Group: Walton overpaid campaigns

— Jim Walton, the chairman of Bentonville-based Arvest Bank and the son of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, broke election laws in 2008 by contributing over the federal limit, alleged a union backed group critical of the retail giant.

In a letter Friday to the Federal Election Commission, Making Change at Walmart, a group funded by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said Walton gave a total of $111,600 to federal candidates, national party committees and other committees during the 2008 election cycle. The legal limit for such aggregate campaign funding, at that time, was $108,200.

The complaint also claims that Walton gave $4,300 to the McCain-Palin Compliance Fund when the maximum contribution allowed was $2,300.

The fund can be used to pay legal, accounting and ballot recount expenses.The McCain campaign’s 2008 paperwork seemed to acknowledge the overpayment, indicating the need for a “refund to be issued,” the group said. But Making Change at Walmart said it could find no documentation to prove that the money had been returned.

“Mr. Walton’s violations are neither technical nor insubstantial,” the group wrote in its complaint, which said only 0.01 percent of Americans contribute more than $10,000 in a federal election cycle.

“The fact that so few can and do contribute so much, and therefore exercise outsized influence on the distribution of political resources, provides all the more reason to ensure that the contribution limits are fairly and adequately enforced,” the group wrote.

Walton did not return calls left Friday and Monday seeking comment.

The Arkansas banker has a history of giving to Republican candidates. This year, he contributed at least $362,900 to GOP candidates and political action committees that support Republican causes, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a D.C.-based group that tracks money in politics.

As a result of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, individuals can make unlimited contributions to political action committees as long as the PACs don’t coordinate their activities with candidates.

The United Food and Commercial Union is a longtime Wal-Mart foe that has unsuccessfully attempted to organize workers at the Bentonville retail giant’s stores and warehouses.

Over payments - donations exceeding the legal limits - happen from time to time, said Bob Biersack, a senior fellow at the Center for Responsive politics, who spent 30 years at the FEC, including nearly two decades as its chief statistician.

Biersack said it would likely take months, possibly years, for the FEC to investigate.

Even then, if a majority of the commission found a violation, any penalty must be negotiated with Walton since the FEC does not have the power to impose fines. Any fine, Biersack said, would likely be less than the alleged over payments.

With so many political donors, Biersack said, it is difficult for campaigns and the federal agency to discern whether an individual has made total contributions above the legal limit.

“The burden falls on the donor,” he said.

Business, Pages 21 on 11/06/2012

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