Shock horror, an illegal payment to a politician. Who would have thought such a thing could occur, when politicians are legally bought off through campaign donations?
On Oct 2, 8:31 pm, mark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > An auditor for the Federal Election Commission is attempting to have > his bosses seek a formal investigation into the collection by the > Obama for President campaign of more than $200 million in potentially > illegal political donations, including millions of dollars of illegal, > foreign donations, and has sought a request for assistance from the > Department of Justice or Federal Bureau of Investigation. But the > analyst's requests have largely been ignored. "I can't get anyone to > move. I believe we are looking at a hijacking of our political system > that makes the Clinton and Gore fundraising scandals pale in > comparison. And no one here wants to touch it." > > One reasons cited by his superiors, says the analyst, is that > involvement by the Justice Department or FBI would be indicative of a > criminal investigation, something the FEC would prefer not take place > a month before the presidential election. Such actions, though, have > been used to scuttle Republican campaigns in the past, the most famous > being the Weinberger case in the days leading up to the 1992 re- > election bid of President George H.W. Bush. > > The analyst, who declines to be identified for fear of retribution, > says that on four different occasions in the past three months, he > sought to open formal investigations into the Obama campaign's > fundraising techniques, but those investigations have been > discouraged. "Without formal approval, I can't get the resources I > need, manpower, that kind of thing. This is a huge undertaking." And > the analyst says that he believes that campaign finance violations > have occurred. > > The Obama campaign has already had to deal with several FEC complaints > about fraudulent donors and illegal foreign contributions, and the FEC > says it has no record that those complaints have been resolved or > closed. As well, the Obama campaign has been cagey at times about the > means by which it has made its historic fundraising hauls, which now > total almost $500 million for the election cycle. The Hillary Clinton > campaign raised questions about the huge amount of e-retail sales the > Obama campaign was making for such things as t-shirts and other > campaign paraphernalia, and how such sales were being tracked and used > for fundraising purposes. While the profits of those items counted > against the $2,300 personal donation limit, there have always been > lingering questions about the e-retail system. > > "The question has always been, if you buy a $25 t-shirt and you go > back to that purchaser eight or nine times with email appeals for $200 > or $500 donations, and you have people donating like that all the > time, at what point does the campaign bother to check if the FEC limit > has been exceeded?" says a former Clinton campaign fundraiser. "There > are enough of us from the 1992 and 1996 and 2000 races around to know > that many of these kinds of violations never get caught until after > the election has been won or lost. In this case, there is no way the > Obama campaign will be held accountable before Election Day, unless > someone raises holy hell." > > The FEC analyst says that Obama's filings indicate he has received > large, bundled sums of donations from overseas, sometimes exceeding a > quarter millions dollars. "It's suspicious, but it's the small > donations made by credit card that need to be examined. We've raised > red flags on many of these and the Obama campaign just ignores us. > After this election, after we've sifted through everything -- if we're > allowed to sift through everything -- I am confident that we are > looking at perhaps the largest fine every leveled against a national > campaign entity." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
