Federal Law: For the Little People

Remember when Leona Helmsley claimed that "only little people paid taxes"?  Well - it seems that when you're The One, federal election laws can also be ignored.

Hotair has the details.

Via Andy McCarthy, who sets an example I’ll follow by keeping his own commentary short to get you to read the whole thing. To be clear: Obama’s not required by law to identify contributions of less than $200. But given that (a) McCain does it voluntarily, (b) The One claims to be all about a new, transparent politics in Washington, and (c) his campaign is famously powered by small donors, it’s a tad curious that most of the names of people who’ve dropped a little north of $222 million on him in small contributions remain known only to him and his campaign.

Especially when some of the ones who have been identified look like this:

In a letter dated June 25, 2008, the FEC asked the Obama campaign to verify a series of $25 donations from a contributor identified as “Will, Good” from Austin, Texas.

Mr. Good Will listed his employer as “Loving” and his profession as “You.”

A Newsmax analysis of the 1.4 million individual contributions in the latest master file for the Obama campaign discovered 1,000 separate entries for Mr. Good Will, most of them for $25.

In total, Mr. Good Will gave $17,375.

Following this and subsequent FEC requests, campaign records show that 330 contributions from Mr. Good Will were credited back to a credit card. But the most recent report, filed on Sept. 20, showed a net cumulative balance of $8,950 — still well over the $4,600 limit.

What can I say?  More and more, it seems as if intelligent and well-intentioned people are caught up with the "aura" of The One.  Obama has a mantle of teflon that makes previous politicians' protection look like tissue paper.

I don't understand it - but then, I have not understood much about movements and human activity in my life.  When people continued to assume that residential real estate would increase 15% to 20% annually, as salaries went up 3%, I remained mystified.  Here, too, I can only wonder why bright people care not that one of our candidates talks a good game about reform and transparency, yet fails to walk the walk.

My own personal "shock and awe" - I guess.

Comments

[Greg]

This is like shooting fish in a barrel. You make this way too easy.

More Questions About a McCain Bundler

A new question has surfaced this morning surrounding the bundling activity of Harry Sargeant, the Florida Republican who has raised more than $500,000 for the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain -- was it legal for his foreign co-worker to solicit political contributions?

The Post first reported on Sargeant's efforts on behalf of McCain and other political candidates earlier this week. McCain's campaign has credited Sargeant for collecting dozens of $2,300 and $4,600 checks, many of them from ordinary families in California. The manager of several Taco Bell restaurants, an auto mechanic, and the one-time owners of a liquor store all wrote big checks, even though many were not registered to vote.

Washington Post Aug 7, 2008

McCain takes illegal campaign donations from Muslim immigrants

I have an honest question: Does anyone else wonder if McCain is even aware of this bundling issue yet? I mean, he fancies himself the master on campaign finance; surely his own campaign could not possibly be thus vulnerable.

In addition, whoever and whatever information reaches McCain, who does not use the internet, is likely filtered by his secretive Rovian handlers.

There are so many elements here that make this story potentially devastating, and it's possible that McCain himself is yet only dimly aware there's even a threat gathering.

By the way, to the extent that the Abdullahs and others are innocent, I hope they are left alone.

The best part of this: Obama's hands are clean.

Talking Points Memo
Aug 7, 2008

McCain campaign returning $50,000

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain's campaign is returning about $50,000 raised by a Florida oil executive because some of the funds were collected by a foreign national and came from donors who may not actually support the candidate, aides said Thursday.
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5931447.html

Multiple Oil Company Executives Gave Huge Contributions To Electing McCain Just Days After Offshore Drilling Reversal

Ten senior Hess Corporation executives and/or members of the Hess family each gave $28,500 to the joint RNC-McCain fundraising committee, just days after McCain reversed himself to favor offshore drilling, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

Talking Points Memo
Aug 4, 2008

Hess-Connected Amtrak Worker Who Gave $28,500 Likely Makes Less Than $100K Per Year
Alice Rocchio, a Hess office manager, and her husband, Pasquale Rocchio, an Amtrak "track foreman," rent a house in Flushing, Queens, but managed to give $28,500 apiece to McCain Victory 2008 on the same day that eight other Hess execs and Hess family members did.

Talking Points Memo
Aug 4, 2008

You should read some progressive blogs before you post stuff that can be debunked this quick.

[Peg]

Greg - exactly what have you "debunked"?

If the McCain campaign also took funds that should not have been accepted - that shows problems with their processing, also. It does not get Obama's campaign off the hook.

Please explain how you have "debunked" any of what I posted.

[Greg]

So let me see if I get this correct. For McCain it is just a processing problem, for Obama it is a major scandal. Do we not see a double standard at hand here?

Once again:

Obama's campaign would be over, done, cooked, imploded if:

- He used his office to allow his wife to carry narcotics for her consumption on a diplomatic passport.

- He had a scandal where he traded campaign favors for political influence ala Keating 5.

- He picked a Veep with the same skill set and experience as Sarah Palin.

- He called his wife a trollop and c++t in public.

- He couldn't remember what border Afghanistan was on.

- He kept confusing Iraq with Iran.

- He involved himself in a regional conflict that has no strategic value to this country.

- He surrounded himself with a lobbyist operation of 150 people to manage his campaign.

- He dumped his 1st wife for a 24 year old heiress to a beer fortune, committing adultery in the process.

- He had a lobbyist that got him to intercede with the FCC on broadcasting licensing with a potential sex angle involved.

- He was 72 years old with a medical history of numerous occurrences of cancer.

- He was celebrating his birthday with a cake while New Orleans was drowning.

- He was in a Party that has been a governing disaster for the past 8 years.

- He had falsely fingered Iraq for the 9/11 attack.

- He had fellow Senators of his Party publicly worried about his temper and temperament to be POTUS.

- He was caught on camera celebrating his birthday with a celebrity and indicted con artist in some exotic locale.

- He couldn't remember how many houses he owned.

- He violated campaign rules about flying in private aircraft, owned by his wife, at no charge to his campaign.

- He thought rich was making $5MM/year.

- He let Michelle show up for his nominating convention, wearing $280,000 worth of jewels.

- He continued to lie about his VP's accomplishments. particularly on earmarks and the bridge to nowhere.

- He stated that Joe Biden probably knew more about energy than any other person in the US.

- He graduated 894/895 in his class and crash 4 jets while in the military.

Ah, the soft bigotry of lowered expectations. I bet if Obama were running as a Republican, these problems wouldn't matter to you at all.

[Greg]

Here is a good gem, please spin this one if you can.

FEC Queries McCain Campaign on 'Excessive Contributions'
By Matthew Mosk

While the Republican Party is pushing the Federal Election Commission to investigate the possibility that Democrat Barack Obama collected excessive contributions, its own candidate is facing scrutiny on the same subject.

The FEC sent a letter to Sen. John McCain's campaign treasurer Sept. 30 demanding the candidate turn over more information about "contributions that appear to exceed the limits."

The letter is accompanied by a nine-page list showing scores of overages from McCain's August campaign finance report, including nearly $13,000 from Texas rancher Ray R. Barrett Jr.; $9,200 from an Iraqi security consultant, H. Carter Andress; and $5,000 from Joseph F. Davolio, an executive at a major national liquor, beer, and wine distributor.

"Please inform the Commission of your corrective action immediately in writing and provide photocopies of any refund checks and/or letters reattributing or redesignating the contributions in question," the letter from the FEC's senior campaign finance analyst, Leah S. Palmer, says. "The acceptance of excessive contributions is a serious problem."

The FEC sent its letter a week before a lawyer for the Republican National Committee said the party will ask the Federal Election Commission to look into the source of thousands of small-dollar contributions to Obama.

www.voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/06/fec_queries_mccain_campaign_on.html?hpid=topnews