Clowns, slumlords and 'pimp daddies' all donate to campaigns

This week, presidential and congressional candidates scrambled to rid themselves of political contributionsfrom the president of a white supremacist group that influenced the alleged Charleston, S.C., shooter Dylann Roof.

While Earl Holt did not include his affiliation to the Council of Conservative Citizens in federal election records, he repeatedly cited an unusual profession. His occupation is listed as "slumlord" or "retired slumlord" in connection with 31 donations, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Why didn't that set off alarm bells for candidates who took his checks?

While campaign aides try to vet people who give larger contributions and the fundraisers who collect millions on their behalf, campaign finance experts say it's hard for staffers to track who is giving checks in relatively small amounts. Holt often donated $250 or $500 at a time.

"It's pretty labor-intensive" to research donors, said Bob Biersack, a senior fellow at the Center for Responsive Politics and a former Federal Election Commission official. Candidates "are kind of between a rock and a hard place. They don't want to get into political trouble, but they don't want to spend precious campaign resources checking people's backgrounds all the time."

Unusual occupations — ranging from "clowns" to "hip mamas" and "Obama Mamas" — pop up throughout campaign filings.

This year, for instance, San Francisco resident Melburn Knox made four contributions of $250 each to Democratic Party committees in which he described his occupation as "pimp daddy," the center's data show.

"I'm not really a pimp daddy," Knox said, when reached by phone this week. He's actually an equipment salesman, who said he sometimes also describes himself as a "mack daddy" as a joke. "I always wonder whether people read that stuff."