Previous Story
‘Campaign funds from nonresidents may be illegal’
|
Posted on Jun 24 2005
Political candidates receiving support from nonresidents may have committed a violation of federal election law, the Office of the Public Auditor said yesterday.
Public auditor Michael Sablan reported that candidates, as well as OPA and Commonwealth Election Commission officials, were “caught by surprise” by a legal opinion that the federal restriction on political candidates accepting contributions from foreign nationals applies to local candidates.
Sablan said this opinion, made public at a seminar on the Election Reform Act of 2000 Thursday evening, was based on preliminary research conducted by the Attorney General’s Office.
“This is not a new law. But it’s just now becoming known to candidates here. We have not checked whether there are any candidates that have received contributions from nonresidents. But that’s a major concern for candidates,” said Sablan.
He added that the Commonwealth Election Commission would be seeking formal opinion from the AGO to clarify the matter. He noted that the issue was beyond the OPA’s jurisdiction, as this concerned a federal issue.
“We will defer to the legal opinion of the Attorney General’s Office. If the AGO’s opinion confirms that the restriction does apply to the CNMI, then it’s a federal issue,” Sablan said.
He noted that the Legislature did not seem to have considered the issue of accepting foreign campaign contributions when it enacted the election law five years ago.
The law includes nonresident worker in its definition of “contributor.”
Based on the Election Reform Act, contributions means “a payment, gift, subscription, contract, payment for services, dues, advance, pledge, or promise of any money or anything of value, whether or not legally enforceable, to a candidate, committee, or holder of an elective office made for the purpose of influencing the nomination or election of any candidate, or for the qualification, passage, or defeat of any measure.”
