Feiger's Law of Campaign Contributions

So many times we've seen Democrats embroiled in dirty fund-raising scandals - be it Norman Hsu or Geoffrey Feiger or the various impoverished individuals who may or may not reside in Chinatown and gave extremely large amounts to Hillary Clinton - that it should come as no surprise that the majority of examples that the liberal-leaning Washington Post can come up with in their latest dirty fund-raising scandal involve Democrats. In fact, the one example of a Republican is a borderline case at best - a 13 year old and a 17 year old apparently donated money from his bar mitzvah and her job respectively to Mitt Romney. The examples involving Democrats are much more prevalent and egregious, including a 2-year-old "donating" some of "her" money to Barack Obama.

This has happened so often that as a short-hand it needs a name. In honor of Geoffrey Feiger, who has so graciously pointed out that the vast majority of those caught making illegal contributions were Democrats, we're going to call this "Feiger's Law of Campaign Contributions" or just "Feiger's Law" for short.

Feiger's Law is thus: "If you hear of a case of dirty campaign fundraising, a Democrat will probably be at the heart of it."

As Campaigns Chafe at Limits, Donors Might Be in Diapers
Washington Post

Elrick William's toddler niece Carlyn may be one of the youngest contributors to this year's presidential campaign. The 2-year-old gave $2,300 to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill).

So did her sister and brother, Imara, 13, and Ishmael, 9, and her cousins Chan and Alexis, both 13. Altogether, according to newly released campaign finance reports, the extended family of Williams, a wealthy Chicago financier, handed over nearly a dozen checks in March for the maximum allowed under federal law to Obama.

Such campaign donations from young children would almost certainly run afoul of campaign finance regulations, several campaign lawyers said. But as bundlers seek to raise higher and higher sums for presidential contenders this year, the number who are turning to checks from underage givers appears to be on the rise.

"It's not difficult for a banker or a trial lawyer or a hedge fund manager to come up with $2,300, and they're often left wanting to do more," said Massie Ritsch, a spokesman for the Center of Responsive Politics. "That's when they look across the dinner table at their children and see an opportunity."