ThinkProgress: Does Sanders’ Accusation Against The DNC Hold Water? Campaign Finance Experts Weigh In
Both Holman and Larry Noble with the Campaign Legal Center emphasized that it’s extremely unusual and possibly unprecedented for a party to raise so much money for a candidate before the general election.
Noble agreed. “They really are throwing their weight behind a particular candidate,” he said. “Their argument is usually that it helps the party generally, but the practical and legal reality is that it benefits Hillary Clinton. You just don’t expect this kind of thing to happen in the primaries.”
Noble added that even if there were a legal violation in Clinton’s fundraising — for example, exceeding limits for in-kind donations from the DNC to her campaign — the gridlocked Federal Elections Commissions will not do anything to put a stop to it.
“The FEC is not known to be a functional agency anymore and we’re seeing the effect of that,” he said. “People are pushing the envelope further and further, until it shreds.”