As funds flood into campaigns, keeping the bad guys out takes priority

Sex offenders, Medicaid cheats, crooked government contractors and drug dealers more generous than ever

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Obama campaign announced Monday that it will be returning more than $200,000 in contributions raised by family members of fugitive Pepe Cardona, who fled drug and fraud charges in the '90s. With the 2012 election season at full throttle and millions of dollars pouring into campaigns, campaign treasurers have seen their responsibilities expand beyond simply complying with strict disclosure rules imposed by the Federal Election Commission. 

Aristotle International, a leading nonpartisan political data and compliance technology provider has the tools that ensure these campaigns are not unknowingly taking money from felons, illegal aliens, or other individuals on numerous anti-money laundering or terrorist watch lists.

Aristotle's patent-pending data mining technology employs powerful software and algorithms, numerous 'bad actor' databases, and a highly accurate nationwide voter file to enable political committees and their treasurers to comply with complex state and federal campaign disclosure reporting requirements.

"When I was a candidate for Congress, my staff would never allow anyone to hand me an envelope for fear that it might be money from someone we didn't want to be associated with," Aristotle CEO John Aristotle Phillips said. "Today, the rules are much tougher. Smart campaigns need to vet each and every donation coming at an event, in the mail or online. It's not just a matter of checking for convicted sex offenders or felons. There are doctors who are Medicaid cheats, lawyers who have been disbarred and government contractors who have been convicted of tax evasion or worse. Take a contribution from one of these guys and the least of your problems is having to return the contribution."

"With the ability today to instantaneously scrub every contribution and every contributor at the time the contribution is made, and before you deposit their money, there is no good reason to take money from bad guys."

Aristotle's service was used by both presidential nominees in 2008, national news organizations covering money and politics, and party committees.

"Campaigns have ten days to decline a contribution and return the amount, without having to report it to the FEC," former FEC Chairman and Aristotle Senior Vice President of Compliance Services David Mason said. "The Aristotle system safeguards campaigns against embarrassing stories that could potentially derail a highly visible campaign."

The Cardona scandal comes only weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision upholding the ban on political contributions to candidates for public office and political organizations by foreign nationals. (Bluman v. FEC.)  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 technology vets 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.

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.[1]

About Aristotle

Aristotle has delivered smarter tools to political campaigns since 1983. Every U.S. President -- Democrat and Republican -- from Reagan through Obama, has used Aristotle products and/or services, as have many U.S. Senators, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic and Republican state party organizations and other major campaigns worldwide.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16467412

[1] Information derived from Federal Election Commission reports may not be used for any commercial purpose.  Aristotle's technology uses FEC data only for permissible non-commercial purposes.

SOURCE Aristotle

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