My political ideas are garbage so here's some free money from me.

Andrew Yang promises 10 random families $12G each in Houston debate surprise

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang promised during Thursday night's debate to give a total of $120,000 to at least 10 random families over the next year – the latest campaign stunt from the unconventional candidate who says he would push for a universal basic income plan as president.

“I’m going to do something unprecedented tonight," Yang said in his opening statement. "My campaign will now give a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month for an entire year to 10 American families – someone watching this at home right now. If you believe that you can solve your own problems better than any politician go to Yang2020.com and tell us how $1,000 a month will do just that.”

Afterward, laughter could be heard in the debate hall in Houston, including from Sen. Amy Klobuchar. South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg followed by saying, “It’s original, I’ll give you that.”

In a news release, Yang's campaign said the monthly payments will be funded by the campaign.

“We consulted with our counsel, and the Freedom Dividends are fully compliant with all FEC regulations,” the campaign said in a statement.

A central part of Yang’s campaign pitch is his expensive proposal to give all Americans what he calls a “freedom dividend” of $1,000 a month. He has said he would pay for it by putting a European-style value-added tax on tech companies.

Yang is already personally funding a $1,000 a month freedom dividend for three families.

Speaking to Fox News earlier this year, Yang insisted that giving away money to voters is “100 percent legal,” saying he consulted lawyers and the Federal Election Commission first. He denied it amounts to buying votes.

“All you have to do is talk to any of the people that are actually receiving the freedom dividend and ask them has anyone from my campaign ever said that they need to do anything in return and you will categorically no: they can vote for whoever they like,” Yang said in June.

Ahead of the debate, Yang teased the forthcoming debate stunt, tweeting earlier this week that “we've got something big in store.”

In the run-up to the debate, Yang also worked to portray himself as different from the other politicians running for president, posting a “debate prep” video showing him boxing and playing basketball. He also recently shared video of himself crowd surfing over supporters.

“For those wondering I will be crowdsurfing in sandals at Thursday’s debate,” he joked on Twitter.

Yang, a New York entrepreneur who has never run for office and was not famous before his run, has elbowed his way onto the debate stage with the help of a fervent group of supporters he calls the “Yang Gang.”

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Unfortunately the FEC is so understaffed, it is incapable of rendering a judgment on Yang's little sweepstakes. It takes four out of the six commissioners to hold a quorum and vote to take action against a possible violation of the rules like this, and there's only three at the moment.

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"I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." - Donald Trump, on pedophile Jeff Epstein.

They had a quorum (although the minimum) up until a couple of weeks ago when the FEC Vice Chairman Matthew Petersen announced his immediate resignation...

Looks like neither the administration nor the Democrats are eager to settle this...

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Federal Election Commission chair Ellen Weintraub about the FEC's lack of a quorum and how that might affect the upcoming election cycle

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Methinks Yang's counsel is wrong. Using campaign funds to buy votes is illegal. Using his own funds might be arguable, but still shaky. Didn't this get settled in Chicago with Daly?

At any rate, aside from Trump bad and must be racist, all the left has is gimme' free stuff.