Supreme Court Decision Boosts Voter Verification
Ban on foreign donations drives campaigns, political parties to verify U.S. citizenship
Online Donations Leader, Aristotle, Uniquely Positioned to Meet Requirements
Washington, DC (January 12, 2012) — Aristotle International, a leading non-partisan political data and compliance technology provider got a boost this week when the Supreme Court, in a terse four word ruling, upheld a lower court decision to ban political contributions to candidates for public office and political organizations by foreign nationals. The decision means that foreign nationals, other than lawful permanent residents, are completely banned from donating to candidates or parties, or making independent expenditures in federal, state or local elections.
Aristotle’s patent-pending data mining technology employs powerful software and algorithms and a highly accurate, up-to-date voter’s list to enable registered political committees and their treasurers to comply with complex state and federal campaign disclosure reporting requirements. The company anticipated such a ruling when it filed for a patent nearly two years ago covering the integrated use of voter and contribution records for compliance and fundraising purposes. The patent application, prepared by DLA Piper, is entitled: Integration of Voter and Contributor Data into Political Software and Compliance Systems for Purposes of Solicitation, Compliance, Vetting and Calls to Action.
When a contribution is made, on line or in person, Aristotle’s technology is used to instantly vet the donors against the company’s nationwide registered voter list and other files to confirm the donor is a U.S. citizen and has not exceed the personal contribution limits. Campaign treasurers utilizing Aristotle are provided real time information that enables them to flag suspect contributions, contact the donor and, if necessary, return or reject the contribution as required by the Federal Election Commission.
“At a time when election rules are in flux, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed that the ban on foreign money in federal, state and local elections remains in place,” said former FEC Chairman and Aristotle Senior Vice President of Compliance Services David Mason. “This makes it even more important than ever for campaigns and political committees to screen for non-citizen donors.”
“The Aristotle system also allows campaigns to integrate fundraising and voter ID by identifying whether and where contributors are registered to vote,” added Mason.
Aristotle’s platform incorporates detailed state contributor and voter lists with highly accurate consumer databases to illuminate exactly how much a donor has given, how much they can give, and to suggest the maximum they might agree to contribute where allowed by law. This can significantly aid the campaign in satisfying ‘best efforts’ provisions that are required of all federal political committee treasurers.
“Campaigns have ten days to decline to take a contribution and return the amount, without having to report it to the FEC,” said Aristotle CEO John Aristotle Phillips. “If someone is a convicted sex offender, it’s usually a no-brainer to decline the donation. If someone giving money cannot be instantly confirmed as a registered U.S. voter, this should at least raise a flag for greater scrutiny. If they turn out not to be a U.S. citizen or a green-card holder, it’s definitely illegal. If the database check reveals they are a convicted felon, it may not be a matter of legality, but you might want to think twice before taking the money.”
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About Aristotle
For more than 25 years, every occupant of the White House — Democrat and Republican — has used Aristotle products and/or services, in addition to many U.S. Senators, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Democratic and Republican state party organizations. The company’s technology was featured Monday, January 9, 20112 on BBC and PBS in correspondent Katty Kay’s reporting on the 2012 presidential election contests.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16467412
Media Contact: Brandi Travis, (202) 903-4221
Aristotle delivers valuable (and detailed!) data to candidates about potential supporters. In fact, don’t be surprised if the candidates know more about you than you do about them.
Read the full article from Fast Company.
John Aristotle Phillips, CEO of Washington D.C.-based, non-partisan microtargeting firm Aristotle, Inc., said the result of the survey will tell a candidate, who might have five main campaign messages, which of those should be delivered to which voters the candidate is seeking to win over.
“Maybe message number four and five will be effective with voters of some particular age and some particular income level, and maybe message number three will be in sync with a different set or a subset of those voters,” Phillips said.
John discusses how data mining get help candidates get the right message to the right voters. See his interview with Katty Kay:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16467412
Justice Department Ruling Boosts Aristotle’s Integrity Solution
State Lotteries, Online Gaming Operators Welcome Obama Administration Decision
Company’s technology for online age- and identity-verification already deployed by 8 of 10 largest gaming operators, state lotteries
Washington, DC (December 29, 2011) — Aristotle International, the leading provider of online age- and identity-verification today welcomed the new interpretation of the Wire Act, made public on Friday by United States Department of Justice.
The new opinion, drafted in September but released on Friday, clarifies that the 1961 law refers only to prohibition of online gambling on sporting events or contests, and not the use of the Internet to sell lottery tickets to adults.
“Aristotle applauds this important clarification as long overdue. We believe it will bolster legitimate internet gaming industry operators and give cash-strapped states the option to create online lotteries that will generate tax revenues,” said Aristotle CEO John Aristotle Phillips.
While this is a major victory for the gaming industry, it also likely signals increased scrutiny and regulations for all online operators. Aristotle is urging managers in these companies who are not already doing so, to protect their sites from access by minors or self-described ‘problem gamblers’ by implementing proven age- and identity-verification systems.
Aristotle‘s “Integrity” system is used on secure sites world-wide to legally authorize online adult users, making the sites a safe gaming ground for the public and protecting the site operators and their brands. Integrity uses multiple sources of data and sophisticated algorithms for instant verification of legitimate adult customers while rejecting minors and fraudsters. With continuous direct access to a wide range of identity data, including government data spanning over 150 countries and 3.4 billion citizens world-wide, Integrity is the most comprehensive service of its kind. It also meets or exceeds U.S. federal requirements for age verification as stipulated by the federal PACT Act (“Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2010”), which incorporates the most recent single federal standard for online age verification without verifying the information through the use of a commercially available database or aggregate of databases, consisting primarily of data from government sources, that are regularly used by government and businesses for the purpose of age and identity verification authentication.
“For more than a decade, Aristotle has pioneered the development of widely accepted compliance and age verification technology for the commercial and government sectors,” said John Aristotle Phillips, a co-founder of the company. “Integrity is the most comprehensive and cost-effective tool for online age- and identity-verification. We’ve tailored it to be available across multiple platforms including interactive video, or using mobile and hand-held devices at point of sale.
“From Apple to Zynga, there are thousands of websites that need to comply with age-or identity-verification laws or industry self-regulation in order to limit liability. Many sites, including social networks and membership organizations need to be certain they know who their members are. There are many, many websites that would benefit from an Integrity type of service.”
Integrity has been providing accurate age- and identity-verification to state lotteries and licensed gambling operators in Alderney, France, Gibraltar, Isle of Mann, Malta, the U.K. and U.S. for as long as a decade in some jurisdictions.
According to Forbes Magazine, Integrity is the “market leader” in age- and identity- verification services. Aristotle’s Integrity is the only such service that insures operators against any fines or legal fees stemming from unauthorized underage access to sites using its Integrity technology.
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About Aristotle
For more than 25 years, every occupant of the White House — Democrat and Republican — has used Aristotle products and/or services, in addition to many U.S. Senators, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Democratic and Republican state party organizations.
About Integrity
Integrity is a proven, accepted, versatile and cost-effective global ID and age verification solution. In addition to I-gaming, major deployments include customers in tobacco, alcohol, government agencies, major motion picture studios, video gaming, financial services, events management, media and advertising, and consumer goods industries. More than 50 million consumers have utilized Integrity to verify their identity when transacting with global Fortune 1000 companies around the world.
Media Contact: Brandi Travis, (202) 903-4221
The Public Affairs Council just released their annual survey and we couldn’t be happier - Aristotle has topped the competition in customer care, technology services and affordable pricing. This survey is independently-run and polls current clients of vendors across the PAC and grassroots space. Read more.
Legal questions on Perry’s use of SuperPAC video
The Perry campaign’s borrowing of three clips from a SuperPAC ad for use in a campaign video was a novel foray into the gray area of campaign finance law, and so I asked the experts on Rick Hasen’s excellent and disputatious election law listserv for their views on it. They were not unanimous on the question, but Perry is clearly treading in some uncharted legal waters…
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David Mason, vice president at the political data firm Aristotle International, wrote that “whatever is going on in terms of the Perry campaign using Super PAC footage, it is simply not addressed by the coordination regulation.”
“That is not to say there are no FECA implications to a candidate using Super PAC footage. If a campaign is given footage for no charge, the footage could be an in-kind contribution to the campaign. A campaign could pay for the footage (raw footage typically costs way less than the cost of finishing and broadcasting), or, in this case, according to the spokesman you quote, gotten it from a public source,” he wrote. Read the full article.
Aristotle will once again be sponsoring the Democratic GAIN’s Career Fair this year. The fair is on Friday, December 2nd at the National Education Association. There will be career development workshops and panels where you’ll hear from top strategists about what Democrats need to do in 2012 and what you can expect from a job in Democratic politics.
Aristotle will be recruiting, as will many others in the industry, looking for our next big stars. If you want to be a part of the 2012 election cycle, you need to attend!
The workshops include:
- Resume & Job Search
- Networking for a Job
- Salary Negotiation
To register for the event click here. The deadline is December 1.
As the toll from the Kinde Durkee scandal continues to grow, you have to wonder, why are political campaigns so vulnerable to embezzlement?
At least since Paul Tsongas lost over $1 million to an embezzler in his 1992 Presidential effort, political campaigns have been frequent victims of inside theft. Big time victims have ranged from the prominent (Joe Biden, John Boehner) to the relatively obscure (Rep. Frank LoBiondo).
A few years ago former NRCC employee Chris Ward stole at least $844,000 from a cluster of party committees, leadership PACs and campaigns he served as Treasurer. Now Durkee stands accused of embezzling over $5 million from some of about 400 political accounts she controlled.
The remarkable thing about this long series of high profile losses is such crimes are nearly completely preventable (as I pointed out in this Bloomberg story and this recent post).
So what makes campaigns such ready victims of embezzlement?
Politics is Personal
The root of the problem is that politics is personal (just read George Washington Plunkitt). Candidates, consultants, and managers tend to rely on personal networks for hiring and services to a degree long abandoned in other sectors. Being Treasurer for a party committee or a leading state pol may be both necessary and sufficient for attracting additional campaigns.
The Team Tradition
Similarly, there is a strong pull in politics to rely on folks who are on your team. Though there is no difference in accounting for Democrats and Republicans, there certainly are D and R accountants, and candidates are more comfortable, maybe too comfortable with people who agree with them politically. Note, for instance, that Durkee apparently provided “free” services to some small Democratic committees. (Maybe it something sounds too good to be true, it isn’t.)
Absentee management
Officeholder candidates have two full time jobs, and in the case of many of Durkee’s clients bi-coastal existences. Campaigns don’t keep managers on staff throughout a cycle, so there really may be no one watching the store (other than the Treasurer).
So What’s a Busy Candidate to Do?
Last month, I offered three easy steps to preventing embezzlement. To expand on this list a bit:
- Hire a treasurer/firm that exercises professional internal controls. (If you think you can’t afford a professional Treasurer, call me, it’s not that costly.)
- Never allow the same person to control receipts and disbursements.
- Require your Treasurer/compliance firm to perform monthly bank reconciliations.
- A person who does not have access to committee funds or bank accounts, should review the bank statement and reconciliation monthly.
- Someone other than the Treasurer/firm should have online access to bank accounts or receive copies of monthly statements directly from the bank.
- Perform a periodic audit (every election cycle)
I have heard complaints that small campaigns can’t afford professional services. Other than an audit, these steps are not expensive. More importantly, unless your campaign can afford a six figure embezzlement loss, it is worth the time and money you’ll spend to prevent that possibility.
Dave Mason
Tsongas $1,052,000 http://articles.latimes.com/1993-02-23/news/mn-481_1_tsongas-raiser-fund
Bloomberg link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-19/political-embezzlement-rises-as-u-s-campaign-accounts-swell.html
Politico link (“When Campaign Funds go Missing”): http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63554.html#ixzz1Y27rkffz
Link to story on charities also being affected: http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/charities-hit-hard-widening-campaign-finance-fraud-scandal-12629
Link to 9/23 Boston story (“free” services!) http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2011/09/23/dems_face_woes_after_campaign_treasurers_arrest/
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_53/Theft-Hits-Races-in-California-210000-1.html?pos=htmbtxt
The Durkee Embezzlement story keeps getting bigger with the disclosure Friday that US Senator Diane Feinstein may have lost as much as $4.7 million.
Discussing this news last week, one of our clients asked what I wanted the treasurer for one of our PAC outsourcing clients to do. I was able to boil it down to three simple steps that every treasurer, candidate, or PAC manager (if the treasurer is filing reports) should do:
1) Look at the committee bank statement every month;
2) Look at the draft FEC report;
3) Review the bank reconciliation to make sure the figures match.
That’s it. These steps take about 5 minutes a month (if reports are prepared accurately). And if any one of dozens (perhaps scores) of Durkee’s clients had bothered with these elementary controls, the apparently wide-ranging wrongdoing would have been caught much sooner.
There are other points (such as check receipt and deposit, or faked invoices) at which embezzlements can occur. And I would urge anyone responsible for PAC finances to employ more than just these three minimum steps. But the bank reconciliation is the one simple tool that will vastly reduce your embezzlement risk. In addition, accurate bank reconciliations will also uncover many common reporting errors.
If you are handling your own reporting, the FEC has a set of reasonably simple recommended internal controls for political committees. If you use Aristotle’s outsourcing services, you’re already most of the way to complying with the FEC recommendations.
But, we don’t want you to trust us, we want you to check. That is why Aristotle prepares monthly bank reconciliations for each of our clients. And we send the bank reconciliation with the draft FEC report for client review. Ideally, the reviewer will get the bank statement directly from the bank (on paper or on line), though we provide a copy of that for convenience as well.
If you’re interested in a review of your PAC or political committee, contact me or your Aristotle account representative. And, please, whatever you do, take a look at your bank statement once a month or so.
David M. Mason, JD
Senior Vice President, Compliance Services
