Harvey Weinstein's tainted campaign cash is good for something.
For Sen. Al Franken, donations from the recently disgraced Hollywood producer were a political liability. For the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center, where Franken's campaign redirected the money, that means hot food and warm socks for women in need in Minneapolis.
News broke earlier this month of multiple sexual harassment and assault allegations against Weinstein, a prominent figure in the film industry, and within hours, a clutch of high-profile Democrats who had gotten political donations from him over the years were looking to offload them. For Franken, it meant finding a recipient for $20,000 given to his campaigns and political action committee.
"I didn't hesitate," Patina Park, executive director of the resource center, said with a laugh. The check was quickly deposited, and even more quickly spent on services and outreach for Indian women and families. The center's services range from educational and cultural programs to mental health services and sexual abuse prevention, and its reach is always wider than its budget and available grants.
"The $20,000 is essentially going into our general operating fund. A lot of our programs aren't fully funded, so we always have gaps that this money will help," Park said. She said it could buy a meal and bus ticket home for a woman and her children fleeing an abusive relationship, or fill packages for homeless addicts or prostitutes facing a cold winter on Lake Street.
"The money will go for socks and clean underwear and granola bars — things we take for granted in our day-to-day lives, but [mean a great deal to] individuals really struggling and living on the streets," Park said. "Anything we can do to help them come this way and hopefully receive some of our services, that money will go toward."
For politicians who find themselves saddled with perfectly good money from perfectly awful people, regifting is often the solution.
There's no law requiring a campaign to return a contribution from someone who is accused of bad or illegal behavior. But the political consequences for campaigns that don't cut ties with a donor who might be a crook or a sexual predator or a white supremacist can be harsher than anything the law could dish out.
