US News

Pro-Hillary super PAC took $200K in illegal donations

WASHINGTON — A super PAC backing Hillary Clinton accepted $200,000 in donations from a federal contractor — which is against the law.

Priorities USA Action received two $100,000 checks last year from Boston-based Suffolk Construction Company, records show.

The company has nearly $1 million in Defense Department construction work on projects in West Point, NY, and Newport, RI, according to records.

Suffolk Construction also donated $10,000 to the super PAC designed to elect Republican Jeb Bush, Right to Rise.

There’s a long-standing ban on federal contractors donating to political campaigns, but the rule is often ignored because a divided Federal Election Commission had done little to enforce it, according to The Hill, which first reported the story on the pro-Clinton super PAC donation.

Priorities USA has raised $88 million so far this cycle to help elect presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Clinton.

The super PAC did not respond to a request for comment.

Suffolk Construction is not the only contractor to skirt the rules.

The Hill found 14 federal contractors had contributed a total of $173,250 to Right to Rise, the pro-Bush group. Two contractors also funneled money to a pro-Marco Rubio group, Conservative Solutions PAC.

One federal contractor, a Florida utility company, defended the $44,000 gift to the pro-Bush PAC last year. “We believe Gulf Power’s right to make the contribution in question is constitutionally protected,” Gulf Power spokesman Jeff Rogers said.

A super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, Restore Our Future, also accepted donations from at least five federal contractors amounting to $890,000, the Los Angeles Times found in 2012.

But none were ever fined for skirting the ban against political expenditures.

Priorities USA has been battering Donald Trump with attack ads, with the latest $1.1 million digital buy questioning his treatment of women.