Devos Evasion Of PAC Fine Shows Blatant Disregard For The Law

Betsy Devos, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, headed a PAC called All Children Matter that was ruled by the Ohio Elections Commission of violating the state's campaign finance law and order the PAC to pay a record $5.2 million fine relating to actions the PAC took in 2006. It is hard to overstate just how egregious the violation was in this instance. The national PAC, located in Virginia where there were no limits on contributions, asked the Ohio Elections Commission for a ruling on how much they would be allowed to donate to the PAC's Ohio affiliate. The Commission ruled that Ohio law restricted the PAC to $10,000. Having received that opinion, the PAC blatantly ignored it and gave its affiliate in Ohio 870,000 in an attempt to pass a pro-school voucher plan in the state. After the original $5.2 million was upheld, the PAC pursued the case through the courts which also ruled against the PAC and imposed late fees on the fine, pushing it up to $5.3 million. At that point, the PAC simply dissolved and refused to pay the fine.

Democrats have demanded that Devos pay the fine but her spokesman said, "Betsy was not a party to the suit, a trial court judge ruled none of ACM’s officers or board members can be held liable for the fine." The Trump transition team tried an even different tack saying that the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision essentially made the issue moot. Since Devos' violation took place well before that ruling, Trump officials are now acting like that decision was retroactive for any prior violations, which is something the Supreme Court would probably be surprised to hear but might also be no problem for them after Trump get his appointment to the Court.

This seems to be par for the course for what we can expect from the Trump administration. Blatantly violate the law, hide behind some technicalities, and refuse to face the punishment. They will have enough power and money to get away with it. Devos essentially did up until now.