August 05, 2013 04:53 PM UTC

Dead People: Don't Just Vote, Donate!

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• by: Colorado Pols

We've written before about the curious case of one Twila Sue Peach, the dead woman whose name nevertheless showed up on a recall petition in Colorado Springs. We would think it is harder for a dead person to sign a petition than to cast a ballot, but how about making a campaign contribution? From USA Today:

Thirty-two people listed on federal campaign records as "deceased" have contributed more than $586,000 to congressional and presidential candidates and political parties since Jan. 1, 2009, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.

Last week, news emerged of a possible donation by a deceased contributor in a high-profile Senate race. A super PAC aiding Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's re-election reported Wednesday that it had received a $100,000 contribution from Houston home builder and GOP mega-donor Bob Perry on June 3 — nearly two months after his April 13 death.

This kinda takes the old "rogue staffer" defense to an entirely different level, no? While the contribution that showed up in Kentucky was illegal, it's actually okay to leave money to a political cause in your will…but dead people still have to obey the limits on individual contributions in a given election cycle.

Federal rules establish some restrictions on political giving from the grave, however. The donations, for instance, must comply with applicable contribution limits. Currently, an individual cannot donate more than $5,200 to a federal candidate during an election cycle and no more than $32,400 to a political party each year…

…A case now pending before a federal appellate court in Washington, D.C., seeks to overturn those limits for deceased donors. The lawsuit involves Raymond Groves Burrington, a Knoxville, Tenn., man who left more than $217,000 in 2007 to the Libertarian National Committee.

The party argues it should have received the money in a lump-sum, rather than annual installments. "This is pure free speech," said Alan Gura, an attorney representing the Libertarian Party. "A dead person can't corrupt someone."

As Mitt Romney once famously said, "Corporations are people, too." So what about "dead" corporations?