Will Maxine Waters Influence Haiti Elections?

U.S. Congressional member, Representative Maxine Waters, has inquired of the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) about the acceptability of making donations to Haitian candidates. Public Citizens', Craig Holman, said he has never heard of such a request coming from a Congressional member. He thinks the FEC may give Waters permission ". . . as long as this doesn't go for personal use."

This August Haiti is holding parliamentary elections, and it is probably too late to affect the outcome. But not the municipal and presidential elections still two months away. Voters will go to the polls on October 25th to cast their ballots.

Waters has served 13 terms in the House of Representatives and holds a leadership position. On her website she devotes a section of it to Haitian issues. But she has not revealed the candidates and parties she is partial to if the FEC were to honor her request.

Electoral campaign rules bar foreign nationals from donating to federal campaigns, or their committees in America. Yet other countries pose no legal barriers to accepting campaign donations. In fact they rely on countries like America to fund candidate campaigns. Israel's Prime Minster Netanyahu receives 90% of his campaign funding from the U.S.

Haitian candidates are very dependent on funding from foreign nations. Haiti Democracy Project Director, James Morrell, says, "Major candidates swing through Florida and New York, where most of the . . . Haitian Diaspora are . . . . that's the biggest source of money."

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