--- title: Jeb Bush Supporter Stumbles Into Campaign Finance Tangle With Radio Ad description: How a Bush backer ran afoul of the former governor's lawyers canonical: https://time.com/3751578/jeb-bush-campaign-finance-ad/ author: Alex Altman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-20T01:43:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:58.373Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeb Bush Supporter Stumbles Into Campaign Finance Tangle With Radio Ad og:description: How a Bush backer ran afoul of the former governor's lawyers og:url: https://time.com/3751578/jeb-bush-campaign-finance-ad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt470694800cb98991/69878398e53ababfbc4d8104/jeb-bush-new-hampshire.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush speaks to the media after visiting Integra Biosciences during a campaign stop in Hudson, New Hampshire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeb Bush Supporter Stumbles Into Campaign Finance Tangle With Radio Ad twitter:description: How a Bush backer ran afoul of the former governor's lawyers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt470694800cb98991/69878398e53ababfbc4d8104/jeb-bush-new-hampshire.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeb Bush Supporter Stumbles Into Campaign Finance Tangle With Radio Ad  by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Mar 20, 2015 1:43 AM UTC  Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush speaks to the media after visiting Integra Biosciences during a campaign stop in Hudson, New Hampshire March 13, 2015. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush speaks to the media after visiting Integra Biosciences during a campaign stop in Hudson, New Hampshire March 13, 2015.Shannon Stapleton—Reuters  by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Mar 20, 2015 1:43 AM UTC Jay Schorr was one of Jeb Bush’s biggest fans. The owner of a South Florida media company, Schorr was so glad to see Bush taking a hard look at a presidential campaign that in early February, he began funding radio ads touting the former Sunshine State governor as the solution to America’s ailments. “Only one man is running on a record of success: Jeb Bush,” intoned his initial 49-second spot, which Schorr believes was the first to promote Bush as a presidential candidate. But there was a problem: Bush isn’t officially running for anything. Even as he winks and nods his way across early primary states, doing all the things candidates do—giving speeches, meeting with the press, raising money and building supporter lists—the former Florida governor has exploited the blind spots in U.S. campaign finance law to avoid the legal definition of candidate activity. As a result, what Schorr got this week in return for his zeal and financial support was a cease-and-desist letter from Bush’s lawyers. “While we appreciate your enthusiasm,” they wrote in the missive, a copy of which was obtained by TIME, “your ads erroneously suggest that Governor Bush is a candidate for office and claim that he approved the messages in the ads. Please be aware that Governor Bush is NOT a candidate for any office and he has not approved any of your advertisements.” As a legal matter, Bush’s lawyers had plenty of reasons to be cautious. His effort to reach the White House can only be carried out legally in its current incarnation if he denies that any of it is being done as part of a dedicated effort to win the White House. ### See Jeb Bush's Life in Photos  George W. Bush and Jeb Bush, Jan. 1, 1955. Sygma/Corbis  From left to right: Doro, Marvin, Neil, and Jeb Bush, fall 1963. George Bush Presidential Library  From left to right: Doro, George, Jeb, Marvin, George W., Neil, and Barbara Bush, 1966. George Bush Presidential Library  Jeb Bush (center) was the varsity tennis team captain during his senior year at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., 1971. Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library  George Bush and his four sons, Neil, Jeb, George W. and Marvin in 1970. Bob E. Daemmrich—Sygma/Corbis  Jeb and Columba Bush on their wedding day, Feb. 23, 1974. George Bush Presidential Library  Jeb Bush loudly applauds his father, Republican presidential hopeful George Bush, at a campaign rally in Concord, N.H. on Feb. 28, 1980. Frank Lorenzo—Bettmann/Corbis  Vice President George Bush holds a fish with his sons George W. and Jeb during a family vacation in Kennebunkport, Maine in Aug. 1983. Cynthia Johnson—Getty Images  From left to right (without children): Neil and Sharon Bush, George W. Bush and wife Laura, Barbara and George Bush, Margaret and Marvin, Bobby Koch and Dorothy, Jeb and Columba, are seen in this Bush family photo taken in Kennebunkport, Maine on Aug. 24, 1986. Dave Valdez—White House/Sygma/Corbis  Jeb Bush plays cards with his son while riding in a recreational vehicle, Nov. 8, 1993. Christopher Little—Corbis  Jeb Bush is interviewed at a Miami Radio Station, WIOD, Mar. 1980\. He went on to become Governor of Florida in 1999. Tim Chapman—Getty Images  George W. Bush and Jeb Bush at the Republican Governors' Convention in New Orleans, 1998. Nina Berman—SIPA  Texas governor George W. Bush celebrates good news with his brother, Florida governor Jeb Bush, while watching the presidential election returns, prior to being elected as President of the United States, inside the Governor's Mansion in Austin, Nov. 7, 2000. Brooks Kraft—Sygma/Corbis  Republican governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, studies his laptop watching vote returns for his reelection his wife Columba Bush and his parents, former President George Bush and first lady Barbara Bush in Miami on Nov. 5, 2002. Joe Burbank—Orlando Sentinel/MCT/Getty Images  Republican nominee for President, Mitt Romney, campaigns around Florida with Governor Jeb Bush, left, Senator Marco Rubio, right, and Congressman Connie Mack, left back of head, in Coral Gables, Fla. on Oct., 31, 2012. Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images  Jeb Bush speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015. Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME If that sounds strange, welcome to the world of modern day campaign finance. The 2016 presidential election is poised to shatter spending records, with more money sloshing around than ever before. And a big part of the reason is the proliferation of individual-candidate super PACs, groups that can raise unlimited sums in support of specific candidates, but cannot directly coordinate most of their efforts with those candidates once they declare for federal office. Super PACs emerged as a force in 2012, with patriotic monikers like Restore Our Future (which supported Mitt Romney) and Priorities USA Action (which backed Barack Obama and has since thrown its muscle behind Hillary Clinton). In 2014, they spread widely to Congressional races. And in the nascent phases of the 2016 race, they have become the most effective weapon in a presidential hopeful’s arsenal, a way for an undeclared candidate to stockpile unlimited sums right out of the gate. Bush, like an array of other all-but-certain candidates, is using his Right to Rise super PAC to rake in millions of dollars, all while maintaining the pretense that he is not officially running for anything. After he becomes a candidate, he is almost certain to cut official ties to Right to Rise, leaving it in the hands of his staff, who will run television ads on his behalf. In the meantime, his lawyers are careful to ensure he doesn’t run afoul of Federal Election Commission regulations. (Charlie Spies, counsel to the Right to Rise PAC and the main author of the letter to Schorr, did not respond to a request for comment.) The cease-and-desist letter shocked Schorr, who says he was simply trying to exercise his First Amendment rights to enumerate Bush’s merits. Schorr’s idea was to create one radio ad each week until November 2016\. One quirky spot featured an imaginary dialogue between Bush and Bill Clinton; another challenged David Letterman to a monologue contest in response to a recent _Late Night_ swipe. So far, he’s done about a half-dozen ads in total, paying about $7,000 out of his own pocket to place them on local radio and the Internet. “A mere pittance in political advertising terms,” he notes, “but for someone not being financed by big pocket donors, it’s significant.” Though the spat has soured him a bit on Bush’s operation, Schorr says he still supports the former Florida governor. But he has come to believe that the episode highlights how Bush, like many other 2016 hopefuls, is flouting the spirit of U.S. campaign-finance laws, if not the letter. “The whole campaign finance landscape is a sham. It’s a legal fiction. The candidates themselves are wink-winking—_‘if I decide to run’,”_ he says. “They’re paying lip service to some ridiculous federal regulations that everyone circumvents.” “People need to know,” Schorr adds, “that these candidates are running wild.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3751578/jeb-bush-campaign-finance-ad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3751578/jeb-bush-campaign-finance-ad/"},"headline":"Jeb Bush Supporter Stumbles Into Campaign Finance Tangle With Radio Ad","datePublished":"2015-03-20T01:43:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:58.373Z","description":"How a Bush backer ran afoul of the former governor's lawyers","url":"https://time.com/3751578/jeb-bush-campaign-finance-ad/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Campaign Finance","jeb bush"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt470694800cb98991/69878398e53ababfbc4d8104/jeb-bush-new-hampshire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Altman","jobTitle":"Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/alex-altman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt470694800cb98991/69878398e53ababfbc4d8104/jeb-bush-new-hampshire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush speaks to the media after visiting Integra Biosciences during a campaign stop in Hudson, New Hampshire","caption":"Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush speaks to the media after visiting Integra Biosciences during a campaign stop in Hudson, New Hampshire","creditText":"Shannon Stapleton—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3751578/jeb-bush-campaign-finance-ad/","name":"Jeb Bush Supporter Stumbles Into Campaign Finance Tangle With Radio Ad"}}]}] ```