Sinead Butler
May 18, 2021
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Caitlyn Jenner is using the same campaign fundraising trick that former President Donald Trump used which commits donors to recurring payments and we’re not surprised.
Politico reported that Jenner has pre-checked boxes on her donation page that signs up contributors to make monthly payments to their campaigns.
Former Rep. Doug Ose and fellow Republican candidate in the race also has these settings on his donation page.
Trump used a similar tactic too, a New York Times investigation found. Where recurring-donation boxes were similarly pre-checked at the bottom of fundraising emails.
Contributors had to opt out, instead of opting in, for the recurring charges and it has been criticised for tricking donors who do not read the fine print.
Newsom’s 2022 campaign had the same recurring-monthly-payment box pre-checked as recently as this month, although it was removed before Politico asked about it.
The legality of this move is unclear, but it isn’t exactly the most ethical of choices and federal election officials have condemned it.
Recently, the Federal Election Commission have attempted to strengthen the law on this particular issue.
They asked Congress to make it law that campaigns had to get “opt-in” agreements from contributors before they could make monthly donations.
The commission found that many donors did not realise when recurring-charge boxes were pre-checked, Politico reported.
Jenner announced on April 23 she will run a campaign against to be California’s next governor, if she won the election it would make her the first transgender governor in the US.
Our advice: always double-check the payment boxes before you donate any money.
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