How Foreign Money Can Find Its Way Into Political Campaigns

The US government and campaign-funding reform groups struggle to prevent foreign money influencing US elections. Foreign governments and corporations openly spend millions on lobbying efforts, more than $200 million in 2008, reports Dan Froomkin for the Huffington Post. Lobbyists can easily hike their own wages and redirect foreign funds as donations. “[S]ome of that money may well be wending its way into politicians' election coffers through the generous campaign contributions those lobbyists routinely make to buy access and reward friends,” Froomkin writes. Politicians don’t ask enough questions about the source or suspect timing of such donations, Froomkin notes, even though US election law strictly forbids foreign donations for political candidates. US law requires foreign lobbyists to list meetings with federal officials, the purpose and donations. Reform groups analyze lobbyists’ clients and payments, meetings with politicians and contributions. One lobbyist defended the practice by saying that donations of a few thousand dollars are too small for influence. – YaleGlobal