The Trailhead blog at Slate.com reports: Ever since the Clinton campaign went on life support earlier this week, there’s been speculation that Barack Obama could persuade Hillary to drop out by promising to pay off her campaign debt. The Huffington Post’s Tom Edsall wrote that “it is not uncommon for winning presidential campaigns to pick up some or all of a competitor's debts and obligations, although the size of Clinton's debt and her personal loans to her campaign are unprecedented - somewhere over and above $20 million.” Meanwhile, diarists at DailyKos started hyperventilating that their Obama donations would be given to subsidize Clinton’s ailing campaign. Is their fear justified?

No it’s not. Obama can’t just “pay back” Clinton’s debt. FEC rules limit contributions from one candidate committee to another at $2000, according to FEC spokesman Bob Biersack. So even if Obama wanted to cut Hillary a $10 million check, he couldn’t. Nor could he route his money through the DNC, since national party committees can only give $5000 to a candidate committee.

What Obama can do is fundraise for her. Over the past year, Obama has established a formidable online fundraising apparatus that has raked in more than $240 million since the campaign began. If he called for supporters to chip in for Clinton, or set up a joint fundraising committee, he could probably drum up some cash. How much is unclear. -- Trailhead : Debt Relief

Posted by Ed at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Birmingham News reports: An effort to ban shuffling money between political action committees is coming down to the final day of the legislative session.

A conference committee on Thursday debated a watered-down version of the ban originally proposed by Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville.

The proposed compromise bans PAC-to-PAC transfers, but would carve out one-way street exemptions for political parties and legislative caucuses and require new filings to shed light on who s getting and giving money in Alabama politics.

PACs could give money to political parties and legislative caucuses, but the parties and caucuses could not give money to another PAC, under the compromise. PACs, political parties, legislative caucuses and "get out the vote" groups would have to file new quarterly reports listing their contributions and donations in addition to the reports they file before elections. -- Alabama Legislature s proposed PAC compromise would require new disclosure- al.com

Posted by Ed at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Why Clinton Stands to Lose Millions - US News and World Report
US News and World Report reports: Experts disagree on whether or not Clinton will actually stick in the fight until the Democratic National Convention in August. But the date looms large for another reason—at least, if she hopes to recoup any of the millions she has sunk into the campaign. Thanks to a little-known provision in 2002's McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform bill, a campaign must repay the loan to a candidate before Election Day. In this case, that's the nominating convention. After the election has passed, a bankrupt campaign is limited to gathering just $250,000 from contributors, which means that modest sum is all it can give back to a candidate. In short, Clinton stands to lose $11,150,000. "If she wants to be repaid, she'd have to move on that between now and the national convention," says former Federal Election Commission chairman Michael Toner. "Otherwise, it just becomes another contribution." The campaign, meanwhile, has other debts to consider as well. According to her latest FEC filing, the Hillary Clinton for President campaign committee owes millions to vendors, including more than $4.5 million to Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, the consulting firm of her former chief strategist Mark Penn.

That adds another wrinkle to her decision to stay in the race. Time is running out to pay off friends, allies, and vendors. Plus, by all accounts, Clinton's most ardent supporters are tapped out, either unwilling or unable by law to donate any more. If she's going to continue competing, she has to ask herself how many more millions she's willing to spend in a quest many describe as increasingly quixotic. In short, how much does she care about the money? Politics guru Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia figures not much; after all, the Clintons earned $109 million since leaving the White House. "It's like Michael Bloomberg spending a billion. Would he miss it? Is she going to miss $10 million? There's only so much you can spend yourself anyway." -- Why Clinton Stands to Lose Millions

Hat-tip to Taegan Goddard's Political Wire for the link.

Posted by Ed at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Detroit Free Press reports: An attorney from Geoffrey Fieger’s law office, called as a prosecution witness to testify in the high profile lawyer’s federal trial for alleged illegal political fund-raising, told jurors today that he’d followed the same practices throughout his 24-year career.

“I’ve done exactly what I’ve done at the Fieger firm that’s the subject of this litigation on numerous occasions through my legal career at another firm,” Jeffrey Danzig testified on direct examination.

Fieger and partner Vernon (Ven) Johnson are charged with breaking campaign finance laws. Money was collected from employees, friends, relatives and other for the 2004 John Edwards presidential bid and the donations were then reimbursed by law firm checks.

The times he’d done the same thing while at the Lopatin-Miller law office were “too many to count,” Danzing said in later cross-examination. -- Attorney working for Fieger: I've followed the same practices for 24 years

Posted by Ed at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Detroit News reports: A lawyer who works for indicted Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger testified Monday that Fieger s law firm reimbursed him for $8,000 in political donations he made on behalf of himself, his wife, and his two college-age children.

But attorney Paul Broschay testified he was not promised he would be reimbursed for the checks he wrote to the 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat John Edwards and would have donated to the Edwards campaign even if partners at the firm had not asked him to do so. He did not think he did anything illegal, Broschay told a jury in U.S. District Court.

Fieger, 57, and his law partner, Ven Johnson, 46, were indicted in 2007 on conspiracy and illegal campaign contribution charges. They are accused of making $127,000 in illegal donations to the Edwards campaign by reimbursing employees, employee relatives and law firm vendors. Fieger is also charged with obstruction of justice, a 10-year felony. Both have pleaded not guilty. -- Fieger paid for political donation, lawyer testifies

The Detroit Free Press explains how he can to testify: Paul Broschay, a former Detroit and Trenton police officer, said agents came to his home under the guise of serving a grand jury subpoena, but proceeded to play "good cop, bad cop" in hopes of getting him to say something damaging about Fieger and his law partner, Vernon (Ven) Johnson. Both men are on trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit on charges of illegally reimbursing 64 employees, friends, family members and vendors to contribute $127,000 to Edwards' ill-fated campaign.

Broschay said he tried to cooperate at first, but asked the agents to leave after his daughter, then a Michigan State University student, called home and was hysterical because agents confronted her in her apartment.

"It kinda pissed me off," said Broschay, who testified under a grant of immunity from federal prosecutors. -- Agents bullied me, Fieger lawyer says

Posted by Ed at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Birmingham News reports: Homewood Mayor Barry McCulley apologized Monday for granting the McCain presidential campaign a reduced rental rate at Rosewood Hall for an April 21 fundraiser.

The campaign was charged $250 to rent two rooms, which have a posted rate of $1,200.

I did exceed my authority by changing the rental rate of Rosewood Hall prior to the John McCain event, McCulley said in a three-page statement. At that time, I believed that I had been given that authority. ...

McCulley reiterated that he wasn't attempting to give the McCain campaign a special deal: "My motives were simply to implement what had already been discussed, in order to create additional revenue for the city where there had been none due to rates for Monday and Tuesday nights being too high."

McCulley said he asked the McCain campaign to pay the balance of the rent.

"Short of that, I will find a way to pay the difference myself," he said. -- Homewood Mayor McCulley apologizes for reduced rental rate to McCain event- al.com

Posted by Ed at 7:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times reports: Given Senator John McCain’s signature stance on campaign finance reform, it was not surprising that he backed legislation last year requiring presidential candidates to pay the actual cost of flying on corporate jets. The law, which requires campaigns to pay charter rates when using such jets rather than cheaper first-class fares, was intended to reduce the influence of lobbyists and create a level financial playing field.

But over a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show.

Mr. McCain’s campaign paid a total of $241,149 for the use of that plane from last August through February, records show. That amount is approximately the cost of chartering a similar jet for a month or two, according to industry estimates.

The senator was able to fly so inexpensively because the law specifically exempts aircraft owned by a candidate or his family or by a privately held company they control. The Federal Election Commission adopted rules in December to close the loophole — rules that would have required substantial payments by candidates using family-owned planes — but the agency soon lost the requisite number of commissioners needed to complete the rule making.

Because that exemption remains, Mr. McCain’s campaign was able to use his wife’s corporate plane like a charter jet while paying first-class rates, several campaign finance experts said. Several of those experts, however, added that his campaign’s actions, while keeping with the letter of law, did not reflect its spirit. -- McCain Frequently Used Wife’s Jet for Little Cost

Posted by Ed at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

TalkLeft reports: Flamboyant attorney and legal analyst Geoff Fieger, perhaps best known for his defense of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, is on trial in federal court in Detroit. He and his law partner, Van Johnson, are charged with having employees at their law firm and others donate to John Edwards' presidential campaign and then reimbursing them, in violation of federal campaign laws. Fieger is also charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly concealing a memo and tampering with grand jury witnesses. -- Gerry Spence Opens for Fieger in MI Criminal Trial - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime

Posted by Ed at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Mobile Press-Register reports: At least 86 individuals will enjoy access to Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, thanks to their pledges of $40,000 each to a Republican fundraising committee designed to gain control of the Legislature. The state GOP says it won t release their names until January, when campaign finance reports are due.

Alabama Republican Party Executive Director John Ross also said the party would not specifically identify donors to the Governor s Circle on the party s report.

Members of the Circle have pledged $10,000 a year over the next four years as part of the fundraising program called Campaign 2010. In return, the donors have been promised access to exclusive events and conference calls with Riley. ...

State law does not require the disclosure of donors until the January reports, and neither Democrats nor Republicans are known to disclose donors before legal requirements kick in. -- Donors in Riley s Circle kept under wraps- al.com

Posted by Ed at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times reports: The conservative group Freedom’s Watch, headlined by two former senior White House officials, had been expected to be a deep-pocketed juggernaut in this year’s presidential election, heralded by supporters on the right as an aggressive counterweight to MoveOn.org, George Soros and the like.

But after a splashy debut last summer, in which it spent $15 million in a nationwide advertising blitz supporting President Bush’s troop escalation in Iraq, the group has been mostly quiet, beset by internal problems that have paralyzed it and raised questions about what kind of role, if any, it will actually play this fall. ...

Independent groups not constrained by the limits placed on campaign contributions to candidates and parties have increasingly become major players in races for federal offices. Those known as 527s, named for the section in the tax code they fall under, raised more than $400 million in the 2004 election cycle alone, according to the Campaign Finance Institute. Such efforts could be especially beneficial for Mr. McCain, who has badly trailed his Democratic counterparts in fund-raising. ...

Although the organization was founded by a coterie of prominent conservative donors last year, the roughly $30 million the group has spent so far has come almost entirely from the casino mogul Sheldon G. Adelson, the chairman and chief executive of the Sands Corporation, who was recently listed as the third-richest person in the country by Forbes magazine.

Mr. Adelson has insisted on parceling out his money project by project, as opposed to setting an overall budget, limiting the group’s ability to plan and be nimble, the Republican operatives said. Mr. Adelson, who has a reputation for being combative, has rejected almost all of the staff’s proposals that have been brought to him, leaving the organization moribund for long stretches, the operatives said. -- Great Expectations for a Conservative Group Seem All but Dashed

Posted by Ed at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times reports: [Harold Ickes] is president of Catalist, a for-profit databank that has sold its voter files to the Obama and the Clinton presidential campaigns for their get-out-the-vote efforts. With his equity stake in the firm, Mr. Ickes stands to benefit financially no matter which candidate becomes the Democratic nominee.

In creating Catalist, Mr. Ickes, who was deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House, has formed a rare entity on the political scene, a for-profit limited-liability corporation that allows wealthy Democratic donors to help progressive organizations and candidates by investing in the company. And if Catalist, which has data on 230 million Americans, is successful as a business, these donors-turned-investors stand to reap financial returns from using their money to help elect Democrats.

But some campaign finance watchdogs say they wonder whether Catalist was established not so much to make money but to find a creative way to allow big-money liberal donors to influence the election without disclosing the degree of their involvement or being subjected to other rules that would govern spending by an explicitly political organization.

Catalist has raised over $11 million in venture capital, including more than $1 million from the billionaire financier George Soros, according to his aides. It also counts on such large unions as the Service Employees International Union and the A.F.L.-C.I.O., to buy its products and create revenues. And it plans to be the go-to source for voter data for a broad swath of groups often aligned with Democrats — like the Sierra Club, Emily’s List and Clean Water Action — as they embark on ambitious get-out-the vote efforts this fall. -- Clinton Aide’s Databank Venture Breaks Ground in Politicking

Posted by Ed at 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Charleston Gazette reports: Anonymous advertising in West Virginia political campaigns would open the door for a repeat of the 2004 Supreme Court race, where voters did not learn until later who was spending millions of dollars on behalf of candidates, several lawyers told a federal judge Wednesday.

But the Center for Individual Freedom argued that West Virginia s election laws - which require the group to disclose its donors if it buys political advertising - violate its free speech rights under the First Amendment.

The Virginia-based organization asked U.S. District Judge David A. Faber to grant it an injunction allowing it to advertise in the upcoming state Supreme Court election without disclosing its spending or its donors. The state s primary election is May 13.

Last month, the center filed a lawsuit against the state s top election official, Secretary of State Betty Ireland. Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney Timothy Boggess was also NAMEd in the suit as a representative of all the state s prosecutors.

Three of the four Democratic candidates for state Supreme Court have joined in fighting the injunction, as have the West Virginia AFL-CIO, the state Education Association, the Council of Churches and other groups. -- Lawyers argue over rules for political ads

Posted by Ed at 8:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

AP reports: The Ohio Elections Commission has levied a record $5.2 million fine against a political action committee headed by former Michigan Republican Chairwoman Betsy DeVos that supports candidates who favor school choice.

All Children Matter s political action committee in Virginia sent $870,000 to its PAC in Ohio for the 2006 election cycle. The contribution was illegal because All Children Matter s Virginia PAC wasn t registered in Ohio, said Philip Richter, the commission s executive director.

Former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, Betsy s husband, set up All Children Matter in 2003 to promote efforts in other states to push vouchers and tax credits for businesses that create scholarships for children to attend private schools. ...

The bipartisan Ohio Elections Commission voted 5-0 Thursday to fine each of the two PACs $2.6 million, or three times the amount of the contribution.

It's easily the largest fine the Ohio commission has levied.

All Children Matter attorney Bill Todd said Ohio law allows PACs affiliated with each other to make unlimited money transfers. The group will appeal the ruling in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. -- DeVos PAC fined record $5.2 million by Ohio elections board - Latest News - The Grand Rapids Press - MLive.com

Posted by Ed at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The St. Petersburg Times reports: Staff members of Tampa Bay s largest church were directed two years ago to make $500 contributions to the campaign of Gov. Charlie Crist, a television network has charged.

The church denies the allegation.

MSNBC, in a report posted on its Web site this week, said it obtained an e-mail in which a staff member of Without Walls International Church wrote to others: I need each of your checks for $500 made payable to: Charlie Crist for Governor. I need to send these our sic tonight.

Tax-exempt churches are banned by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service from supporting candidates for public office.

A roster of Crist contributors includes a $500 contribution on Feb. 2, 2006, from Marisol Mendoza, assistant to Pastor Randy White of Without Walls. Crist received simultaneous $500 contributions, the maximum allowed in Florida, from three Tampa Bay area residents whose terse descriptions of their occupations appeared to link them to Randy or Paula White, who was his wife and co-pastor then. -- Religion: Were Crist campaign donations coerced?

Posted by Ed at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

AP reports: Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila indignantly denied wrongdoing Thursday and gave no sign he would abandon his re-election effort after being charged with campaign finance violations that carry a penalty of 20 years in prison.

Acevedo, a superdelegate to this summer's Democratic convention, accused U.S. prosecutors of pursuing a politically motivated indictment alleging that the governor and a dozen other people conspired to illegally pay off his campaign debts. ...

Acevedo served in Washington as the island's nonvoting delegate to Congress then was elected governor in 2004 after campaigning on an anti-corruption platform. ...

In a brief address on Puerto Rican television Thursday evening, he repeated his denials and accused U.S. authorities of distracting him from trying to revive the island's struggling economy. "They want blood not your well being," he said of federal prosecutors. The governor did not take questions.

His indictment on 19 charges, including conspiracy to violate federal campaign laws, conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and giving false testimony to the FBI, made him the latest U.S. governor to run into legal trouble. -- Feds charge P.Rico governor, 12 others - Yahoo! News

Posted by Ed at 7:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Left In Alabama reports: Now it's easier to keep your elected representatives honest -- or at least keep an eye on them. Follow the Money has a nifty new tool that lets you look at contributions to entire legislative committees. This is especially handy because the information at the Alabama Secretary of State's website is in the form of .pdfs of scanned disclosure forms and is neither sortable nor searchable. These folks have put that information into a database for us.

Here's the Alabama page where you can get to fund raising information on office holders, parties and contributors. Here's the Legislative Committee Analysis Tool where you can select either a House or Senate committee and see the money raised by each member of that committee as well as the top contributors to that committee and the industries contributing. -- Left In Alabama:: Follow the Money, Even to Legislative Committees

Note: this website covers nearly all the states, not just Alabama.

Posted by Ed at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times reports: The former treasurer of a Republican Congressional fund-raising committee may have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars by submitting elaborately forged audit reports for five years using the letterhead of a legitimate auditing firm, a lawyer for the committee said Thursday.

Robert K. Kelner, a lawyer with Covington & Burling, who was brought in by the National Republican Congressional Committee to investigate accounting irregularities, said a new audit showed that the committee had $740,000 less on hand than it believed. Mr. Kelner said it was unclear whether that amount represented money siphoned off by the former treasurer, Christopher J. Ward.

Mr. Ward, who is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had the authority to make transfers of committee money on his own, Mr. Kelner said.

He said an investigation with the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers had “found a pattern in which Mr. Ward would transfer funds by wire out of the N.R.C.C. to outside committees.” From those outside committees, Mr. Kelner said, money was then transferred to “personal and business accounts of Mr. Ward.” -- Sham Audits May Have Hid Theft by G.O.P. Committee Treasurer, Lawyer Says - New York Times

Posted by Ed at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times reports: After ending his exploration of a presidential bid early last year and all but disappearing from politics, former Gov. George E. Pataki spent more than $1 million from his political action committees for Broadway theater tickets, gatherings at the Yale Club and payments to political loyalists and advisers.

The money came from PACs used to raise Mr. Pataki’s profile nationally and to lay the foundations for a possible presidential run. They were organized in Virginia, where candidates are given broad discretion in spending.

In all, the committees spent about $2.1 million in 2007; about $1.4 million of that was paid out after Mr. Pataki quietly suspended his efforts to seek national office last March, according to a review of campaign finance disclosure reports and other records. Some of the spending appears to have had little connection to a political cause or candidacy. ...

PACs organized under state laws in Virginia have long been attractive to politicians because there are no limits on contributions and, while it is illegal to use PAC money for personal use, the state has a light regulatory touch in terms of spending. -- Pataki Spent PAC Money After Opting Not to Run - New York Times

Posted by Ed at 7:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Alabama Senate approves bill to regulate PAC donations | TimesDaily.com | Times Daily | Florence, AL
AP reports: The Democrat-controlled Alabama Senate split largely along party lines Tuesday to approve a bill that would stop some financial transfers used to hide the source of campaign contributions while allowing others.

Democrats said the bill would end the movement of money from one political action committee to another to disguise the original source of campaign contributions. ...

Republicans said the bill opens up new methods for hiding campaign donations because it exempts political parties and legislative caucuses from the definition of a PAC. ...

The Senate voted 20-14 for the rewritten PAC bill after killing similar bills the six prior years. --

Posted by Ed at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times reports: Did Senator John McCain of Arizona benefit unfairly from rules that automatically placed him on the ballot in Ohio once he qualified for public campaign financing?

The legal question, which also has political significance given Mr. McCain’s reputation for crusading against the influence of money on elections, is being raised by Democratic Party officials ahead of the Ohio Republican primary next Tuesday now that the McCain campaign has decided to pull out of public financing.

The issue emerged Monday in a complaint that the Democratic National Committee filed with the Federal Election Commission questioning Mr. McCain’s right to withdraw from the system and bypass the spending limits that come with it. ...

Second, the [Democratic] officials object to the way Mr. McCain used his certification for federal matching money to get on the ballot in states like Ohio and Delaware. That certification allowed him to bypass the signature collection usually required to get on the ballot, and saved the campaign money — which should bar him from withdrawing from the system, the Democrats say. -- Democrats Raise Legal Point Over McCain and Ohio as He Opts Out of Public Money - New York Times

Posted by Ed at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times reports: The rumors wash up against the gray walls of La Fortaleza, the governor’s palace in this city’s colonial quarter, with the regularity of the ocean’s waves. Every few weeks they seem to gather momentum, like a tidal surge, and threaten to overwhelm the place and its occupant, Gov. Aníbal S. Acevedo Vilá.

At one moment, the word on the street is that the governor will be arrested before the weekend. At the next, he will be spared, though several of his close associates will fall.

And so it has gone for more than two years while federal investigators have looked into accusations of campaign finance violations relating to Mr. Acevedo, a Democrat, who is up for re-election this year. ...

The federal authorities have refused to make any statements about the case; what is known publicly about the investigation has been gleaned through leaks and the scant information provided by witnesses who have testified before the grand jury. According to those witnesses, investigators have asked about the finances of Mr. Acevedo’s 2004 race for governor and about his successful campaign in 2000 to become the resident commissioner, Puerto Rico’s nonvoting delegate to Congress. (Mr. Acevedo has said that if there were improprieties in his campaigns, he was not aware of them.) -- Puerto Rico’s Political Melodrama Plays On, With Its Governor in the Lead Role

Posted by Ed at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

AP reports: The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Montgomery judge s decision to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the election of four powerful Democrats in the Alabama Senate.

The court s 8-1 decision ends a lawsuit that became part of the battle between Democrats and Republicans for control of the new Senate elected in 2006. Democrats won that battle and organized the Senate. ...
Former Republican judge Mark Montiel filed the suit about three weeks before the 2006 general election on behalf of an Autauga County voter. It sought to revoke the state certificates of election for the four senators from the Democratic primary election in June 2006. The suit claimed the four Democrats did not file the proper campaign finance reports for the primary even though they spent money to help other legislative candidates.

The four senators said they didn't have primary opposition and the practice in Alabama up to that point was not to file campaign finance reports when there was no opposition. -- Alabama Supreme Court tosses lawsuit challenging senators wins | TimesDaily.com | Times Daily | Florence, AL

Posted by Ed at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ABC News reports: A federal grand jury in Arizona has indicted three-term Republican Congressman Rick Renzi and two of his business associates on charges that include wire fraud, money laundering, insurance fraud and extortion.

The 35-count indictment alleges that between December 2001 and March 2002, Renzi embezzled $400,000 in insurance premiums from a company that he owned and transferred the money to his congressional campaign.

Renzi transferred ownership of the company, called Patriot Insurance Agency Inc., to his wife in 2004.

The lawmaker is also accused of enriching himself by compelling a copper mining interest, referred to as "Company A" in the indictment, to buy a parcel of land from his associate James Sandlin in exchange for his sponsorship of legislation sought by Company A.

When negotiations for the sale were stalled, Renzi allegedly told Company A "no Sandlin Property, no bill." -- ABC News: Congressman Indicted for Fraud, Extortion

Posted by Ed at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The New York Times reports: A bank loan that Senator John McCain took out late in 2007 to keep his presidential campaign afloat is complicating his desire to withdraw from public financing for his primary effort.

The Federal Election Commission, in a letter it released on Thursday, said Mr. McCain could not withdraw from public financing until he had answered questions about a $4 million line of credit for borrowing that was secured, in part, in December by the promise of federal matching money.

Mr. McCain sent a letter to the commission on Feb. 7 saying he had decided to decline the matching money for his primary campaign. His request for public money, in which the government matches campaign contributions, was made last year as the campaign was running out of cash.

After his fortunes began to rise from his victory New Hampshire and campaign gifts increased, however, Mr. McCain decided against taking the public money. Taking it would have limited his spending between now and the Republican convention in September to $40 million. -- McCain Loan Complicates Financing of Campaign - New York Times

Posted by Ed at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Birmingham News reports: The state Senate locked down again Thursday over a proposed ban on transfers between political action committees that make it difficult to know who is funding political campaigns.

Unlike a stricter version approved by the House of Representatives, the Senate was debating a version of the bill that would exempt political parties and legislative caucuses. Some senators said that would create a larger mechanism for hiding money. ...

Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, proposed an amendment Thursday that would ban the governor and other state constitutional officers from raising money for other candidates.

Some Republican senators filibustered Bedford s amendment, saying it infringed on the rights of elected office holders. -- Alabama Senate locks down on PAC transfer ban- al.com

Posted by Ed at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mooncat writes on Left in Alabama (and quotes the Montgomery Advertiser): Alabama's campaign finance laws are set up to hide the money trail. There are few limitations on contributions and those contributions are often laundered by unlimited money transfers from one PAC to another so you can't tell who is giving what to whom. I knew all that and was properly outraged, but I didn't realize SoS Beth Chapman's office is just a glorified stenography service for campaigns and PACs with no ability or responsibility to check the accracy of reports.

An Alabama agency that oversees political action committees failed to see a $460,000 reporting error in a PAC formed for presidential candidate Mitt Romney. ...

The Secretary of State's office only posts the information online and doesn't review them for errors, said Robert Johnston, an attorney for the agency.

"The secretary of state does not audit these," he said. "We don't have any enforcement authority on that. We just make it available to the public."

Posted by Ed at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Washington Post's The Trail blog reports: The FBI has been notified and asked to investigate allegations of financial fraud at a fund-raising arm of the House Republicans, capping a week of bad news for the beleaguered minority party.

In a statement today, Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said he contacted law enforcement after an internal audit revealed that a former employee of the committee had been involved in the "irregularities."

"Since these irregularities may include fraud, we have notified appropriate law enforcement authorities. We are aggressively and thoroughly investigating the matter," Cole said.

Sources confirmed that the FBI was the agency contacted to investigate the allegations. Aides at the Federal Election Commission said they were not aware of any complaint or request for an investigation by the NRCC. -- House Republicans Contact FBI Over Financial Irregularities | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

Posted by Ed at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

AP reports: Money helped winnow the presidential field. It hasn't determined who each party's nominee will be.

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have proven to be mega-fundraisers, operating at near parity in their own stratosphere. Each raised $100 million last year and spent at least $80 million. On Wednesday, they each spent $1.3 million in one day for television ads in Super Tuesday states, setting the trend for the days ahead.

Whoever loses has not yet been seriously outspent.

Among Republicans, money has been less of a factor. John McCain was forced to live off the land for six months only to rise to the front of the pack. Low-budget Mike Huckabee is looking for a break, and Mitt Romney, the multimillionaire who spent $35 million of his own cash, is gasping for oxygen after two straight losses.

Rudy Giuliani, who garnered the most contributions among Republican candidates, bowed out this week after his Florida-centric strategy collapsed. And dark horse Ron Paul remains in single digits in the polls despite raising more than any of his Republican rivals in the last three months of 2007.

Money matters, but it doesn't decide. -- Analysis: Political Money Not the Be - All - New York Times

Posted by Ed at 7:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Birmingham News reports: The leader of the state House of Representatives said Thursday that he will ask House members next week to quickly pass five bills dealing with ethics and campaign finance, to kick off what he hopes will be a productive legislative session. ...

The first bill Hammett wants the House to pass would ban or limit any political action committee formed by a corporation, lobby or other group from contributing money to another PAC. Such PAC-to-PAC transfers can hide the true source of contributions received by a candidate for governor or other political office.

Last year's bill, by Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville, would have banned all PAC-to-PAC contributions.

But it died in the Senate, where some senators insisted that PACs retain the right to give money to political parties, legislative party caucuses and get-out-the-vote organizations such as the Alabama Democratic Conference. ...

The other four bills Hammett wants the House to pass early would: ...

Require people and groups to disclose the givers of money spent on any broadcast or published message aired or distributed within 90 days of an election that contains the name or image of one or more of the candidates and is clearly intended to influence the election. -- Hammett has five bills he wants House to pass quickly- al.com

Posted by Ed at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Detroit News reports: A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Justice Department to tell indicted Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger why U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy and two of his top officials disqualified themselves from overseeing Fieger s criminal investigation.

It s a partial victory for Fieger -- charged with making $127,000 in illegal donations to the 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat John Edwards -- as he attempts to show he was unfairly singled out for prosecution because of his politics.

The information is quite relevant and essential to that claim, U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman said in a 30-page order.

Borman said he has not decided whether Fieger was unfairly singled out, but said he finds it significant that contributions related to a re-election campaign for Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman have been part of the federal investigation of Fieger since the probe began in April 2005. -- Judge s ruling favors Fieger

Posted by Ed at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Herald reports: The Electoral Commission has admitted fundamental weaknesses in its ability to probe allegations of illegal donations to political parties.

An official document seen by The Herald shows that detailed procedures and guidance on how investigations should be carried out remain "in development", despite the fact that high-profile probes into allegations against senior Labour figures, including Scottish leader Wendy Alexander, are currently under way.

The 12-page paper, entitled Handling Allegations, also reveals that the commission does not have "any prescribed method for making decisions" and that it is "unclear" when discussions with the UK Ministry of Justice on increasing the range of sanctions it can hand down will be concluded.

The commission also admits many cases will go unpunished even if they find the law has been broken. -- Watchdog Admits Probe Weakness (from The Herald )

Posted by Ed at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Montgomery Independent reports: It appears that Gov. Bob Riley's gubernatorial campaigns in 2002 and 2006 may have violated the state's Fair Campaign Practices Act by improperly reporting the use of corporate airplanes, and improperly reporting advertising and printing donations to the campaign.

In the 2006 campaign, Gov. Riley apparently failed to properly report the in-kind contributions of at least two corporate airplanes. In both cases, the aircraft used by Gov. Riley are listed as in-kind contributions from individuals and not from the corporations which actually own the airplanes.

Riley's campaign finance reports for the 2006 campaign list in-kind contributions for transportation totaling $7,929.47 from John Saint of Mobile. Saint is listed on the Secretary of State Web site as president of a number of Alabama corporations. When asked about the in-kind contributions Saint said he did not recall when Riley may have used his company's plane. He said: "Our plane gets used every day. A lot of charities use our plane for Angel Flights."

When asked if he had reimbursed his company for the Riley campaign's use of the plane, he said: "I don't recall." He said he would have to go back and look, but it would be after the first of the year. When asked who owned the plane he said JDC Support Services, Inc. and added: "I own the company." ...

Also, under Alabama law, there is no limit on campaign contributions from individuals, but corporate contributions, whether cash or in-kind, are limited to $500 per election cycle. Riley's name was on the ballot in only two election cycles in 2006, the Republican primary and the General Election. That means any corporate contribution more than $1,000 would appear to be unlawful. -- al.com's Printer-Friendly Page

Hat-tip to Doc's Political Parlor.

Posted by Ed at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

AP reports: John Edwards cannot get federal matching funds for some $4.2 million raised through a Democratic Web site.

The Federal Election Commission decided Friday on a 4-1 vote that the money was not matchable because federal rules do not include those contributions.

About 53,000 Edwards supporters donated through the ActBlue site. The Web site gets dollars designated to any Democratic federal candidate. It then passes the money to the authorized committees of the candidates.

The Edwards campaign has said it always knew there could be a legal problem with the ActBlue money, so it never counted the funds toward the match it expects to get. -- Today on the Presidential Campaign Trail - Examiner.com

Posted by Ed at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Economist reports: FOR Gordon Brown, the party-funding scandal which has already claimed the job of the Labour Party's general secretary, Peter Watt, and threatens senior figures in the government shows no sign of going away. It has instead spread north to his native Scotland, where Wendy Alexander, Labour's leader in the devolved Parliament, is fighting to save her career.

The sum involved in Ms Alexander's case (£950, or $1,960) is comically small next to the more than £660,000 given to the Labour Party by David Abrahams, a Newcastle businessman, through intermediaries. Yet Ms Alexander, seen but recently as the Scottish Labour Party's shining hope, boobed tremendously. To finance her leadership campaign (which, since she was the only candidate, was not a costly affair) she raised £16,000, including £950 from Paul Green. A property developer who lives in the Channel Islands, Mr Green cannot vote in British elections, so accepting his cash was against the law.

Ms Alexander maintains that she was led to believe the money came from a Glasgow company controlled by Mr Green. But the company denies any knowledge of the donation. Mr Green insists it was a personal contribution, even brandishing a letter of thanks from Ms Alexander sent to his Jersey home. One head has already rolled: Charlie Gordon, a Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from Glasgow, who solicited Mr Green's donation, has resigned as the party's transport spokesman. But this has failed to pacify those such as Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of Westminster's Committee on Standards in Public Life, who believe that Ms Alexander should consider her position, too. -- Political donations | Not so darling Wendy | Economist.com

Posted by Ed at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

NPR reports:
U.S. prosecutors say participants in Argentina's election broke American law. Prosecutors say the new president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, won with the help of $800,000 secretly sent from Venezuela. This comes under U.S. law because people on American soil allegedly took part in the transaction. Four people are accused. The president of the country that allegedly supplied the money, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, calls the case a "fabricated scandal." The president who allegedly received it is not so happy either. -- NPR : U.S. Criticizes Argentina's Presidential Election

Posted by Ed at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Scotsman reports: WENDY Alexander was facing a police investigation into her campaign finances last night after it emerged that she had written a personal thank-you letter to a businessman for an illegal donation.

The Scottish Labour leader disclosed this week that members of her campaign team had broken the law when they accepted a cheque for £950 from Paul Green, a Channel Isles-based businessman, for her leadership campaign. He is not a registered UK voter, so is not allowed to donate to British political parties.

Ms Alexander's aides have consistently argued that the donation was handled only by Charlie Gordon, a Labour MSP, and that she did not know the details of Mr Green's donation. Mr Gordon at first told the campaign team the money had been donated legitimately through a Glasgow company, Combined Property Services, but it later emerged that Mr Green's name had been on the cheque.

And it was revealed yesterday that Ms Alexander had written to Mr Green personally in October this year, from her home in Glasgow, thanking him for his cheque. -- The Scotsman - Bombshell for Labour on illegal donations

Posted by Ed at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Washington Post reports: When Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) launched his presidential campaign in January, he stopped raising money for his Hopefund, the political action committee he used to raise millions for fellow Democrats in previous campaigns. But in recent months, Obama has handed out more than $180,000 from the nearly dormant PAC to local Democratic groups and candidates in the key early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, campaign reports show.

Some of the recipients of Hopefund's largess are state and local politicians who have recently endorsed Obama's presidential bid. Obama's PAC reported giving a $1,000 contribution, for instance, to New Hampshire state Sen. Jacalyn Cilley on July 25, six days before she announced she was endorsing Obama for president. ...

Cilley, who has traveled with Obama around New Hampshire and serves on the campaign's steering committee, said that she decided to endorse him before getting the donation but that the announcement was delayed. She said she even considered sending the check back at one point to eliminate any concerns about appearances. ...

Scott Thomas, a Democrat and a former FEC chairman, said "there's probably no doubt" the PAC donations were aimed at increasing support for Obama's presidential race. "But in my experience, the commission has not had the stomach to reach out and characterize those kinds of contributions as impermissible," Thomas said. --