Texas Congressman Steve Stockman is no stranger to provocative proposals. He authored one bill to repeal a federal ban on carrying firearms in school zones and another declaring that human life exists from fertilization. Now in his long-shot bid for the U.S Senate he has turned his sights to campaign finance by offering to take donations in bitcoins.
This is sweet harmony to those who think the controversial cyber currency is a blow to the federal banking system they loathe, a cause never more at home than on Stockman’s turf. It was in Texas that former congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul launched his assault on the U.S. money system. Almost a dozen of the state’s lawmakers lined up last year to cosponsor Texas Rep. Kevin Brady’s “Sound Dollar Act,” requiring the Federal Reserve to keep prices stable by monitoring a clutch of assets, including gold. (The private website GovTrack.us gives the bill a one percent chance of passing.) And while a handful of companies like dating website OKCupid have announced plans to accept bitcoins, doubts about long-term stability run deep.
The Federal Election Commission hasn’t decided whether they’re a proper funding tool or not. The commission in November deadlocked on the issue, as three Democrats on the six-member panel voted against a proposal to treat bitcoins as an “in-kind” contribution similar to stocks and bonds. The commissioners “also discussed the possibility of developing an interim policy,” according to a summary of the meeting. FEC spokeswoman Judith Ingram declined to comment.
Stockman is undettered. “I really think digital currency is more about freedom,” he says of the virtual currency in a Dec. 31 YouTube video. Speaking outside the newly minted Bitcoin Center near Wall Street, Stockman continues, “All the time people are trying to get into your pocket, trying to do different things to control you, and if you have your own wealth and control your own wealth, it’s about freedom.”
Still, the anonymous nature of bitcoin raises anew the quandary of tracing who exactly is funding political campaigns. Skeptics including Mark Williams, who teaches finance at Boston University, are unpersuaded for other reasons. “If bitcoin is adopted, it will create financial instability in the economy, decline in GDP and drop in overall commerce,” he said.
Volatility is the number one concern, said Williams, who pointed to China’s announcement last month that it would not accept bitcoins, and “within 48 hours, its value dropped by 50 percent.” It has since recovered, but the fact that Stockman would “endorse a currency that can move by 20 or 30 percent in a given day” shows him to be irresponsible, Williams said.
He accused the Senate candidate of showboating — undoubtedly not the first time Stockman has had that allegation come his way. This is the same man whose campaign issued the bumper sticker: “If babies had guns they wouldn’t be aborted,” the Washington Post reported. His website promises to send “one of my Obama barf bags” for a $10 donation, and on a campaign Twitter feed the congressman has opined that “the best gun lubricant around” is “liberal tears.” Stockman spokesman Donny Ferguson did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Stockman, who served in Congress in the 1990s and was elected again in 2012, surprised analysts who thought he’d keep his House seat when he filed papers in December just minutes before the deadline to challenge Senate incumbent John Cornyn for the Republican primary. One poll has had Stockman down by 44 points.
As for where his campaign might spend those bitcoins, most early adopters of the virtual currency are of little obvious value to a political candidate, such as online gaming company Zynga. His best bet might be Overstock.com, the online seller of everything from furniture to electronics that has said it will accept bitcoins by mid-year.
To make that bit of campaign-finance history, though, Stockman would have to survive the March primary.
