money would be shared by her campaign, the DNC and the local parties, money they wouldn't ever have been able to obtain without access to her wealthy donor base? Well, despite charges by some it was a big money laundering scheme to primarily benefit the Clinton campaign, most Democrats still believed that she was the candidate doing the most for the party overall.

But now, Politico has issued its second report on the Hillary Victory Fund, and what their report claims doesn't sound like much of a deal for the local parties. It sounds like the 32 state parties who signed up for this scam were fleeced, as Hillary's "rebuild the party" plan has returned less than one percent (1%) of the monies raised to local state Democratic parties, while holding on to the rest - you know, 99 percent of the $61 Million the venture raised.

[L]ess than 1 percent of the $61 million raised by that effort has stayed in the state parties’ coffers, according to a POLITICO analysis of the latest Federal Election Commission filings.

The venture, the Hillary Victory Fund, is a so-called joint fundraising committee comprised of Clinton’s presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee and 32 state party committees. The setup allows Clinton to solicit checks of $350,000 or more from her super-rich supporters at extravagant fundraisers including a dinner at George Clooney’s house and a concert at Radio City Music Hall featuring Katy Perry and Elton John.

The victory fund has transferred $3.8 million to the state parties, but almost all of that cash ($3.3 million, or 88 percent) was quickly transferred to the DNC, usually within a day or two, by the Clinton staffer who controls the committee, POLITICO’s analysis of the FEC records found.

By contrast, the victory fund has transferred $15.4 million to Clinton’s campaign and $5.7 million to the DNC, which will work closely with Clinton’s campaign if and when she becomes the party’s nominee. And most of the $23.3 million spent directly by the victory fund has gone toward expenses that appear to have directly benefited Clinton’s campaign, including $2.8 million for “salary and overhead” and $8.6 million for web advertising that mostly looks indistinguishable from Clinton campaign ads and that has helped Clinton build a network of small donors who will be critical in a general election expected to cost each side well in excess of $1 billion.

So Hillary got 15.4 Million directly, plus most of another $23 Million that directly benefited the Clinton campaign and is being spent now in the primary on her behalf rather than being saved to help state parties in the general election. Meanwhile, the DNC holds onto another $8 Million, which if the recent past is prologue will go to the presidential nominee for the general election.

So far all of the 32 State Democratic parties who signed up for this deal have received a sum total of around $500 Thousand buckaroos, which averages out to $15,625 per state. So much for the rebuild.

“It’s a one-sided benefit,” said an official with one participating state party. The official, like those with several other state parties, declined to talk about the arrangement on the record for fear of drawing the ire of the DNC and the Clinton campaign.

In fact, the DNC, which has pushed back aggressively on charges that it is boosting Clinton at the expense of other Democrats, has advised state party officials on how to answer media inquiries about the arrangement, multiple sources familiar with the interactions told POLITICO.

“The DNC has given us some guidance on what they’re saying, but it’s not clear what we should be saying,” said the official. “I don’t think anyone wants to get crosswise with the national party because we do need their resources. But everyone who entered into these agreements was doing it because they were asked to, not because there are immediately clear benefits.”

Better luck in four years folks. Assuming the local branches of the Democratic Party still exist in any real sense in many states after another four years of leadership like we've seen over the last 8 years. Too bad Howard Dean and his 50 state strategy was kicked to the curb for the many splendid benefits provided under the leadership of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, instead.

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

Bollox Ref's picture

Well, knock me down with the proverbial.

up
0 users have voted.

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Why are they stubbornly supporting her? If the Clintons lose, they're out of Washington. I wonder what will happen to Bernie after this race. If he goes back into the Senate, will anyone talk to him? Will he have to hire a taster for his food? This has been one hell of a primary.

As an aside, c99 has 209 users currently online.

up
0 users have voted.

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

who can raise millions of dollars by just sending out an email. He will be the senator who can raise a hundred thousand dollars for your primary opponent.

up
0 users have voted.

The next President of the United States.

up
0 users have voted.

'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "

Just to let you know. I have never seen that. It is a busy news night. Great post. Go Bernie.

up
0 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

And other DNC insiders.
Here's a link to who they are and what they do.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/05/who-are-the-democratic-s...

image_67.jpeg

This is who gets to decide who gets to be president.

up
0 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.

Scrappadoo's picture

equaling about 10,000 regular votes.

up
0 users have voted.

The DNC is now run by lobbyists and corporate interests. Time to run a vacuum through the organization to suck up and dispose of the Neo-Liberals and their benefactors

up
0 users have voted.

because she's taken a bunch of supposedly politically savvy state Dems to the cleaners, and they are too scared to say anything, except "I'm with her". It's amazing that this same set of not so realistic chumps are also wondering why voter turnout has been so low since 2010.

up
0 users have voted.
MsGrin's picture

up
0 users have voted.

'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Hereticus's picture

I am not sure that this is a bad thing, candidates that Hillary Clinton would support are likely not ones that I would vote for.

Sometimes you have to take a step backwards and break things before real progress can be made.

We need better Democrats (and Republicans), not just more Democrats.

up
0 users have voted.

Progressive, Independent, Gnostic, Vermonter.

is what Bob Herbert wrote of the Clintons in a 2001 NYT column.

He also wrote

they've betrayed everyone who has ever believed in them.

So now HRC is batting 1000% with the Hillary Victory Fund. We've known these facts for months, but now we have more evidence. Should make dedicated authentic Dems wake up, but it won't. And now I have to have a "facts-of-life" chat with my grandson the next time he visits. It's a conversation I now welcome.

up
0 users have voted.

Yahoo

GeorgeJohn's picture

This all came to light like a week after Bernie was attacked in NY debate by a Moderator for not fundraising anything for Dem downballots while Hillary was described as providing oodles of $.

I mean, literally, she said "Bernie, you have raised $0 for other Dems"

Incredilble the collusion of the MSM.

Thanks for putting all the info in one place. One would think an anchor that makes $everal Mil/yr (ahem...Maddow) could have done the same...no ?

Cheers.

up
0 users have voted.

http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/reddit.com.html

Server busy notice appears. Could be a lot of activity with all the political news. Could be a hit or other issue. Just posting here for those who also frequent the kossacks for Sanders subthread there. Inaccessible at the moment (~ 8 pm PDT).

UPDATE: It was down longer than I'd experienced in the couple of months I've been at that site. In these CT times, I wondered it if was a system failure, an ordinary server overload, or a denial-of-service attack. Seems to have been a short-time simple system overload.

up
0 users have voted.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

Money laundering only earns a 1% vig?

I don't know what Al Capone paid his stooge companies for similar services, but I would be very surprised if even ol' Scarface wasn't a lot more generous than Hillary.

up
0 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

Sandino's picture

squeezing state candidates to filter money to the top mirrors her neo-feudal economic aspirations.

up
0 users have voted.

The Clintons are thugs and have built a vast and powerful machine in the tradition of infamous Democratic Party machines, stretching from Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall to Daley's (and Rahm's) Chicago. Maybe that's why Bill--who pushed the Ds far into R territory--styled himself a Democrat in the first place. Combination of stalking horse and tradition of graft and grift? Except "grift" is petty swindling; the Clintons do it on a grand scale via the family foundation:

After more than a year of research, a Wall Street analyst is arguing the Clinton Foundation's books are riddled with financial inconsistencies that rise to the level of "fraud." Charles Ortel, who gained recognition for correctly identifying problems with General Electric's financial statements in 2008, has prepared 40 reports highlighting discrepancies that he said proves the Clinton Foundation has covered up cash flow since 1997. The financial whistleblower said his 15 months of research revealed gaps in the amount of money donors claim to have given and the amount of money the foundation claims to have received. […] The pattern extends to smaller charities linked to the Clintons, Ortel noted. One organization founded by former President Bill Clinton, the American India Foundation, has problems that stretch around the country.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2016/05/17/oh-my-financial-analys...

See also: "Getting rich isn’t a crime. But it might be if you did it in the guise of being a tax-free humanitarian charity, interested only in the betterment of humankind." http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/clinton-scandals-is-the-fam...

up
0 users have voted.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

They need to be brought to heel.

up
0 users have voted.

'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "

BSanders2016's picture

This is sad news but good all the same. The super-delegates that were promised money back to help down-ticket candidates in their respective states are going to be pissed at Hillary!!! Hopefully they switch to Bernie. Like 2008, she will lose this thing at the convention and rightly so when she makes promises and fails to follow through.
FEEL THE BURN
NEVER HILLARY

up
0 users have voted.

"YOU must be the change you wish to see in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Sandino's picture

Were you duped by the Clinton campaign, or did you knowingly participate in a scheme to circumvent campaign finance laws.

up
0 users have voted.

There should be a conga line of all the state legislators, straight into prison, that aided the Clinton campaign in stealing elections. I can't remember how many, possibly them all.

up
0 users have voted.

'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "

The reason Trump will beat "Crooked Hillary" if she is the nominee is because the tag is based on truth.

up
0 users have voted.

[from my post at reddit for kossacks subthread]

Carl Bernstein is pounding away about her habitual lying:

"It's about lying. It's about she hasn't been truthful about this, and it goes to perceptions of her, that I spent the week in Washington talking to Democratic leaders, and they are horrified at what she's done to herself here, to her campaign, and the fact that she and Donald Trump seem to have some kind of equivalency among voters about who's the worst serial liar....
"The idea that the Secretary of State of the United States would set up a home brew server for purposes of evading the Freedom of Information Act, evading subpoenas from Congress. That's its real purpose -- to not have accountability, to not have transparency. It's consistent... she has had a difficult relationship with the truth going back to her Arkansas years. And here we are again."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2016/05/26/bernstein-hilla...

up
0 users have voted.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

the key line in that article is'We were asked to do this'.

up
0 users have voted.

Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

Wink's picture

50 State Strategy was kicked to the curb. It worked. The LAST thing DWS and her DNC want is a bunch of new Dems in old Repub congressional seats.

up
0 users have voted.

the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Hawkfish's picture

When you win, everyone gets complacent. So if you make your living off the fundraising, guess what the incentives are?

up
0 users have voted.

We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg