Candidates and outside groups may attempt to evade anti-corruption rules by hiring the same firm to perform work, such as raising money or placing TV ads. When campaigns and outside groups hire the same vendor for services, the company is supposed to have “firewall” policies in place to prevent illegal coordination, but those firewalls don’t always exist.
In a departure from typical “firewall” best practices, which would have had different employees work with different clients to prevent coordination, Jonathan Ferrell and at least three of his colleagues at National Media were hired to buy ads by both Republican Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and two pro-Trump outside groups: the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Rebuilding America Now super PAC.
After Trump was sworn into office, Ferrell and at least two of his colleagues at National Media continued to be paid to buy ads on behalf of Trump’s re-election campaign and three pro-Trump outside groups: the NRA, the America First Action super PAC, and the America First Policies dark money group.
The apparent violations of campaign finance law by the Trump campaign and pro-Trump outside groups led to multiple FEC complaints and a related lawsuit, which are still ongoing.
The bipartisan Political Accountability and Transparency Act would strengthen existing firewall rules to prevent illegal coordination. Read more here.
Here are 5 other ways to spot coordination:
