If Money-Bundlers Are Going to Jail, We're Gonna Need More Jails

Flickr: Jeremy Johnstone

For campaigning politicians, cash is better by the bundle.

​As word spread that Scott Rothstein's associates might be charged in the federal investigation for circumventing campaign finance laws, it must have made a whole lot of Broward folks anxious. If you work for a developer or for any firm that depends on government contracts or that's lobbying for a specific policy, chances are your bosses have a system for bonuses similar to the one described in the information filed against Rothstein:

Prior to the receipt of the bonuses, the employees were instructed

to make large contributions to political candidates in the employers' names. Such conduct was designed to conceal the true source of the contribution and to illegally circumvent campaign finance laws.

This is one very common means through which contributors get around the $500 individual limit. If you're curious whether your friends and neighbors are bundling money, just pop over to the Federal Elections Commission database.

I send you there only because it's the one database that allows you to search by employer -- even though it's still misleading. Bundled money also flows through attorneys or through shell companies or through family members. It's a little harder to detect bundlers on the state and local level, but the date of the contribution is often a clue. If the contributor doesn't seem to be very wealthy or to have much interest in politics but he's giving $500 to a campaign on the same day as his boss, it's probably because he's getting that money back from his boss in the form of a bonus, plus a little extra to make it worth his while.

But rest easy, small-time bundlers.