A Democratic senator from Concord is hoping to close a so-called loophole in New Hampshire’s election laws that he says undermines the state’s limits on campaign contributions.
This loophole deals with how limited liabilities companies or LLCs, can donate to political candidates. Under current law, an owner of multiple LLCs can make campaign contributions at the maximum amount of $7,000 to a single candidate for every LLC that he or she owns.
Sen. Dan Feltes told committee members Tuesday that rather than file donations under each LLC - contributions should be attributed to the owner of each LLC.
“We have contribution limits – they are constitutional but they are meaningless if there is a huge loophole to drive a mack-truck through if you are able to create LLCs," Feltes told lawmakers, stressing that this is a bipartisan issue.
Click here to read about how LLC contributions played out in the recent gubernatorial primary.
Olivia Zink of New Hampshire Rebellion, a non-partisan group that works to limit the influence of money in politics, said this loophole has been exploited by both parties for too long.
“So this allows wealthy donors to exceed our campaign contributions – like this one gentleman who gave $13,000 in one day on behalf of 13 LLCs,” Zink testified.
Those opposed to the measure argued that it unfairly singles out LLCs and asked why corporations, non-profits and unions shouldn’t also be subject to these proposed rules.
