DeJoy and Campaign Finance

Amber Philips at The Washington Post:

Campaign finance laws are set up to prevent precisely what former employees of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy allege he did in a new Washington Post report: lean on employees to donate money to political candidates and then reimburse them for it using company money.

“There are a lot of things in campaign finance law you can get away with, a lot of gray area or places where the law is weak,” said Meredith McGehee, the executive director of Issue One, which advocates for stronger campaign finance laws. “This is one place where the law is clear and has been enforced.”

The law is clear, but it’s less certain whether DeJoy could face consequences. Let’s walk through specific ways this could be illegal and what, if anything, could happen to DeJoy.

It is against the law to:

• Cover up the source of donations;
• Use corporate money for contributions to federal candidates;
• Coercing contributions from employees 

DeJoy probably won't be going to federal prison. More from the story:

The statute of limitations on federal campaign finance violations is five years. These donations seem to have petered out six years ago, according to Post reporting.

The federal agency that would open a civil investigation, the FEC, doesn’t have a quorum right now because of a lack of appointees.

DeJoy’s status as postmaster general during an election that will rely heavily on votes by mail may protect him. The Justice Department could open a criminal investigation. It has a long-standing policy of not opening election-related investigations this close to an election.

The allegations facing DeJoy also violate campaign finance laws in North Carolina, which is where New Breed was headquartered. There is no statute of limitations there, and Josh Stein, the state’s Democratic attorney general, released a statement acknowledging that he was aware of the story but not committing to an investigation.