Donations tapped by Crist pal doubted

[Sancho]

Source: St. Petersburg Times

WASHINGTON — Democrats pounced on reports Wednesday that a major fundraiser for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Republican presidential candidate John McCain had tapped suspiciously apolitical Californians of modest means for thousands of dollars in campaign contributions over the past two years.

Harry Sar-geant III, an oil company executive and former fraternity brother of Crist, is at the center of questions about "straw donors" used to circumvent federal limits on contributions.

Snip-----

A review by the Post of state and federal campaign finance records found Sargeant's network of these donors was tapped four times: About 50 of them donated $500 each to Crist's campaign on June 19, 2006; 13 of them sent a combined $29,200 to Giuliani's campaign on Dec. 13, 2007; 17 of them sent the maximum $2,300 to Clinton's campaign on Dec. 24; and on March 12, about a dozen wrote checks to McCain totaling $50,600.

Sargeant told the Times on Wednesday that his extensive bundling is related to his contacting associates through his firm, International Oil Trading Co., who in turn contacted others. The firm helps supply fuel to the U.S. military in the Middle East.

Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/article760828.ece

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It seems that oil money seeps down to every election...

[happygoluckytoyou]

1. that would be the TRICKLE DOWN theory..... try not to get trickled on... wear your pith helmet

[Kelvin Mace]

2. Seems to me

he's soliciting foreign nationals for money, having them give it to family members is the states, then "donating" it to McCain.

Time to subpoena some bank records. Banks usually obey subpoenas.

[jmowreader]

7. I don't think it's that at all; I think it's much worse

There are two basic reasons I'd do this:

* circumvention of federal limits on hard-money contributions

* camouflaging donation levels

If I wanted to get around the $2300 McCain-Feingold general election donation limits, I'd get however much I wanted to spend together, have a LOT of postal money orders cut, and have lots of family and friends "donate" them to the candidate. This works real well until someone notices that lifelong-Democrat Aunt Mabel's first political donation in her entire 77-year life was a $2300 lump sum to a Republican. Postal money orders are great for this because so long as you buy them one at a time and keep the amount below $10,000 (the amount at which money laundering statutes kick in), they're not tracked as to their purchaser.

Now as for camouflaging donation levels: Republican money is different from Democrat money. In general, Republican money comes in big chunks from relatively few donors; Democrats get money in small amounts from lots more donors. If Obama needs a million dollars, he'll ask for 50,000 people to give him $20. If McCain needs that much, he calls 500 people. Using surrogate donors helps make Republican money look more like Democrat money.

(And yes, I used "Democrat" for a reason--I am a Democrat. If I give money to a politician it is Democrat money.)

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Anybody else notice this part?:

"17 of them sent the maximum $2,300 to Clinton's campaign on Dec. 24"

[Sancho]

4. I thought that was interesting.

Apparently, this bundling of money was a loophole, but I wonder if Hillary even knew where the money came from...

This is the first front page story about this that I've seen here.

[droidamus2]

9. Par for the course

The Republicans always try to do this when they are doing something underhanded. They include a high profile Democrat as protection against the Democrats making a big deal about it. It also allows them to use the old 'everybody does it line' to try to deflect criticism.

[DFW]

5. I know a guy in Ohio who is serving 27 months for doing just that

He gave money to many people, who in turn gave it to the Bush campaign
in 2004. It seems Republicans do this a LOT. Let's hope this discovery,
if similar to the Ohio case, has similar results. Republicans like to
portray themselves as the law and order party. Let's see them go after
suspected felonies committed by their own for once instead of fabricating
them for ex-governors of Alabama.

[kmac3]

6. Obvious accepted different standards . . .

Don't you know . . . if you're a Republican it isn't against the law!:shrug:

[Cherchez la Femme]

8. "oil company executive"

Is, in the future, landing a job as an oil company executive and having no conscience nor morals somehow genetically linked
or is that simply part of the job description/duties?

Who ARE these people,
and how can they live with themselves??