{"id":11520,"date":"2012-08-27T10:58:41","date_gmt":"2012-08-27T14:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=11520"},"modified":"2012-08-27T10:58:41","modified_gmt":"2012-08-27T14:58:41","slug":"gov-candidate-kevin-smith-sees-big-benefit-from-campaign-finance-loophole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/08\/27\/gov-candidate-kevin-smith-sees-big-benefit-from-campaign-finance-loophole\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Candidate Kevin Smith Sees Big Benefit From Campaign Finance Loophole"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_11526\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Campaign finance filings show Republican gubernatorial candidate Kevin Smith benefited the most from a contribution limit loophole.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/08\/5622214163_5e45968cb8.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11526\" title=\"Kevin Smith In Concord\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/08\/5622214163_5e45968cb8-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/08\/5622214163_5e45968cb8-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/08\/5622214163_5e45968cb8.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">NHPR<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Campaign finance filings show Republican Kevin Smith&#39;s campaign has been most aggressively using a contribution limit loophole.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Ed. Note: This story was reported by contributor Brian Wallstin.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>No candidate in the\u00a0\u00a02012 gubernatorial race benefited\u00a0more from a major loophole in New Hampshire&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhpr.org\/post\/most-campaign-money-remains-hidden-new-hampshire\">political-finance regulations<\/a>\u00a0than\u00a0<a title=\"Kevin Smith For Governor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kevinsmithforgovernor.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Republican Kevin Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"New Hampshire Election Laws\" href=\"http:\/\/sos.nh.gov\/nhsos_content.aspx?id=12372\" target=\"_blank\">State election law<\/a> limits corporate campaign contributions to $7,000 per election cycle, the same as individual donors. But nothing in the law prohibits multiple limited-liability companies controlled by the same individual to donate on behalf of each LLC, making it easy for wealthy donors to exceed the statutory limits.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In <a title=\"2012 Committee Reports - August 22, 2012: Smith, Kevin For New Hampshire\" href=\"http:\/\/sos.nh.gov\/20120822comm.aspx?id=25832\" target=\"_blank\">campaign-finance disclosures<\/a> filed last week, Smith&#8217;s candidate committee, Kevin Smith for New Hampshire, reported more than $324,000 in donations since November 2011. Nearly $100,000 came from dozens of <a title=\"Dunkin' Donuts\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dunkindonuts.com\/dunkindonuts\/en.htmlhttp:\/\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dunkin&#8217; Donuts<\/a> franchises, nearly all of which, according to the report, operate from the same street address in Westborough, M.A. Another $55,000 in donations came from two addresses \u2014one in Newington, N.H., the other in Yonkers, N.Y. \u2014 that serve as headquarters for <a title=\"Planet Fitness\" href=\"http:\/\/www.planetfitness.com\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Planet Fitness<\/a> health clubs.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Ovide Lamontagne: Governor\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ovide2012.com\/http:\/\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ovide\u00a0Lamontagne<\/a>, Smith&#8217;s rival in the September 11 Republican primary, <a title=\"2012 Committee Reports - August 22, 2012: Friends Of Ovide 2012\" href=\"http:\/\/sos.nh.gov\/20120822comm.aspx?id=25971\" target=\"_blank\">raised nearly $1.2 million<\/a>, including $43,000 from seven\u00a0LLCs\u00a0owned the <a title=\"Brady Sullivan Properties\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bradysullivan.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Brady Sullivan real estate firm<\/a>, all listed at a single Manchester address.<\/p>\n<p>If this sounds familiar, the same loophole <a title=\"Lynch, Stephen win big, face off in governor race \" href=\"http:\/\/www.nashuatelegraph.com\/newsstatenewengland\/854119-227\/lynch-stephen-cruise-to-primary-victories-face.html\" target=\"_blank\">came up in the 2010 governor&#8217;s race<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"related-content alignright\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhpr.org\/post\/most-campaign-money-remains-hidden-new-hampshire\">Most Campaign Money Remains Hidden In New Hampshire<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/05\/07\/why-nhs-economy-is-especially-important-for-the-2012-election\/\">Why NH\u2019s Economy Is Especially Important For The 2012 Election<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/01\/09\/six-ways-new-hampshire-voters-think-about-jobs-and-the-economy\/\">Six Ways New Hampshire Voters Think About Jobs And The Economy<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/08\/15\/hassan-campaign-all-ice-cream-all-the-time\/\">Hassan Campaign: All Ice Cream, All The\u00a0Time<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/08\/22\/no-more-vetos\/\">Casino Veto May Be No\u00a0More<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/01\/735410952_0a914f212e1-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/topic\/nh-legislature-2012\/\">The Ultimate Economic Guide To The 2012 NH Legislative Session<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>Just before the primary that year, the campaign of incumbent John Lynch asked New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney to clarify whether Republican John Stephen had exceeded the $7,000 limit by accepting $124,000 from businesses that, according to Stephen&#8217;s disclosure, shared two addresses in Connecticut and Massachusetts. More than $20,000 appeared to originate with a single Dunkin&#8217; Donuts franchise holder, who made contributions on behalf of 18 different LLCs.<\/p>\n<p>New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Matt Mavrogeorge says his office has never received a complaint challenging the LLC issue specifically. However, the AG has weighed in on two related issues: the so-called 5+1+1 rule; and an election law that gives corporations the same status as individuals when it comes to political donations.<\/p>\n<p>Like most candidates for high-level office in New Hampshire, Smith and his gubernatorial competitors began raising money well before they officially filed paperwork to be included on the ballot. This &#8220;pre-declaratory&#8221; status allowed each of them to collect as much as $5,000 from each individual donor.<\/p>\n<p>Once they filed as official candidates, the limit dropped to $1,000 from each donor. The primary winners can receive another $1,000 per contributor for the general election, for a total of $7,000 per election cycle, or 5+1+1.<\/p>\n<p>In a response to Lynch&#8217;s complaint, Deputy Attorney General Orville B. Fitch II wrote that because of &#8220;ambiguities in the election law,&#8221; the AG was obliged to &#8220;enforce only the least restrictive interpretation of the contribution limits,&#8221; meaning Stephen&#8217;s individual LLC contributions, which may have originated from the same addresses but met the 5+1+1 rule, were legal.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, anticipating a similar issue in the 2012 races, Delaney issued a &#8220;comprehensive&#8221; interpretation of the 5+1+1 rule. The AG concluded that the pre-declaratory, primary and general contributions would be treated separately.<\/p>\n<p>That means that, just as John Stephen&#8217;s donations were within New Hampshire law, so are Kevin Smith&#8217;s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ed. Note: This story was reported by contributor Brian Wallstin. No candidate in the\u00a0\u00a02012 gubernatorial race benefited\u00a0more from a major loophole in New Hampshire&#8217;s\u00a0political-finance regulations\u00a0than\u00a0Republican Kevin Smith. State election law limits corporate campaign contributions to $7,000 per election cycle, the same as individual donors. But nothing in the law prohibits multiple limited-liability companies controlled by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":11526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[53],"tags":[360,571,575,576,501],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11534,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11520\/revisions\/11534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}