Bloomberg BNA: Sanders, Not Trump, Scaring Democratic Convention Donors
“Public funding became a joke,” said Lawrence Noble, general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center and formerly the FEC's general counsel. Instead of removing public funding, the FEC should have “cracked down on the host committees,” he said...
According to the Campaign Legal Center's Noble, there never has been a concern that the parties wouldn't raise enough money for the conventions.
“They’ve always made it up to the limits,” Noble said. “It’s rare that they would let a contribution limit go unused. And without public funds, they’ll raise more money than ever before.”
To Noble, the convention accounts will be another opportunity for the parties to raise more money—whether they need it or not. “They may try to shift expenditures around so that general campaign costs fall under convention expenses,” he said.
Funding for Brokered Convention
Noble said that while both parties may raise enough to cover their predicted budgets for the event, additional costs could arise from a brokered convention.
If a candidate is not chosen on the first ballot—widely predicted for the Republican convention and also remains a possibility for Democrats—more money may be needed for lawyers, security, and messaging “to make the convention look as normal as possible,” especially if the decision making turns raucous, Noble added.