In this Nov. 30, 2018, photo is Mike Levin at a news conference at the Capitol in Washington. | J. Scott Applewhite, File/AP Photo
OAKLAND — Rep. Mike Levin is leading a push to ban campaign contributions that recur unless donors opt out, a tactic that federal regulators have decried as misleading after former President Donald Trump aggressively used the approach last year.
The bill by the California Democrat, co-authored by Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) and Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), would prohibit campaigns from automatically converting donations into recurring monthly payments on an opt-out basis. Campaign websites have increasingly included an automatically marked box that commit donors to regular payments unless they uncheck it.
“Political campaigns are about persuading voters on your values and ideas, not scamming people out of every last dollar they have,” Levin said in a statement. “Unfortunately, many Americans have unwittingly paid thousands of dollars to campaigns through the deceptive practice of automatic recurring contributions.”
President Donald Trump used the strategy to great effect, as have other campaigns on the WinRed platform Trump used. A New York TImes investigation this year found the former president increasingly added boxes that automatically committed donors to future contributions. Many didn't realize it until weeks or months later and had a difficult time getting their money back. Biden used prechecked boxes on a much more limited scale.
While defenders of the tactic say donors can uncheck the box and opt out of recurring payments, the Federal Elections Commission argued the default setting misleads donors and unanimously urged Congress to amend the law to bar that default.
“Some committees are considering the contributor to have authorized the recurring contributions without obtaining the contributors’ affirmative consent," the commission wrote, but "The Commission’s experience strongly suggests that many contributors are unaware of the ‘pre-checked’ boxes and are surprised by the already completed transactions appearing on account statements.”
The House bill would only cover federal campaigns. Altering the law for California campaigns would require the state Legislature to take separate action and could run into constitutional concerns.
After POLITICO reported last month that multiple California recall candidates used the automatic checkboxes, the California Fair Political Practices Commission moved to study the watchdog’s authority over the matter. One candidate, Republican former Rep. Doug Ose, immediately stopped the approach and offered refunds to recurring donors, while Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared to use the tactic for a brief window.
Reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, a Republican, has continued to use a prechecked box.
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Levin seeks ban on recurring donation tactic made famous by Trump - POLITICO Magazine
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