Sully = Zero No on Prop 8 Donations?
[Oops.Correction appears below.]
Hey Andrew,
I was checking the SF Chronicle's search engine for donations to either side in the battle over Prop 8 and your name didn't turn up. Your husband, Aaron Tone, also appears to have not donated to the campaign to defeat Prop 8. Did you really not contribute to No on 8? You sure beat the bushes for No on 8 contributions, with an almost daily link to the campaign's donation page. I wonder why you'd ask and ask and ask readers to donate, but not write out a check yourself. What gives?
Cheers,
Michael
Click here to search for "Andrew Sullivan" donations to No on 8. This is the only donation I could find.
CORRECTION: I've been informed by several people that foreign nationals, such as Andrew, are prohibited by California law from donating to state elections and propositions. So if he wanted to make a donation to the No on 8 campaign, he would have been prohibited from doing so. I made a mistake and stand corrected. Apologies to Andrew.
| Contributor name | Andrew Sullivan |
| Occupation | Product Manager |
| Employer | MCAFEE INC. |
| City | San Francisco |
| State or country | CA |
| ZIP | 94117 |
| Position | Oppose |
| Amount | $100.00 |
| Payment type | Monetary |
| Transaction date | 10/8/2008 |
| Committee name | No On 8, Equality For All |
Perhaps the same logic Obama uses for his brother George making around $1/month....
ReplyDeleteThought process = "If I lend my beautiful voice to his cause that will do more than if I have to actually take a dime from my own pocket"....or some variation thereof.....
I'm no fan of Sully, but is he even a citizen? He may not have been able to legally contribute.
ReplyDeleteI just tried that search tool on myself, and found only one of the several donations I made. Is it possible that the data is incomplete? (Or perhaps it would only show one donation per person?)
ReplyDeleteAndrew Sullivan is not a U.S. citizen (and can't become one because he is HIV+) so he cannot legally contribute. Does that answer your question?
ReplyDeleteread Nick Kristoff's article in NYT about how liberals are stingy with their money (charitable donations) while howling for govt spending on their pet projects ...
ReplyDeletesully is no different; hopefully he won't be referred to as "conservative ... " anymore
"Andrew Sullivan is not a U.S. citizen (and can't become one because he is HIV+) so he cannot legally contribute." That rule only applies to Republican candidates and conservative causes.
ReplyDeleteThe prohibition against non-citizen contributions applies to federal elections. Prop 8 was not a federal election.
ReplyDelete"he cannot legally contribute."
ReplyDeleteWhat? People from all over the globe contributed to Obama's campaign and he can't contribute to this campaign? That doesn't make any sense.
Well if Mr Sullivan was not a US citizen presumably his spouse Mr Tone, indeed would be.
ReplyDeleteI can't see that it would be illegal or even unethical (and of course impossible to prove) if Sullivan sent contributions by way of Tone.
Off-topic but I must speak of the picture.
First, it is lovely and they seem very happy.
Second, is this from their wedding and if so, it would seem a bit unsporting to use it in a accusatory post. That is it _would_ seem unsporting, if you didn't think that Sullivan would do the _exact_ same thing to someone if given a chance. And of course all is fair in love and punditry.
And finally, I realize that I must have never seen Sullivan but pictured alone or as a talking head on television.
Is he that short of is Mr Tone freakishly tall?
Pete - you don't need to be a citizen to give money to political candidates, or to political entities such as the DNC. One need only be a permanent resident to do those things, as Sullivan is. One would think, then, that the presumption would be (absent evidence to the contrary) that the same holds for causes, too.
ReplyDeleteYou've been busted by Instapundit. Non-citizens can't donate. Perhaps that merits a metion??
ReplyDeleteSimon, this is from the "No on 8" donation page Sullivan linked to on his blog:
ReplyDeleteContributions to No On 8 are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes. There are no contribution limits for donations to ballot measure committees. Please note that foreign nationals are prohibited from making contributions to this campaign. State law requires contributors to provide occupation and employer information.
Linked on Protein Wisdom.
Pete: as the Federal Election Commission's website explains, although "[f]oreign nationals are prohibited from making any contributions or expenditures in connection with any election in the U.S.," permanent residents "are not considered foreign nationals and, as a result, may contribute." Although it's possible that California (or the campaign itself) imposes a stricter rule on itself, it's far more likely that the instruction is there to comply with federal election law. That being so, the fact that the FEC defines foreign national to mean only temporary residents bolsters my comment above. Sullivan is, if not a citizen, at least a permanent resident; in that status he is not considered a foreign national by the FEC; thus, without more, the text you quote should be deemed inapplicable. This isn't dispositive, but it does tilt the scale quite far against Sullivan.
ReplyDelete