Abramoff free until after election day
Whew! Jack Abramoff can stay out of prison until November 15th. Thank goodness or how else could he attend election night parties with all of his Republican friends?
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Disclaimer
WisOpinion is hosting this blog but does not control or endorse its content.Previous Posts
- Green misses abortion vote
- Wilcox conflict has another layer
- Dale Schultz's fantasy world
- Prosser and Wilcox must recuse themselves from Green case
- -By Ann Telnaes via Slate.com
- Be careful what you beg for
- Honesty is the best policy
- Green takes the money and runs
- Quotes are all you need on this one
- A tale of two lobbyists
3 Comments:
I thought Jack was planning on stopping off at Gov. Doyle's party on election night...maybe help him out with a late donation, tell him prison life won't be so bad, cheer him up a little.
I think you may be confused about which candidate he'd be visiting. Remember a year or so ago when DeLay & Abramoff were all the news? And it came out that Mark Green had received donations from DeLay's dirty fund raising? Here's a quick recap of how what should be done with the money was handled by the Green Team (swiped off the Xoff files, http://www.wisopinion.com/blogs/2006/01/mark-greens-long-and-winding-road.html)
Sept. 29 Journal Sentinel: "If we wrote a check to 'Tom DeLay for Congress,' we'd be in violation" of federal law, which sets limits on the size of gifts to federal campaign committees," Graul said. Also, Graul said, "that money has been since spent, so there is no contribution to return."
Or maybe it's
Oct 2, Green Bay Press Gazette: Green says he only transfered $2,000 of DeLay's money into his governor's campaign account, so the most he could give back is $2,000.
Wait, what they meant to say was
Oct. 2, Appleton Post Crescent: "The fact of the matter is, I don't have a federal account anymore," said Green, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in the September 2006 primary. "And as we understand it, it would actually be illegal to do what they are calling for." [The truth was that he did have a federal account at the time, which wasn't terminated until Dec. 19, FEC records show.]
But my personal favorite is
Oct 11, Wisconsin State Journal: "While he said Green may return the $2,000, [Graul]rejected Democrats' calls to donate the balance of the $30,000 to a voter registration effort. "We need the money to beat Jim Doyle," Graul said.
Seriously, neither candidate is doing anything that should be unexpected regarding fundraising. And if there's anything we could learn about both candidates it's the undue influence which special interests are legally allowed in politics in general. The main difference I currently see is that Doyle hasn't actually done anything illegal and Mark has been explicitly told by the state elections board, "Um, you illegally transferred funds to your election account. You can't use them," to which he responded, "But if I play by the rules, it seriously impedes my chances of winning," (paraphrased). Never mind that the rules are, you know, state law.
Republicans can keep trying to make the Abramoff thing a bipartisan issue, but it's just not. No one is buying it.
Post a Comment
<< Home