Corporation skirts contribution limits

Mike McIntire of The New York Times analyzed state campaign finance data to show that "one of the world's largest insurance companies has skirted [state] limits in giving almost 20 times that amount to some of New York's most prominent politicians." New York law limits corporate contributions to $5,000 annually. AIG avoided these limits by using "dozens of obscure subsidiaries to distribute contributions, all drawn from a common A.I.G. bank account...the only clues that the checks came from a common source were that they all had sequential numbers and bore an address of 70 Pine Street in Manhattan, A.I.G.'s headquarters." AIG stands behind its actions say they are in compliance with the State Board of Elections interpretation of the law.