Daily Beast: I Swear I’m Not Running for President

I reached former commissioner and chairman of the Federal Election Commission, Trevor Potter, by phone on Monday. He explained that “the reason these people running for president are trying to avoid saying they’re candidates is that they have much looser regulatory schemes if they’re not candidates.”

“Put differently, they have access to a much broader array of money and they don’t have to disclose the sources of that if they are not candidates.” ...

“It’s kind of a chicken-and-egg situation,” Potter said. As in, what came first: the declaration of a candidacy, or the candidate-like behavior? 

“There are rules for what money may be used to run for president: only individual contributions up to only $2,700 per person. Whereas people who are not running for president and merely going around the country giving speeches and meeting people can use almost any source of money, in any amount, with no disclosure. So that puts a premium on staying outside of the election system for as long as possible.” ...

I asked Potter if the pre-campaign campaign system was basically “a huge scam,” to which he enthusiastically replied “Yes!”

To read the full story at the Daily Beast, click here.