Clinton fundraisers team up with the theoretically impartial DNC

The Hillary Victory Fund is a "joint fundraising committee" that distributes its earnings to the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and state-level Democratic Party organizations (see the full list of the committee's beneficiaries here). The fund was organized in September, and since then it has donated almost $20 million to the DNC.

This is unusual — and potentially a conflict of interest — for one big reason: Hillary Clinton isn't yet the Democratic nominee for 2016.

Though she has long been considered the clear frontrunner, at this pre-primary stage in the game, party machinery is theoretically supposed to be a neutral manager that facilitates the process of determining Democratic voters' preferences. Typically, a candidate does not combine fundraising efforts with their national party until after locking up the nomination.

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Update Jan. 6: DNC spokesman Eric Walker told The Week that the Democratic Party has offered the same joint fundraising options to the Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley campaigns. The Sanders camp signed an agreement with the DNC but is not jointly fundraising with any state parties, while the O'Malley campaign has so far declined the arrangement at both the state and national levels.