Rosie O'Donnell broke campaign finance laws to fund Democratic candidates.

Rosie O'Donnell. David Shankbone.

Rosie O'Donnell broke campaign finance laws to fund Democratic candidates for Congress. Fox News. The Federal Election Commission says that no person is allowed to donate more than $2700 per person per election. O'Donnell exceeded that limit several times, with multiple candidates. Doug Jones in Alabama received $4700, Conner Lamb in Pennsylvania got $3600, Adam Schiff got $2950 and Lauren Underwood, a candidate in Illinois, got $4200. O'Donnell claimed that she thought the onus was on the campaigns to return any money that was over the legal limit. 

My Comment:

It's been a fairly slow news weekend otherwise I wouldn't cover this. That being said, I dislike Rosie O'Donnell and I am pretty angry with the double standard here. It's not even about Donald Trump, I disliked her before that feud erupted. She's just another holier than thou c-list celebrity that gets way more attention than she deserves. 

From what I have been able to gather, Rosie's legal jeopardy is limited here. It seems as though donating over the limit is not a criminal offense but a civil one. The typical punishment is having the money returned, an investigation and then either a fine or confiscating the money. For someone as wealthy as Rosie O'Donnell, that is a slap on the wrist. 

Do I buy her excuse that she didn't know that she was going over the limit? Perhaps. She doesn't seem that bright to me and probably didn't run this by anyone. On the other hand she also doesn't seem that stable so knowingly going over the limit isn't outside the realm of possible behavior. She certainly hates Trump and the GOP, and the people that vote for them, enough to do some very reckless things. 

That being said the real issue is that she was able to get away with this until now. Many of the election she donated to were extremely close. The Doug Jones vs Roy Moore election, for example, was decided by 20,000 votes. The extra $2000 probably didn't swing the election to Moore, but if there were a lot of other people donating illegally it might have pushed Jones over the edge he needed. Punishing her for it now after the election is over doesn't really help things. 

The most infuriating thing about this is how blatant it is. There are a million and one ways to donate in support of candidates other than giving them money directly. She could have given to the Democrats in general or any of the hundreds of SuperPacs, charities and organizations that champion candidates and causes she supports. To completely ignore that and just give more money than legally allowed is fairly disgusting in it's audacity, even if she wasn't aware of what she was doing. 

Finally, I'm also disgusted that someone like Rosie O'Donnell can throw her money around like that. For someone like me, who is obviously much less wealthy than here, I can't hope to match her pocket book. I could probably max out for one candidate in one race but that would be it. 

Thankfully, there are other avenues available to help your candidates win besides donations. I personally use this blog, social media and even face to face conversations to try and get people on my side. Doing so requires much more effort than sending a check but it's an option available to anyone  regardless of their income.