Tester Donates Questionable Contributions to Treasury

In the wake of a report released by the Center for Responsive Politics, published Sunday in The Boston Globe, Montana Sen. Jon Tester released $51,800 to the U.S. Treasury on Monday.  The report included an account of Tester receiving $26,400 from the Boston-based Thornton Law Firm in 2010.

Tester’s donation to the Treasury reflects donations his campaign received from Thornton employees in 2010, 2011 and 2012.  Tester spokesperson Marnee Banks said he wasn’t aware before the Globe report Sunday that there were questions about the legality of the law firm’s political donations.  By giving the money to the U.S. Treasury, the second-term senator is donating the money directly to taxpayers.

The Boston Globe used Tester and former Montana lieutenant governor John Walsh to illustrate the law firm’s campaign donation scheme of reimbursing attorneys for contributions.  It amounts to a shell game to circumvent campaign laws limiting contributions from individual donors.