GIFTS FROM THE GRAVE GIFTS FROM THE GRAVE Top recipients of donations between 1999 and 2007 from dead people:



Democratic National Committee $224,516 Republican National Committee $93,143 National Committee for an Effective Congress $73,200 LaRouche in 2004 $64,749 Green Party $12,219

Source: USA TODAY analysis of CQ Moneyline data Deceased still lining political coffers, to tune of half-million Digg



del.icio.us



Newsvine



Reddit



Facebook WASHINGTON  Harold Schooler died in 2003, but his political activism lives on. The former piano salesman and musician is among more than 160 dead people who have given more than $540,000 to political committees and candidates for the White House and Congress over the past eight years, an analysis of political donations shows. LIST: Top donations from deceased donors The estate of Schooler, who lived in Palm Springs, Calif., has donated $28,500 this year to the Democratic National Committee. Federal rules allow such donations as long as contributions don't exceed legal limits and the intentions of the deceased were known, said Federal Election Commission spokesman Bob Biersack. Such gifts are fairly rare, he said. Kent Cooper, a campaign-finance expert and former Federal Election Commission official, admits these contributions are "a little strange and unusual." "People hear now and then of accusations of dead people voting," he said, "but these are examples of dead people continuing to give and give and give." The Democratic committee received the most campaign money from deceased donors, nearly $225,000, according to USA TODAY's tally of federal campaign-finance data compiled by CQ MoneyLine, a non-partisan group. The Republican National Committee was the second-largest recipient, with about $93,000. The donors ranged from Schooler, who has contributed nearly $82,000 since his death, to Richard Lee of Nome, Alaska, whose estate gave $3,207 to the Republican National Committee in 2003. Attempts to reach Lee's survivors were unsuccessful. Schooler's brother said he didn't know the reason behind his sibling's largess. "We never talked about politics," said Wayne Schooler, 87. "He didn't leave any to me … and I'm a Democrat." The money from the deceased is a tiny fraction of political contributions. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, people listed as deceased gave nearly $96,000 in federal donations, according to CQ MoneyLine's data. By comparison, the four congressional campaign committees have collected nearly $170 million so far this year, MoneyLine's tally shows. White House hopefuls have raised even more: about $420 million. Officials with the Democratic and Republican parties said they don't make any special efforts to seek bequests from contributors' estates. "Occasionally, the committee receives donations from estates and does so in accordance with federal regulations and limits," said RNC spokesman Danny Diaz. DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton said the money likely reflects donors' commitment to Democratic causes. "By donating to the party, they know that the issues that they care about will continue." Martha Hughes, a Dallas secretary who died in 1999, was among the Democratic givers. She left all but $10,000 of her $1.7 million estate to Democrats at the state and federal level, according to her executor David Carlock. The analysis shows she gave $25,000 to the DNC in 2003. Carlock said ballroom dancing and Democratic politics were among Hughes' passions. She had no children. "She lived through the Depression and was a great admirer of President Roosevelt's," he said. What about the $10,000 that didn't go to Democrats? Hughes left it to her plumber, Carlock said. Share this story: Digg del.icio.us Newsvine Reddit Facebook Gravestones and mausoleums are shown at the Green-Wood Cemetery in the Brooklyn borough of New York in this 2006 file photo. More than a half a million dollars in political donations have been given on behalf of dead donors over the past eight years.



AP Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.