People who were listed on federal campaign records as “deceased” contributed almost $600,000 to political campaigns since 2009, according to a USA Today analysis published Monday.
Thirty-two deceased individuals donated a total of $586,000 to federal candidates and political parties since Jan. 1 2009, according to Federal Election Commission filings reviewed by USA Today. Under federal election law, an individual can make a political candidate or party the beneficiary of his or her estate, although contribution limits apply.
A deceased day trader named Raymond Groves Burrington left over $217,000 to the Libertarian National Committee in 2007, according to USA Today, making him the top deceased donor since Jan. 1, 2009. A lawsuit filed by the Libertarian Party before a Washington, D.C. federal appeals court was seeking to throw out those limits for deceased donors (in the case of a donation to a political party, $32,400 per individual), allowing the party to receive Burrington’s donation in a lump sum instead of yearly installments.
“This is pure free speech,” Alan Gura, an attorney for the Libertarian Party, told USA Today. “A dead person can’t corrupt someone.”
