Dem Senate campaign chair donates funds from alleged donor scheme
Sen. Jon Tester is joining a growing number of Democrats returning contributions from a Boston law firm at the center of an alleged straw donor scheme.
The Montana Democrat—who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)—donated $51,800 from his campaign to the U.S. Treasury on Monday.
{mosads}Tester is one of more than a dozen high-profile Democratic senators and Senate candidates who received tens of thousands of dollars in recent cycles from Thornton Law Firm, though they have stressed they were unaware of the firm’s setup.
Marneé Banks, a spokeswomen for Tester, stressed that the Montana Democrat believes the current campaign finance system “is broken” and has worked to change finance rules.
“He’s fighting to clean up Washington and fix it. He’s incredibly frustrated with the gridlock that has prevented Congress from passing his legislation which increases transparency in elections, and he’ll keep working to bring people together to ensure that we have more sunlight in campaigns,” she said.
The Boston Globe and Center for Responsive Politics reported over the weekend that the contributions from the personal injury firm stemmed from illegal reimbursements, by giving their partners bonuses that aligned with political contributions they made.
Donations to Tester—who was featured prominently in the Globe story—were made during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles, when Tester was not chairman of the DSCC.
In addition to the Montana senator, who is up for reelection in 2018, the law firm also made contributions to top Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
According to the Boston Globe report, between 2007 and 2016, they’ve given Schumer nearly $100,000 and President Obama nearly $99,000.
Federal election law caps how much an individual can donate to a campaign and it’s illegal to secretly given through another person, called a “straw donor.”
Though Thornton Law Firm told the Globe that their reimbursement plan followed the law, Democrat candidates in key Senate races are also racing to return contributions they’ve received.
The firm has contributed a total of $779,770 this cycle, with more than 25 percent going toward the DSCC, according to Open Secrets.
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