{"id":88077,"date":"2015-09-29T13:35:39","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T19:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=88077"},"modified":"2015-09-29T13:36:00","modified_gmt":"2015-09-29T19:36:00","slug":"shop-on-amazon-com-help-elect-bernie-sanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/09\/shop-on-amazon-com-help-elect-bernie-sanders\/","title":{"rendered":"Shop on Amazon.com, help elect Bernie Sanders?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It turns out you can\u2019t buy everything on Amazon.com after all.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_88081\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-88081\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Burnham-Sebastian-336x257.jpg\" alt=\"Sebastian Burnham, the Texas teenager who founded the pro-Bernie Sanders super PAC Bern2016.\" width=\"336\" height=\"257\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Burnham-Sebastian-336x257.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Burnham-Sebastian.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sebastian Burnham, the Texas teenager who founded the pro-Bernie Sanders super PAC Bern2016.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The online retail giant is quashing an effort by a Texas teenager to use the company\u2019s website to funnel cash into his newly formed pro-<a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/04\/30\/17261\/12-things-know-about-bernie-sanders\" target=\"_blank\">Bernie Sanders<\/a>\u00a0super PAC.<\/p>\n<p>The Bern2016 super PAC was officially\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/pdf\/821\/201509209002770821\/201509209002770821.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">launched this week<\/a>\u00a0by 15-year-old Sebastian Burnham of Austin, Texas \u2014 a high school senior who cannot yet vote for his preferred candidate but is legally allowed to create a super PAC to advocate on Sanders\u2019 behalf.<\/p>\n<p>Super PACs can raise unlimited sums of money to advocate for or against federal politicians, although they cannot coordinate their spending with candidates. Conversely, the candidates themselves have virtually no control over these independent efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Burnham, an\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprogressivist.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">active blogger<\/a>\u00a0who plans to study political science in college, says he wants to focus on raising money from grassroots givers \u2014 as\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/08\/26\/us\/politics\/bernie-sanders-success-in-attracting-small-donors-tests-importance-of-super-pacs.html\" target=\"_blank\">Sanders himself has<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and he thought he had developed a novel plan to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Until recently, Burnham\u2019s group stated on its website \u2014\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.progressivesforbernie.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">ProgressivesForBernie.com<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 that pro-Sanders shoppers could use a specialized Amazon.com link to donate to the super PAC \u201cfor free.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This story is from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Center for Public Integrity<\/a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative media organization in Washington, D.C.\u00a0<a title=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/ Ctrl+Click or tap to follow the link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Read more<\/a>\u00a0of their investigations on the influence of money in politics or follow them on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/publici\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The idea was to have a percentage of every purchase made by users who were referred there by Bern2016 benefit the super PAC.<\/p>\n<p>But Amazon.com isn\u2019t on board.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has come to our attention that you are not in compliance with the Associates Program Operating Agreement,\u201d Amazon.com\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/2433733-amazon-com-letter-to-bern2016-super-pac.html\" target=\"_blank\">wrote in an email<\/a>\u00a0to Burnham after questions from the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>. \u201cIf you are not in compliance within five business days, we will be forced to terminate the Operating Agreement, close your Associates account and withhold advertising fees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an emailed statement, Amazon.com spokesman Tom Cook said the company takes \u201cthe appropriate action\u201d when it becomes \u201caware that an organization or company has violated the operating agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Burnham called the company\u2019s decision a \u201csetback\u201d for his super PAC, adding that he had removed the specialized Amazon.com link but would continue searching for other similar programs that could be used.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>He admitted it was \u201cironic\u201d that he had launched a super PAC for a candidate who has\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-politics\/wp\/2015\/05\/10\/bernie-sanders-pledges-not-to-accept-super-pac-support\/\" target=\"_blank\">disavowed super PAC support<\/a>, but he argued that his group was different.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI find nothing that Bernie has said that would inspire anyone to believe that our grassroots funding system is somehow unethical or unjustly sabotaging the electoral system,\u201d Burnham said.<\/p>\n<p>With whatever funds it raises, Burnham said his super PAC would produce flyers and online ads \u2014 including some praising Sanders\u2019 \u201cwork on racial justice.\u201d He said he was drawn to Sanders because of the U.S. senator\u2019s support for policies that would aid the middle class and reduce poverty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the main problems with the Bernie Sanders campaign at this moment seems to be that large amounts of the electorate, especially among minorities, still have no idea who he is,\u201d Burnham said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much money we can raise, that\u2019s up to the Bernie supporters visiting our website,\u201d Burnham added. \u201cWe\u2019re going to start small.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sanders campaign spokesman Michael Briggs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this summer, the Sanders campaign\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/09\/10\/17947\/did-shady-pro-bernie-sanders-super-pac-just-dupe-james-bond\" target=\"_blank\">demanded<\/a>\u00a0that a separate super PAC curtail its activities,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/2393712-bernie-sanders-campaign-letters-to-cary-lee.html\" target=\"_blank\">citing concerns<\/a>\u00a0that the group \u2014 called Americans Socially United and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/09\/10\/17947\/did-shady-pro-bernie-sanders-super-pac-just-dupe-james-bond\" target=\"_blank\">led by<\/a>\u00a0a man with a history of legal and financial problems \u2014 was &#8220;illegal and causing harmful confusion for supporters of Senator Sanders&#8217; campaign.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Currently, Amazon.com allows certain users to promote products and earn advertising fees \u2014 between 4 percent and 8.5 percent \u2014 through\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/affiliate-program.amazon.com\/gp\/associates\/join\/compensation.html\" target=\"_blank\">its \u201cAssociates\u201d program<\/a>, which Bern2016 unsuccessfully attempted to join.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon.com also operates a fundraising program that allows shoppers to boost their favorite charities.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s AmazonSmile Foundation\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/smile.amazon.com\/about\/ref=smi_ge_ul_lm_raas\" target=\"_blank\">donates 0.5 percent<\/a>\u00a0of the price of eligible purchases to customers\u2019 preferred nonprofits. The foundation\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pdfs.citizenaudit.org\/2014_08_PF\/46-2626883_990PF_201312.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">gave out<\/a>\u00a0about $340,000 in 2013, the most recent year for which tax records are available.<\/p>\n<p>Only charities organized under Sec. 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code \u2014 not super PACs \u2014 are eligible to participate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be illegal under the tax code for the AmazonSmile Foundation to go anywhere near this,\u201d campaign finance attorney\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foley.com\/cleta-mitchell\/\" target=\"_blank\">Cleta Mitchell<\/a>\u00a0told the Center for Public Integrity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt strikes me that this PAC is putting Amazon in a position of being the donor to the PAC,\u201d she continued. \u201cThis is a crazy, illegal scheme \u2014 and Amazon would be nuts to participate in this because it could get them in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the past, the Federal Election Commission\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cov.com\/en\/news\/2011\/11\/covington-helps-secure-fec-approval-for-online-political-donation-platform\" target=\"_blank\">has approved<\/a>\u00a0programs that allow consumers to transfer a percentage of purchases \u2014 or even\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/californiawatch.org\/dailyreport\/super-pac-money-flows-effort-divert-cash-charity-16050\" target=\"_blank\">airline points<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 to political candidates and committees, where it was explicit that the money was coming from the individual, not the company involved.<\/p>\n<p>Such programs must further collect contributor information \u2014 including name, address, employer and occupation \u2014 to comply with federal disclosure laws. They must also ensure that money from prohibited sources, such as foreign nationals and government contractors, is not donated.<\/p>\n<p>Burnham\u2019s system has not yet found a way to comply with those requirements.<\/p>\n<p>Until recently, his super PAC\u2019s website stated that its \u201ccommission-based system leaves no way to track donor information and as such would cause legal troubles for Bernie&#8217;s spotless campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Burnham told the Center for Public Integrity that Bern2016 would \u201cadopt\u201d if \u201cit was ruled that our system was somehow in violation of FEC norms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Paul Ryan, a lawyer at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, called Burnham\u2019s idea a \u201ccutting edge program\u201d but stressed that all super PACs must track donor information and comply with other rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I were the super PAC\u2019s lawyer, I would have gone to the FEC for an advisory opinion before launching this fundraising strategy,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Not so fast, the online retailer tells a teenage super PAC founder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[708,705,226,116],"class_list":["post-88077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-election","tag-money-in-politics","tag-presidential-race","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}