Torricelli donations to smear Dean possibly illegal...

[helleborient]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040211/ap_on_el_pr/anti_dean_ads&e=1&ncid=

Federal Election Commission (news - web sites) spokesman Bob Biersack said it was "fuzzy" whether Torricelli's contribution was permissible under FEC rules. Donations to such groups are not included on an FEC list of permitted uses for campaign funds.


Torricelli declined to comment, referring calls to Jones. Jones referred the AP to his group's attorney, Ken Gross, who had no immediate comment on the Torricelli campaign's donation.

[RogueTrooper]

1. I have absolutly no idea how Kerry is going

to hold the line when he is attacking Bush ( et al ) over Government corruption when he is in collusion with "The Torch". God Help Us.

[MoonAndSun]

2. So Toricelli has no comment, what about Kerry?

eom

[helleborient]

3. Guess no one wants to touch real corruption in the Kerry camp...

The same article says Torricelli's connections with Kerry are "unassailable"

I just love it when our possible presumptive nominee is defending those who wallow in political corruption. (sarcasm)

[redqueen]

4. *sigh*

Kerry really should have addressed this by now.

[IndianaGreen]

5. Let's call for an investigation by the FEC

If federal laws were violated, the culprits should be prosecuted to the fullest extend of the law.

[dave29]

6. urghghgl

:puke:

[redqueen]

7. What you don't like this?

This is just a taste.

We'll see how well Kerry holds up to this, maybe that will be a good indicator of how he'll hold up to scrutiny and right wing smear tactics in the GE. THAT's when things will get ugly. This? This is nothing.

[dave29]

11. I could care less if Kerry holds up to this

you reap what you sow. Karma's a bitch and all that.

[redqueen]

14. As I see it that's the main influence on whether he'll beat bush

if the media can manage to paint him as corrupt, and bush enjoys his usual thick coat of white paint vis a vis the corporate media, it's 4 more years.

[Kahuna]

8. Torch is not to be trusted... Torch equals bad news

all around. :puke:

[candy331]

12. Brit Hume mentioned on C-Span

that he and Kerry were schoolmates in the early grades and Brian Lamb asked him about how he saw Kerry back then and he said an opportunist. Sometimes it just could be true that it takes one to know one.

[JVS]

9. I hope they throw the book at them

[redqueen]

10. Think it'll happen? n/t

[Debi]

13. No...

'The Media' has treated Kerry with kid gloves and will continue to do so.

This reeks - Kerry stated he had NO CONNECTION to the 527 - just a coincidence that The Torch contributed to Kerry and the 527 in the same time period?? HA

Will any NEWS outlet make the connection? No, we've heard the last of this story....sadly :cry:

[redqueen]

15. Do you think it will change after he's the nominee?

FWIW, I do.

[janx]

16. You bet it will.

They'll pull out all the stops. Nothing will be off-limits then.

[Robb]

17. You know, it's really too bad some people keep bringing this up.

Whoops, sorry. I was channeling Scott. :D

[HFishbine]

25. Ha!

"It's a shame. It's really a shame."

[janx]

29. Exactly.

n/t

[Debi]

18. But it will be too late

We will have our nominee and the Media will tear him to shreds....Dean had a pretty transparent record, clean personal life and great ideas...would've knocked Bush out of the ballpark!

Now we will have 1984/1988 reduex - ugly-ugly-ugly

[janx]

23. Yes, it will be too late then.

You are right.

[Nicholas_J]

19. Actually

It is not illegal at for groups to do this. If so, MoveON's anti-Bush commercials would be completely illegal. It is not illegal for any of these oraganizations to pay for any kind of commercial they wanted to.

Nor is it illegal for Torcelli, to give money to groups that do so.

Though I beleive it might be good for Dean to make such attacks. It leave him open for having the F.E.C. closely examine how the 40 million he spent was handled.

Dean is getting desperate.

[WonderGrunion]

28. Except

Torch wasn't giving his own money, he was donating funds left over from his senate campaign. You would be right if he used personal funds. It's not the ad that was illegal, it was the donation.

[Ficus]

20. anyone surprised Torricelli broke the law?

I always thought of him as shady.

[MoonAndSun]

21. Toricelli and illegal in the same sentence.

what a shock!!

[drfemoe]

22. "Fuzzy"?

NOT on the list of FEC permitted uses for CAMPAIGN FUNDS. NOT ON THE LIST. How is that FUZZY?

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[redqueen]

26. Not true

While this is not an issue to mainstream Dems whose one goal is to oust bush, and nothing else really matters too much; it is most definitely an issue to the ever-fickle 'swing voter' whom we are purportedly courting with our pro-war, pro-NAFTA candidate.

To those people, personal integrity is a very big deal. If it were ever widely reported in the media that bush is a perennial loser who cheats to get his way, they'd suddenly decide they don't approve of him. Since the media will not report this, and they will never deign to even feign an interest in anything so close to manual labor as actual independent research, bush is safe.

However, Kerry won't be safe. If the media, as is widely expected, reverts to their true form after the nomination, you can safely wager that they will savage Kerry for every itty bitty tie to anything unsavory ever in his life. Those same swing voters will then turn on him, running back to the hapless bush, who tried so hard to 'do the right thing'.

[killbotfactory]

27. Kerry is very proud of the honorable Torricelli's work on his behalf

I'm sure.