Following up on my prior post (links below), Robert Stitkoff (Harvard) passed along this article in the New York Times, Manhattan Surrogate’s Court Judge Is Acquitted (Apr. 1, 2010):
A jury decided on Thursday that a judge in Surrogate’s Court in Manhattan, along with her mentor and former boss, did not break the law by making transactions that ended with a $250,000 contribution to the judge’s campaign.
Judge Nora S. Anderson, 57, was acquitted of two felony counts of intentionally filing false campaign reports. Her former boss, Seth Rubenstein, a lawyer in Brooklyn, was acquitted of the same charges. …
The actions at issue in the case were never in dispute. During Judge Anderson’s 2008 race for Surrogate’s Court, which handles wills, estates and adoption matters, Mr. Rubenstein twice gave money to her — $100,000 on one occasion and $150,000 on another — and she directed that money to her campaign war chest.
Prosecutors said that Judge Anderson lied on financial disclosure reports filed with the city that listed her as the source of the money. Mr. Rubenstein, 82, funneled the money this way to avoid exceeding the individual donor limit of $33,122.50, the prosecution said.
Defense lawyers conceded that Mr. Rubenstein gave Judge Anderson the money as a gift with the hope that she would use it for her campaign. But once he had given it to her, they said, it was hers to spend as she pleased, so the statements on the disclosure reports were true. …
“This just eviscerates campaign contribution limits,” said Henry T. Berger, an election lawyer. “Anybody can give as much as they want to the candidate they want simply by giving it to the candidate, and not the campaign, as long as they pay the gift taxes on it.” …
“The law is clear that people are allowed to give gifts” to candidates for office, said Jerry H. Goldfeder, an election lawyer who was a consultant for the defense on the case. “That’s what the law is. Is it good policy? That’s a different issue.”
Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:
- Will the Gift Tax Save John Edwards? (June 3, 2011)
- John Edwards and the Gift Tax: A Dissenting View (June 8, 2011)
