Campaign Financing Loophole

Gov Risch has positioned himself to take advantage of this loophole. Let’s watch and see if he does.

He loaned his campaign some $350,000 when he ran for Lt. Gov in 2002, and has never paid back a penny on the debt, nor does he have to. A candidate can give or loan as much money to his or her campaign as desired, and it doesn’t have to be paid back. The normal limit on donations to campaigns is $5k in the primary, and $5 in the general, for state wide campaigns.

Here is the loophole. A person or entity can exceed the contribution limit if the excess is applied to the debt. So, say IdaCorp gives Risch $5k for his primary and $5k for his general campaign. It could also give him whatever it wants, say another $20k to repay his debt. Since he loaned the money to himself, the contribution is applied to the debt and Risch’s campaign just pays the $20k to Risch. This is $20k he didn’t have before, and he can turn around and make another loan to his campaign, or just outright spend the money.