I'm very confused. Ever since we began taking sponsorship money on the 1st of December we have been taking purchases of sponsoship. At no point have we ever had things set up to take donations.
You miss the whole point. According to your website, or should I just call it the blimp website, it states, or at least it used to state, I think you are changing that phrasing as I type, that in order for any money accepted from others to fly the blimp that money must come in as purchases of advertising "time" from an advertising company. I don't know the FEC laws, I am only going by what the blimp website itself said. It is possible that information is incorrect.
However, the blimp website is now set up differently. I don't know where this concept of donations comes from, or what you are trying to say. You have ignored the question of whether or not it is legal to go to
www.ronpaulblimp.com and give money so that the blimp can keep flying.
I don't know what word you want to use, donations, purchases, whatever, but you had it set up one way and you keep changing things and the changes could have changed into something illegal.
Why are you having such a problem answering whether or not it has been, changed into, and or/ continues to be legal to give money to you folks? It seems a very straightforward question.
Let me walk you through the changes:
1. One went to your site and purchased ad time from LPA LLC.
2. LPA LLC disappeared from the website and then money was being sent to an apartment in Florida.
3. No longer did it say on the website that one was "purchasing" ad time from an ad company, but that if you give money through Google checkout, you are doing so by sending money to an apartment in Florida to "sponsor a blimp tour."
4. LPA LLC returns mysteriously on the website as the place where money is sent, instead of Florida, it is now N.C. that you send money to, but still the concept of purchasing ad time is gone and now remains as a sponsorship gig.
5. You are re-working the wording of your explanation section "why not a PAC" but you haven't explained why all of these changes.
So, what is going on? Does the changing of thing from a purchase to a sponsorship change the legality of the whole thing? Why does the company keep disappearing and then returning without any explanations? Was it legal under some of these iterations and not under others?
Why must I go through these contortions to get a simple answer? What about, Is it legal to give money to you folks to keep the blimp in the air, is not clear?
Hopefully, that clears up all of your questions, now can you explain how this new sponsorship gig thing is legal. Will you please provide legal citations and/or court cases to back up your claim? Feel free to cite to the FECA if you like. Although, it would be nice if you also provided a copy of the law you are citing because it is difficult to find the actual statutes online.
