Trump Make America Great Again Committee Po Box 1776 Merrifield Va
Jeff Siner TNS/via Zuma Wire
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A newly formed political action group is using Donald Trump's name and trademarked slogan—"Make America Great Over again"—in an unusual fundraising ploy. The group, the Corking America PAC, has no connection to the Trump entrada, but it has been blasting out emails soliciting donations that it claims will be channeled directly to Team Trump. In a contempo email, the PAC implored donors to aid "build a grassroots wall of support around Donald Trump by chipping in at least $5 to have your name placed on his official FEC written report by signing the 'I Support Donald Trump' petition." On the PAC's website, donors are asked to donate between $5 and $1,000.
The website notes that the first $v of each donation will exist sent to the Trump campaign. And Dan Capitalist, the grouping's treasurer, tells Mother Jones that this coin is indeed "earmarked" for Trump. What happens to the rest of the coin, for any donations greater than $five, is not clear. The email does promise to use money the group raises to build a vaguely described grassroots functioning that will help back up Trump. Only there's no telling how much of the money gathered by this Trumpy PAC will direct fund pro-Trump activities.
The fundraising email is signed past Amy Kremer, a erstwhile chairman of the Tea Party Express. Kremer did not respond to a request for comment.
A recipient of the email might be forgiven for assuming it comes from an official Trump-canonical outfit. The website prominently features the official Trump slogan: "Make America Great Once again." And at that place may be a problem with that. Trump trademarked that phrase for the purposes of "political entrada services, namely, promoting public sensation of Donald J. Trump every bit a candidate for public office; providing online information regarding political problems and the 2016 presidential ballot;" and for "fundraising in the field of politics." The Trump entrada did not respond to a request for comment.
Asked about the PAC's use of the trademarked phrase, Backer, a Virginia-based chaser who has helped set up a number of conservative-oriented PACs that capitalize on current events, said the phrase is a quote from Ronald Reagan.
The Great America PAC was first registered with the Federal Election Commission on February 1. But it paid to run pro-Trump radio ads in Iowa in Jan—which is legal. The ads, which cost a total of $25,000, were produced and placed on air by a mysterious ad-buying firm chosen GRP Buying LLC, using a rented mailbox at a shipping center in Columbus, Ohio. The PAC has also spent $10,000 on tv ads and $fifteen,000 on email blasts.
Initially, this PAC tried to acquaintance itself fifty-fifty more closely with Trump by using the name TrumPAC. But a PAC may non use a candidate's name if it doesn't have the candidate's permission. (For example, last year a super-PAC backing Carly Fiorina was forced to create an elaborate acronym to go on its proper noun: CARLY for America.) When the FEC contacted the PAC in Feb and inquired about its apply of the TrumPAC name, Capitalist, an FEC critic who was the lawyer in a key Supreme Court case two years ago that removed caps on how much coin donors tin contribute to political campaigns and committees, had a sharp response. In a letter to the FEC, he stated he didn't know anyone running for office named "TRUMPAC." He informed the FEC that some other party, whom he did not place, had requested it change its name and that it would do then, but non because the FEC asked.
So how much has the Great America PAC raised with its Trumpish solicitations? It doesn't have to file whatever disclosure reports until late March.
Source: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/great-america-pac-donald-trump/