Breaking the law???

Jeb Bush Moves Between Campaign and Super PAC With Ease

By  Beth Reinhard and Christopher S. Stewart

Darkness fell as Jeb Bush mingled with campaign donors nibbling on chips and dip, but he still had one more obligation that night. Roughly half a mile away, he was booked to headline a white-tablecloth dinner hosted by the Right to Rise super PAC on the lawn of the Westmoor Club, overlooking the croquet fields.

Private equity investor Glenn Creamer, who hosted the earlier cocktail party at his home, told about 75 donors who made the trip to the private club that they had “transitioned” from the campaign to the super PAC. Mr. Bush would leave before they talked strategy and was there as a “special guest,” he said.

“He doesn’t even have a seat at the table because he doesn’t get to stay for dinner,” Mr. Creamer told the guests.

When Mr. Bush addressed the crowd that night in August, he also delivered a disclaimer.

“I’m not an expert on super PACS,” he said of the groups that can accept unlimited donations but are required to operate independently. “But I know there can be no coordination, and it’s an I’m-not-kidding rule… I will be exiting stage left.”

Some presidential candidates are openly embracing super PACs, even helping them to raise money, giving the campaigns a connection to vast wealth with few restrictions but also risking a loss of control.

This new, closer relationship between campaign and political action committee is a departure from previous years when candidates kept these outside organizations at arms’ length for fear of crossing legal lines.

Candidates are allowed to appear at events organized by super PACS as long as they don’t ask for more than $5,000.

Super PACs back most of the 2016 candidates, among them retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. But few have embraced the outside groups as tightly as Mr. Bush.

Mr. Bush’s allies created the Right to Rise super PAC when he began exploring a presidential bid in January, and he headlined dozens of fundraising events in early 2015. He continued attending super PAC events after announcing his candidacy in mid-June as the group raced to meet a widely reported $100 million fundraising target at the end of that month.

“The FEC has explicitly approved this practice and it is common practice,” said Right to Rise attorney Charlie Spies of Mr. Bush’s attendance at back-to-back campaign and super PAC receptions.

One week after his campaign launch in Miami, Mr. Bush attended a reception that drew about 200 people to a donor’s home in Jacksonville, Fla.

Later, he and more than a dozen attendees and some campaign aides drove less than two miles to another home for a catered dinner organized by the super PAC. The campaign aides stayed in a separate room, away from the donors in the dining room, according to people who were there.

Asked about going from one Jacksonville event to the other, donor Richard Jones joked: “We went through a big steel door and were frisked.”

Mr. Jones gave $2,700 to the campaign and, four days later, gave $25,000 to the super PAC.

“It was like having dinner with an old friend,” said Jacksonville transportation executive Michael Ward, who wrote a $25,000 check to the super PAC on top of the $100,000 he had already donated, federal records show. “It’s what the rules of the game are right now.”

But some donors are uncomfortable with the new status quo. Michael Burns, a Lionsgate movie studio executive, attended both Nantucket events but only gave to the campaign. All contributions, he said, should be capped.

“A major donor to a super PAC has an agenda and seeks influence,” Mr. Burns said. “It’s why the PAC was created in the first place.”

In Nantucket, Mr. Bush talked for about 20 minutes, relaying anecdotes from the campaign trail and promising to outwork his rivals. He didn’t say a word about money.

“I’m going to kick butt,” he said, drawing chuckles. “I can only say that in the Right to Rise meetings, not when I’m running for president.”