People might not immediately be inclined to donate a dollar to Doug Burgum, the North Dakota governor now running for president. But would a $20 gift card sweeten the deal?
MORE: Vivek Ramaswamy's unusual fundraising plan: Supporters get commissions for bringing in donations
Daniel Weiner, director of the nonprofit Brennan Center's elections and government program, said he couldn't think of any campaign using those strategies in the past. "Reimbursement schemes are illegal, and that's what this is," Ryan said. "The motivation, to put it bluntly, seems to be to commit fraud on the [Republican National Committee] and to violate federal campaign finance law of straw donor ban in the process. Neither of those things are good for democracy, in my view."
Unlike for typical merchandise giveaways, Toner speculated, donors might well use their $20 gift cards on expenditures that have nothing to do with politics -- in contrast with, say, donors receiving campaign-branded merchandise or campaign-related travel in exchange for donations. Because Ramaswamy's strategy will hire donors as contractors, according to his campaign, they do not run into those same potential legal issues. In that case, experts said, the concerns are more procedural and ethical, like properly documenting donors' status as contractors and notifying donors that their name will be publicly disclosed if they raise a certain amount of money.
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