Some Americans aren’t letting death get in the way of supporting their favorite politicians.
A new USA Today analysis of Federal Election Commission filings shows that at least 32 dead Americans donated $586,000 to presidential and congressional campaigns since 2009. The most popular recipient of cash from the grave was the Democratic National Committee, which raked in more than $245,000.
And it’s technically legal. According to campaign laws established by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, Americans can make political contributions as part of their estate as long as they keep donations within the individual contribution limits of $5,200 per candidate per election cycle.
Post-mortem political giving isn’t completely uncommon, though “generally, the dead aren’t supposed to give,” Larry Noble, an attorney and former director of the Center for Responsive Politics told the Open Secrets blog.
In fact, just two months ago, the late Bob Perry, a well-known Republican donor and founder of Houston-based Perry Homes, reportedly donated $100,000 to Kentuckians for Strong Leadership, a super PAC supporting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), even though Perry died in April. However, the beneficiary of the money said the error was just a computer glitch and the donation was made one day before Perry passed away.
In another case, a dead woman from Guam donated nearly $7,500 to the Tea Party Express’ super Pac, according to a 2011 report from the Center for Responsive Politics. Later it turned out the contributions were likely made from her husband who used a joint credit card and attributed his deceased wife.
But the donations aren’t always mix-ups. The USA Today analysis shows that Nancy Jennings, a tech developer for HP who lived in San Francisco and died of cancer in May 2011, contributed more than $38,000 to the DNC and President Obama's re-election committees. According to her sister Judy Swinnerton, Jennings decided to include the contributions in her will two weeks before she died. "She wanted to leave a legacy and help with the campaign," Swinnerton told the USA Today. "She was worried about where the country might go if (Obama) wasn't re-elected."
