Americans Elect Is Raising Money To Repay Its Millionaire Founders

[jaxx]

Americans Elect Is Raising Money To Repay Its Millionaire Founders
After a quiet change to the bylaws, every penny the group brings in will be given to its rich backers, despite claims to the contrary. No wonder they're not advertising it.
posted Mar 11, 2012 11:56pm EDT

A deep-pocketed group hoping to field a third candidate in November has quietly shifted its fundraising focus earlier this month to serve a curious goal, a spokeswoman has acknowledged to BuzzFeed: All money raised by Americans Elect will, for the forseeable future, be given to the millionaires who created it.

The group made the shift public in a cryptic statement on its website on March 2:

The Board of Directors voted unanimously on 20 February 2012 to ensure that no supporter would cover more than 20% of the Americans Elect budget. In the event that any one supporter exceeds that percentage, there are provisions created to expedite repayments to that supporter.

<..> "Our aspiration as an organization is to have the American people take this over...also in terms of its financing," he said.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedpolitics...y-its-mill

That has got to be one of the strangest things I've read concerning money in politics. Maybe Buddy Roemer can finance it with hot air.

[pappy]

This made me think of the Koch brothers trying to gain control of Cato.

This may be a case of the current "minority" stake holders trying to protect themselves from the a takeover from either the Koch brothers or someone else.

It also shows how much the process is money driven rather than real ideology. Or perhaps, more accurately, money is the ideology. Everything else is a means to the end.

[jaxx]

Can they legally raise money to pay themselves back? I was totally mystified by this.