High steppin’ and fancy dancin’

I ran across this a few days ago and posted it as an update on the previous thread.

Rather than be accused of burying the lead, I wanted to take the opportunity to ask our readers this question:

“Is it legal for dead people to make political contributions?”

I don’t think the deceased is too worried about facing any legal consequences, but what about the person or persons who engineered the donations? And what about the organization that accepted the contributions?

In this case, the deceased donor is/was Arkansas gazillionaire Jackson (Jack) Stephens. The recipient of his graveyard largesse is The Club for Growth.

Jackson (Steve) Stephens, Jr., is also a big time contributor to the Club for Growth, and serves on the Board.

Jackson Stephens passed away on June 23, 2005. According to Campaign Money.com, Mr. Stephens apparently made some 20 contributions totaling roughly $200,000 to The Club for Growth, after he died.

The spreadsheet shows separate contributions for Jackson Stephens and Jackson Stephens, Jr., so it doesn’t appear to be just a clerical error.

Frankly, it may all be perfectly legit, some sort of estate planning gimmick, I don’t know.

I’m just wondering, how can this happen?

Is it legal for dead people to make political contributions?