Are there rules for billionaires that they must follow like anyone else, or does Elon Musk experience life beyond the reach of mere human campaign finance law?
According to 52 U.S.C. § 10307(c), anyone who “pays or offers to pay” someone “either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned no more than five years, or both.”
Now consider that the CEO of Tesla and X is offering to pay $1 million (and give free admission to hear him talk) to swing-state registered voters who hand their personal information over to America PAC, the political action committee he founded to support former President Donald Trump. Musk, a Pentagon contractor who has already sunk at least $75 million into his campaign for the Republican nominee, who has in turn promised him a government job should he win in November, has also been paying people $47 for every other person they get to hand over their information.
“We are aware of nothing like this in modern political history,” a group of former Republican officials, including some who worked for Presidents........