Connecticut is one of four states inquiring into donation tactics by Democratic and Republican groups.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the attorneys general of Connecticut, New York, Minnesota and Maryland sent letters to WinRed and ActBlue, which process online donations for Republicans and Democrats, respectively. The letters became public after WinRed included them in a Minnesota Federal District Court filing meant to halt any kind of investigation by the four states.

According to the initial letter from the attorneys general, sent in late April, their chief concern about WinRed’s fundraising practices is its “use of pre-checked boxes to lock in recurring donations on a monthly and even weekly basis.”

“News reports suggest that this practice has led to complaints from consumers and refunds by WinRed, and may have resulted in significant costs and harm to donors who did not intend or know that WinRed would continue withdrawing money from their accounts beyond their initial donation to a political candidate, party or committee,” the letter continues. “Consumers report that they had been charged for regular contributions that they did not intend and could not afford.”

Connecticut's William Tong and other attorneys general are seeking records of complaints received by WinRed from donors in the four states and the company’s responses to those complaints, screenshots of webpages WinRed has set up for donations, the organization’s written policies related to the pre-checked box choice for raising money and a list of political candidates, committees and parties that WinRed used pre-checked recurring or additional donation boxes, among other information.

Since it is an ongoing matter, Tong's office would not say if anything in particular happened in Connecticut to spark this inquiry.

“We initiated this investigation to protect consumers, regardless of their party affiliation, from an alleged unfair and deceptive marketing practice,” the office said in a statement. “We look forward to working with our sister states to defend our investigations and will continue fighting to protect consumers.”

In WinRed’s complaint, the company attempts to deny the request for its records by questioning whether this is an election concern or a consumer protection concern. WinRed argues that as a “federally registered political action committee ... its activities are regulated by the Federal Election Campaign Act.”

A June 1 response letter from WinRed’s lawyers directed to the four attorneys general argues that federal election guidelines preempt any state investigation.

“WinRed is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Virginia. It does not direct its activities toward the jurisdictions of Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, or New York in any particular way, other than receiving funds from contributors in those jurisdictions,” the letter reads. “Therefore, even if residents of Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, and New York voluntarily contributed to federal political committees raising money through WinRed, it is not clear that the state attorneys general named in the April 29th letter have personal jurisdiction (general or specific) over WinRed itself.”

WinRed also claims overt partisanship on the part of the four Democratic attorneys general, naming ActBlue and pointing out the organization also uses pre-checked, recurring donation boxes. Tong’s office confirmed that the attorneys general are conducting the same inquiry for ActBlue.

Still, WinRed doubled down Thursday in a statement to conservative media outlet the Washington Examiner.

“Four Democrat Attorneys General are exploiting their positions of power for partisan gain and targeting WinRed for fundraising tactics that Democrats themselves pioneered and still use to this day,” the company said in the statement. “While pursuing these actions, these Democrat AGs are actively fundraising on ActBlue.”

Tong and the other attorneys general, in a June 17 response to WinRed’s response, asserted their authority to enforce state consumer protection laws.

“These laws protect our residents from deceptive, unfair and fraudulent practices in the solicitation of contributions, including the use of pre-checked boxes to trap donors into making unintended recurring donations,” the letter reads, adding, “your assertions about federal preemption are incorrect and provide no basis for WinRed’s refusal to respond to our inquiry.”

The attorneys general say WinRed can’t fundraise from donors in Connecticut, for example, then claim the state's attorney general doesn’t have jurisdiction.

“Moreover, WinRed collects contributions for candidates for state and local office whose activities are governed by state law and where federal preemption does not apply,” the letter continues.

The letter concludes with the attorneys general asking WinRed to cooperate with “our confidential inquiry.”

WinRed sent back a short letter maintaining its position and attaching a batch of Federal Election Commission filings, saying, “We hope that information is sufficient to resolve any questions you might have.”

The New York Times reported that the pre-checked donation boxes practice, which led to complaints of credit card fraud, forced former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign to refund $122 million.

As of Saturday, WinRed still had the option of making recurring donations on its website but those boxes did not appear pre-checked.

s.spinella@theday.com

We want to hear from you

The Day is interested in hearing from people who have donated to Republican or Democratic campaigns online. Did you have to deal with pre-checked boxes on the webpage that locked you in for a recurring donation? Did you spend more money than you meant to because of this? If so, did you receive a refund?

Please leave your comments below or contact reporter Sten Spinella at (860) 853-0085 or s.spinella@theday.com.