Donation To Pro-Israel Group In Virginia House Race Shows Limits Of Campaign Finance Laws

Democratic Majority for Israel has become one of the major players in Democratic primaries, spending millions in competitive races to ensure that the most outspoken critics of the Israeli government never make it to Congress.

But some of the money that the group’s super PAC is spending on behalf of Eileen Filler-Corn ― a former speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates running for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District ― is a little different. It originated not in the pockets of wealthy Israel supporters, but with Filler-Corn herself.

Thanks to the quirks of the federal campaign finance system, some of the money DMFI PAC is likely to spend on Filler-Corn’s behalf is money she raised during her career in Virginia state politics. Filler-Corn’s state political action committee, Energized for Change, which played a pivotal role in helping Democrats retake Virginia’s House of Delegates in November, contributed $110,000 to DMFI PAC the day after DMFI PAC endorsed her.

Filler-Corn’s actions ― and a somewhat different step taken by Del. Dan Helmer, a rival Democrat ― illustrate the extent to which federal campaign finance law is riddled with loopholes that candidates are finding ever more creative ways to exploit.

“This represents an aggressive effort to launder big money from a state account into a super PAC,” said Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance attorney who now runs the corruption-focused investigative journalism project Documented.

Unlike federal campaigns, state-level candidates and PACs are not subject to any contribution limits.

So Connor Farrell, a left-wing fundraising consultant , argued in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission in late March that Filler-Corn, who remains in charge of Energized for Change