campaign finance

Besides President Obama and the democrats, there was another big winner in this year's election - democracy. Despite all the big money that went into the right to try and buy this election, democracy did prevail.

And who was the big loser? In a case of absolute irony, it so happens the biggest loser was a man who made his fortune on people losing bets:

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson vowed to spend as much as $100 million to defeat President Barack Obama and help the GOP take control of Congress. According to two GOP fundraisers with close ties to the Las Vegas billionaire, he made good on that promise -- and then some. Adelson ultimately upped the ante, spending closer to a previously unreported $150 million, the fundraisers said.

Even more ironic is the fact that people like Adelson are the very same people who whine and bitch if their taxes go up a percent or two. Hopefully their loss in the election will cost them more by the way of taxes. It's time for these people to give back to the country that helped make them.

The Daily Mall has this piece up:

Barack Obama has already held more re-election fundraising events than every elected president since Richard Nixon combined, according to figures to be published in a new book.

Obama is also the only president in the past 35 years to visit every electoral battleground state in his first year of office.

The figures, contained a in a new book called The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign by Brendan J. Doherty, due to be published by University Press of Kansas in July, give statistical backing to the notion that Obama is more preoccupied with being re-elected than any other commander-in-chief of modern times.

Doherty, who has compiled statistics about presidential travel and fundraising going back to President Jimmy Carter in 1977, found that Obama had held 104 fundraisers by March 6th this year, compared to 94 held by Presidents Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush combined.

Since then, Obama has held another 20 fundraisers, bringing his total to 124. Carter held four re-election fundraisers in 1980, Reagan zero in 1984, Bush Snr 19 in 1992, Clinton 14 in 1996 and Bush Jnr 57 in 2004.

Needless to say the right is starting a storm over this already. Here's Weasel Zippers:

He excels at two things and two things only: Running up enormous debt with other peoples’ money and raising cash for his own self-serving ends. He is nothing more than an ordinary street hustler in an extraordinary position.

While everyone is talking about the past sexual harassment accusations against Herman Cain, there’s another story today that could prove even bigger trouble for Herman Cain:

Herman Cain's two top campaign aides ran a private Wisconsin-based corporation that helped the GOP presidential candidate get his fledgling campaign off the ground by originally footing the bill for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for such items as iPads, chartered flights and travel to Iowa and Las Vegas - something that might breach federal tax and campaign law, according to sources and documents.

Internal financial records obtained by No Quarter show that Prosperity USA said it was owed about $40,000 by the Cain campaign for a variety of items in February and March. Cain began taking donations for his presidential bid on Jan. 1.

Prosperity USA was owned and run by Wisconsin political operatives Mark Block and Linda Hansen, Cain's current chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, respectively.

Now we are dealing with campaign finance law, something no where near as steamy as sexual harassment, but something that could be much more damaging. Don’t take my word for that. The article has this little tidbit:

Election law experts say the transactions raise a host of questions for the private organization, which billed itself as a tax-exempt nonprofit, and the Cain team.

"If the records accurately reflect what occurred, this is way out of bounds," said a Washington, D.C.-based election lawyer who advises many Republican candidates and conservative groups on campaign issues. The lawyer asked not to be identified because of those affiliations.

CBS is seeing the signs that Justice Stevens term in the Supreme Court could be coming to an end:

Justice John Paul Stevens has left some clues he’s planning to retire this year, shortly after he turns 90 years old. He’s only hired one law clerk for next term, for example, and not the four that sitting justices typically hire every year.

But Stevens is unpredictable, and he’s seemed as sharp as ever from the bench, so I thought maybe, just maybe, he would pull something out of his sleeve at the last minute and stick around for awhile.
Until today.

Stevens spent a good 20 minutes this morning reading a summary of his scathing dissent in the campaign finance case. And he showed his age.

This is a serious question that must be investigated:

Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping.

The surge in contributions came from a Who’s Who of executives at the companies, AT&T and Verizon, starting with the chief executives and including at least 50 executives and lawyers at the two utilities, according to campaign finance reports.

The money came primarily from a fund-raiser that Verizon held for Mr. Rockefeller in March in New York and another that AT&T sponsored for him in May in San Antonio.

Mr. Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, emerged last week as the most important supporter of immunity in devising a compromise plan with Senate Republicans and the Bush administration.

In the wake of Duke Cunningham, any activity like this must come under heavy scrutiny. I don't care what party the person belongs to. The people of this country are sick and tired of politicians putting personal wealth above the people. Does 11% approval rating right a bell?

The Democrats need to act vigilantly on this. If there is any question of wrong doing, then Rockefeller needs to be stripped from all of his committees pending an outcome of an investigation. No excuses can be acceptable on this poor behavior.

ABC wants to turn into a right wing propaganda machine, then so be it. We will go after them where it hurts - their advertisers. They have fully shown their partisanship in the new 9/11 documentary, and Think Progress has uncovered more evidence of it:

ABC has been aggressively advancing its inaccurate and politically slanted miniseries, “The Path to 9/11,” to the right wing. Big players like Rush Limbaugh have been provided copies, as have obscure right-wing bloggers like Patterico.

But ABC has refused to provide a copy to President Clinton’s office. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger have also requested copies of the film from ABC, and both have been denied. Both Berger and Albright are harshly criticized in the film in scenes that, according to former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, are “180 degrees from what happened.”

So this is what they want to resort to? Fine. Every major advertiser for ABC better be on notice that they will feel the wrath of the progressive blogosphere.

Something else that I am wondering, and I hope campaign finance lawyers can look into this. The media is suppose to give equal time to candidates. Since this is purely a piece of partisan campaign material, what are they going to give the left? They say Fahrenheit 9/11 is fake, so then why not air that? I hope the FCC and FEC looks into ABC's actions.

In a scathing memo written by Richard Weghorst, Ohio's director of finance,
it appears that the wife of Tom Now, Bernadette Noe had a hand in the 2004
election which could of possibly changed the outcome.

This is being reported by Raw Story:

In yet another surreal twist in Ohio’s “coin-gate” scandal, the wife of
Bush’s chief Ohio fundraiser, Tom Noe—who is currently embroiled in campaign
finance and money laundering probes—surprised poll workers and observers
alike by disrupting the ballot count during the 2004 general election, RAW
STORY has discovered.

Bernadette Noe, who served dual roles as chairman for the Lucas County
Republican Party and the Lucas County Board of Elections, sent twelve
“partisans” into a warehouse on Election Day, according a memo authored by
Ohio’s Director of Campaign Finance Richard Weghorst who was present at the
time.

The assertion is part of a comprehensive investigation prepared for Ohio
Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell regarding reports of
irregularities in Lucas County. The report found gross failures on the part
of Ms. Noe’s board in preparation for and administration of November’s
election.

Article continues

here

From the

Associated Press

FEC Sues Pro-Republican Political Group

By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer

Federal election officials Monday sued a political group to try to force
it to comply with campaign finance limits, the first lawsuit of its kind to
arise from big-money fundraising during the 2004 elections.

The Federal Election Commission filed a complaint in U.S. District Court
in Washington against the Club for Growth. The pro-Republican group spent at
least $21 million in the 2003-04 election cycle.

The FEC contends the group spent enough in federal races to require it to
file with the commission as a political committee and abide by limits on
contributions and spending.

FEC Vice Chairman Michael Toner called the case "one of the most
important suits the commission has brought in recent years." The lawsuit is
the first to result from several complaints filed against both
pro-Republican and pro-Democratic "soft money groups."

Campaign finance watchdogs contend the groups spent millions of dollars
in corporate, union and unlimited contributions from individuals despite a
2002 law banning the use of such money in presidential and congressional
races.

Will the Republicans ever play by the rules?