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OCTOBER 17, 2009 Rajaratnam Surfaced in U.S. Terrorism Probe By EVAN PEREZ and MATTHEW ROSENBERG WASHINGTON—The hedge-fund billionaire charged as part of a vast insider-trading case surfaced in an earlier, separate probe into U.S. fundraising by a Sri Lankan terrorist group, people familiar with the probe said. As part of that investigation, federal agents said they uncovered documents showing that Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group, was among several wealthy Sri Lankans in the U.S. whose donations to a Maryland-based charity made their way to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, according to people familiar with the probe. Raj...

Now that the first major election post-Citizens United has passed I thought it would be worth opening the floor to some discussion of everybody’s view on whether Citizens United was a good decision both as constitutional law and in practical application during the election. I wrote a piece for Political Realities before the decision was issued that was very critical of the decision by the Court to rehear the case a second time. John Roberts asked both sides to prepare to address questions that vastly expanded the scope of the case. Roberts was well known for an earlier comment concerning...

What a difference two years makes! In the 2010 midterm elections, the Republican National Committee failed to capitalize on grassroots anger with effective fundraising, leaving them in the hole when a party needs to fund get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts most. Only the intervention of outside groups saved Republicans from blowing a historic shot. The Democratic National Committee was relatively flush with cash — which didn’t stop Democrats from getting pounded in the midterms, but may have limited their losses, especially in the Senate. Two years later, the RNC and DNC have changed positions — and this time, the DNC won’t be...

The Government Accountability Institute released a blockbuster study today on the issue of foreign donations in American politics, and in particular, the Obama campaign. The study determined three key findings: The absence of the industry-standard CVV and unknown use of AVS anti-fraud security for online credit card donations. The presence of a branded, major third-party owned website (Obama.com) redirects its 68% foreign traffic to a campaign donation page. Active foreign solicition using indiscriminate email solicitations and exposure to social media. The branded site, Obama.com, was created in Shanghai, China, by an Obama bundler, but its present registration information is hidden....

-- Obama Campaign Lacks the Industry-Standard Level Of Credit Card Security For Donations, But Uses It For Merchandise Purchases: To purchase Obama campaign merchandise, the campaign requires buyers to enter their credit card CVV security code, but does not require the credit card security code to be entered when making an online campaign donation. By GAI's estimates, the Obama campaign's failure to utilize industry-standard protections potentially costs the campaign millions in extra processing fees.

How 'bout a little refresher re. Obama political Godfather  and actual (16-count!) convicted felon Tony Rezko...? The Syrian-born Rezko is an infamous Chicago slumlord, fast-food restauranteur, and sleazy political operator who played a key role in the Blagojevich case- as well as the unlikley ascension to power of Barrack Hussein Obama.Obama's longtime ally, friend, and top fundraiser was found guilty of 16/24 counts of felony influence peddling back in June 2008. Of course the story was mostly buried/detached from his bud Barry in the run-up to that year's most unfortunate (for us) presidential election whilst the jury convicted Rezko of wire...

If our corrupt media believe a Republican said something inappropriate at a fundraiser about the 47% of the American people the rest of us carry, the corrupt media attempt to destroy his campaign over it. However, if a sitting president appears to openly and brazenly break the laws surrounding the solicitation of super PAC money, this very same media dutifully report but refuse to talk about it: Speaking at a fundraiser hosted by the famous rapper and singer couple Jay-Z and Beyonce, President Barack Obama made comments, seemingly in jest, asking guests to help out his campaign against Republican nominee Mitt...

After a lengthy investigation, Wilson was indicted in April on a misdemeanor insurance charge for laundering a total $8,000 in campaign contributions from Missouri Employers Mutual Co., a state-created workers' compensation company based in Columbia, to the Missouri Democratic Party through a St. Louis law firm, Herzog Crebs. Former Herzog Crebs partner Ed Griesedieck III was also indicted.

Clooney to raise money for Obama in GenevaPublished June 29, 2012 Associated Press Actor George Clooney is offering more help to President Obama's re-election campaign by headlining a European fundraiser this summer for Americans living abroad. An invitation posted on Obama's campaign website says Clooney will be the special guest at an Obama fundraiser in Geneva, Switzerland, on Aug. 27. Tickets start at $1,000 per person, and dinner for two costs a cool $30,000.

What a difference four years make. Around this time in 2008, Sen. Barack Obama was well on his way to shattering every campaign fundraising record on the books. Before his campaign was over, the great reformer from Chicago decided public campaign financing wasn't so great after all — and he passed it up in favor of accepting almost three-quarters of a billion dollars in contributions. But for a handful of muted good-government voices, the entire political left celebrated Obama's fundraising as proof of his extraordinary support and mass appeal. When it was over, the president-elect outspent his political opponent, John...

I realize that the Jurassic media would have us believe that John McCain is a bipartisan saint -- the kind of reasonable Republican we need -- and that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is just another partisan devil incarnate. Frankly, however, a case can be made that America would be a country with a smaller government and fewer restrictions on liberty and speech if we had more Sheldon Adelsons and fewer John McCains. Which is to say a better America, in fact.

Will Texas Have to Change Its Campaign Spending Law? Will Tom Delay have his Conviction Overturned? According to the AP, the Supreme Court today has (again) ruled that corporations have the right to spend freely to advocate for or against candidates for state and local offices. The justices struck down a Montana law limiting corporate campaign spending, but this case will have a ripple effect on all other states. Texas is a state that does not allow corporations to spend money in Texas state and local election. In fact, former Speaker of the united States House of Representatives, Tom Delay,...

DURHAM, N.H. (CBS) – An anonymous donor has agreed to pay a New Hampshire town’s extra security costs for President Barack Obama’s visit on Monday. Durham officials say they didn’t mean to raise a ruckus, but they didn’t have the money budgeted for police, fire and EMS services needed for President Obama’s visit, and the Obama for America campaign said they wouldn’t pay. “Some people are very positive about the position that the town has taken to date, and others have been very critical. Some have expressed it as being ‘un-American’ the position we have taken, others feel it is...

One school employee union in Michigan is demanding that members turn over bank account and credit card information so that the union can automatically claim monthly dues after the state voted to stop deducting the money on behalf of the union. “Debbie Bence, president of the Plymouth-Canton Cafeteria Association, sent a letter to her union members on June 4 stating that the dues had to be paid as a condition of employment,” the Capitol Confidential (Mich.) reports. Members can also pay dues in full at the beginning of the year. Her demand came after the Michigan Supreme Court found that...

Obama raised most from private equity, hedge funds in 2008 By Jonathan Easley - 05/22/12 09:52 AM ET President Obama raised far more cash from hedge fund and private equity donors than any other candidate in the 2008 election cycle. According to an analysis by the nonprofit group Open Secrets, Obama took in nearly $3.5 million from large private-equity donors that year — nearly twice what his general-election rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), pocketed. The data bring into focus the thin line Obama must walk in attacking presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s background in the industry, which has sparked...

Sen. John McCain is talking with Democrats about a joint effort to require outside groups that have spent millions of dollars on this year’s elections to disclose their donors. McCain (R-Ariz.), once Congress’s leading champion of campaign finance reform, has kept a low profile on the issue in recent years. He raised the ire of many Republicans a decade ago for pushing comprehensive reform, and many Republicans still held it against him during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Not since Bill Clinton challenged the definition of "is" has so much hinged on a very short word. John Edwards appears to basing much of his defense, which begins today in a North Carolina courtroom, on the legal interpretation of the word "the." Edwards has listened to three weeks of testimony meant to prove that he violated federal campaign finance laws by using nearly $1million in donations to hide his mistress Rielle Hunter and her pregnancy during his bid for the 2008 presidential election and in the months after he dropped out -- but was still angling to be vice...

This video is a follow-up to Adrian Murray’s facebook post over the weekend, in which he says that he donated to the Obama campaign as “Adolph Hitler,” occupation “Dictator” living at a German address. As you can see in the clip, citizen journalist George Scaggs of Austin tries the same thing at three different campaign sites, that of Obama, Romney and Santorum. Only the Obama site accepted the donation without the verification number. Let’s take a look at the three campaign websites mentioned in the video ... [graphics] The Obama campaign’s donation page for Americans living outside the US also...

Considering the unprecedented debt that Obama has run up in this country, it is fitting that he would suggest that his fellow travelers do the same. I suspect there will be lots of boosted credit card charges. Obama's contributors Good Will, Loving you, Doo da DooDa -- watch out! Obama raised tens of millions of dollars illegally: Obama's Contributions: Foreign and Domestic. I would expect Obama to double, triple that this round. Obama campaign rolls out Square mobile fundraising platform By Byron Tau (hat tip Laura)

More Solyndra-style failure: Obama-tied Amonix Inc lays off most of company By Neil Munro - The Daily Caller 12:56 PM 01/30/2012 Some of President Barack Obama’s top donors and fundraising bundlers are partners in Amonix Inc., the latest Solyndra-like corporate crash. The company has announced a layoff of 200 workers — two-thirds of its workforce — despite a federal green-technology tax credit of $5.9 million in 2010. The investors include John Doerr’s venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Daniel Weiss’ Angeleno Group LLC and Steve Westly’s eponymous Westly Group, according to Amonix’s website. These three investors have also...

Mitt Romney Outspends Newt Gingrich On Ads Ahead of Florida Primary Romney takes lead in polls but is accused of dishonesty and negative campaigning as Republican nomination battle heats up Ewen MacAskill in Cape Canaveral 27 January Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is outspending his main rival Newt Gingrich by almost four to one in advertising in Florida, having spent a staggering $13.8m so far. ABC reported that Romney had spent $5.6m and his super-political action committees $8.2m. Gingrich and his super-PAC has so far spent only $3.9m. On television stations from Jacksonville in the north to Key West in...

In their reports on tonight's two D.C. fundraising events by Barack Obama, the news media is burying the outrageous access-selling of the presidency for $45,000 by Obama to a select group of just 25 donors that brought in $1.125 million for his reelection campaign and Democratic party coffers.The exclusive "roundtable discussion" fundraiser was closed to the press. The only report on what was said at the event is based on what Obama himself related at a later man-of-the-people fundraiser of 700 donors that cost $100 per person which was open to the press.The AP report on Obama's fundraising buried the...

The former senator and envoy says it will likely take a major scandal to trigger a change. PORTLAND - Like most Americans, former U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell said, he tends to look at the past through rose-tinted glasses. But even with that in mind, partisanship in Washington wasn't as bad when he was in the Senate as it is now, Mitchell said Wednesday morning. Mitchell said the structure of the political system leads to the heightened partisan atmosphere -- and that's responsible for the record low approval rate of 9 percent for Congress in a recent poll. "It's worse...

Liberal attack-dog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission Friday over allegations that Prosperity USA, a nonprofit advocacy corporation run by Herman Cain campaign manager Mark Block, paid for iPads and travel related to Cain’s presidential campaign. If true, says CREW, the Cain campaign — and Block personally — would be guilty of violating at least two federal election laws. The allegations were first reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on October 30, based on internal financial records the newspaper said it obtained. The Journal Sentinel reported the following day that...

Cain campaign launches internal investigation Daniel Bice November 1, 2011 For GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, the questions far outnumber the answers.Mark Block, chief of staff for the Cain campaign, announced the campaign was hiring an investigator to check out claims that a private Wisconsin-based firm owned and run by Block and his No. 2 picked up the tab for as much as $40,000 in campaign expenses for the Cain campaign earlier this year."We've retained independent counsel to look at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story and report back to us," Block said Tuesday at a Washington, D.C., media event.A reporter...

Early in his candidacy, Herman Cain may have accepted tens of thousands of dollars in goods and services for his campaign from a tax-exempt organization founded by his top aide, documents from the organization show, raising the prospect of serious violations of tax and election law by both Mr. Cain’s campaign and the organization.The documents suggest that the nonprofit organization, Prosperity USA, effectively subsidized some early costs of his presidential bid, paying for computer equipment, charter planes and air travel for Mr. Cain or the aide, Mark Block, who is his chief of staff.Such expenditures would violate federal election and...

A collection of former high-ranking Republicans will launch a group that will raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in a bid to retain the party’s majority in the House, they announced Thursday. The formation of the Congressional Leadership Fund solidifies the movement of the new type of loosely regulated committee from outside operators to establishment tools. A former director of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Brian O. Walsh, will head the group, which will be chaired by former Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota. It will be organized as an independent expenditure committee, or “super-PAC,” meaning it may run...

The law firms representing two prominent Solyndra executives are major Democratic Party donors, The Daily Caller has learned. Reuters first reported that the bankrupt company’s CEO, Brian Harrison, and CFO, W.G. Stover, plan to refuse to talk openly to congressional investigators about how their company squandered $535 million in taxpayer money. They will invoke their Fifth Amendment right not to self-incriminate themselves at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Friday. The law firms representing the executives are Orrick, Harrington and Sutcliffe, and Keker and Van Nest. Both are major contributors to Democrats and both have handsomely helped President...

The president of local biotechnology firm GenPhar is accused of defrauding the federal government out of at least $3.6 million the company received to research vaccines against deadly diseases. The charges are contained in federal indictments unsealed today that also accuse GenPhar president Jian-Yun Dong and his estranged wife of making at least $31,000 in illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and his political action committee. Dong, who also is chief executive officer of GenPhar, is accused of submitting false claims to federal agencies, converting grant funds to his own use and committing wire fraud to scam the...

The Democratic National Committee claims it has banned contributions from special-interest groups and lobbyists under the leadership of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D.-Fla.), an ethical standard she demands that Republicans now follow. “The refusal to accept donations from federal lobbyists and PACs [political action committees] is critical to limiting the influence of special interests in the political process,” Wasserman Schultz says. But Democrats aren’t eager to follow the edict. And neither is Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz. Under her leadership, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was recently forced to return thousands of dollars from a dozen lobbyists after the Center for Responsive...

A solar energy company that intends to file bankruptcy received $535 million in backing from the federal government and has a cozy history with Democrats and the Obama administration, campaign finance records show. Shareholders and executives of Solyndra, a green energy company producing solar panels, fundraised for and donated to the Obama administration to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Tulsa billionaire George Kaiser, a key Obama backer who raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for the president’s election campaign, is one of Solyndra’s primary investors. Kaiser himself donated $53,500 to Obama’s 2008 election campaign, split between the DSCC...

WASHINGTON -- The AFL-CIO hopes to boost its clout by launching a new political action committee that could raise unlimited amounts of money, part of the federation's goal of building a year-round political organizing structure. Forming a so-called "super labor PAC" would allow the labor federation to raise money from sympathetic donors both inside and outside union membership and mobilize support beyond its traditional base, instead of ramping up political activities each election cycle. The move would also help steer more of labor's money to state legislative battles, where unions have been battling efforts to curb union rights in states...

Senate Democrats are increasingly concerned that President Barack Obama’s campaign money machine is sucking up so much cash that it will cut into the party’s aggressive campaign to hold on to the Senate next year, several Democratic sources say. Democratic senators have already pressed Obama campaign officials — including campaign manager Jim Messina — not to lock up the richest Democratic donors, but the presidential campaign declined to make such a promise.

[Jonathan] Martin [of Politico] writes: "Perry's comment (about ...Ben Bernanke's "treasonous" behavior) is exactly the sort of misstep that will worry the many GOP donors on the sideline right now who chiefly want to beat President Obama. The quote reinforces their central fear about Perry — that he has a cowboy problem — and could prompt them to remain uncommitted." This is accurate. It's also irrelevant. It's irrelevant because the "GOP donors on the sideline right now" don't matter. They think they matter, but they don't. The fact is that Rick Perry can raise $15-20 million out of Texas for...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's campaign team has signed up an early wave of elite fundraisers who have collected at least $34.95 million combined since April, helping bankroll the president's re-election bid. The Obama campaign on Friday voluntarily disclosed its list of 244 individuals and couples who serve as "bundlers," often wealthy, well-connected donors who raise campaign cash from friends and business associates. The campaign has emphasized its more than 550,000 donors and note that Obama does not take money from political action committees or Washington lobbyists. But the list underscores the role of high-dollar bundlers who helped Obama...

President Obama’s campaign committee is moving a fund-raiser featuring Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel from the Pfizer world headquarters to another location in New York City after The Boston Globe inquired about the propriety of a major pharmaceutical company hosting an event that could benefit the administration regulating it. “This is a general fund-raising event for the campaign that has nothing to do with a specific company and the attendees will not be from any one company or sector,” Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said this afternoon in a statement. A Pfizer spokesman did not address the change in locale but defended...

A public school district in Michigan has used its phone alert system to point voters toward the recall effort against Gov. Rick Snyder. In early June, shortly after the Snyder recall reached the petition-gathering phase, the alert system for Lawrence Public Schools sent out the following robocall to residents of the district: “This is a message from the Lawrence Public Schools (inaudible) alert system. This is an informational item and not directly associated with the school. Concerned parents interested in cuts to education . . . we're here to inform you that there is information about the problem. Also, be...

The latest from the Big Labor efforts to strip Republicans of control of the Wisconsin state senate. State labor unions have always been major players in elections here, however, this kind of outside influence on Wisconsin legislative elections is unprecedented. Six million dollars from one interest group for only nine legislative elections? Note thate most of the recalls are not for a month yet, so this totall is sure to increase, perhaps 2-3 times…. [Madison, Wisc…] MNS …In the first eight days of July nearly three million dollars has been sent to Wisconsin by national liberal organizations and individuals, with...

Stephen Colbert unwittingly reveals a regulatory stranglehold on speech.For the past few months comedian Stephen Colbert has been giving his viewers an education in campaign finance laws — how burdensome and convoluted they can be, and how they stifle political speech. The real joke, however, is that this isn’t what he set out to do.Originally intended as an ongoing comedy skit to mock the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, the Colbert SuperPAC gag has spun into something of a headache for the self-styled campaign finance “reform� community. Several media outlets have begun to report that the skit is backfiring,...

The Supreme Court has tossed out an Arizona law that provides extra taxpayer-funded support for office seekers who have been outspent by privately funded opponents or by independent political groups. A conservative 5-4 majority of justices on Monday said the law violated free speech, concluding the state was impermissibly trying to "level the playing field" through a public finance system. Arizona lawmakers had argued there was a compelling state interest in equalizing resources among competing candidates and interest groups. The cases are McComish v. Bennett (10-239) and Arizona Free Enterprise Club's Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett (10-238).

I had a question posed to me on Facebook about whether or not unions and corporations should have the same inalienable constitutional rights that I do as an individual human being (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Constitutional-Rights-for-Individuals-or-Corporations-Unions/185322941519439) and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it… I work for a non-profit organization that protects the constitutional right of citizens to petition their government and, when appropriate, to call for a referendum or recall when a law or elected official no longer serves the people. Citizens in Charge Foundation protects the free speech of over 140 million Americans without regard to politics; I enjoy going...

Despite his populist anti-free market rhetoric and record, the President has a love affair and relationship with a corporate giant. The company is Google and the incestuous relationship pays dividends to both parties but leaves taxpayers out as the third wheel. Money magazine in an article entitled "Obama & Google (A Love Story)" described the love affair as "[F]rom his denunciations of Wall Street greed to his critiques of the auto manufacturers, Obama and his team have done little to disguise their mistrust of big business -- except when it comes to one very large, very influential technology company."...

http://freedomist.com/2011/06/melanie-sloan-christine-odonnell-attacker-faces-legal-ethics-issues-bar-complaint-filed-by-jonathon-moseley/ Melanie Sloan, Christine O'Donnell attacker, faces Legal Ethics issues- bar complaint filed by Jonathon Moseley The Freedomist is following the political hack attack attempted by Melanie Sloan (CREW uses Christine O'Donnell complaint as fundraiser- how lies, slander, and libel gets Melanie Sloan funded- Freedom News) and her progressive cronies (Man throws nephew under bus to attack Christine O'Donnell- The David Keegan Story) who seem to have some unnatural fear of Christine O'Donnell, the Delaware Tea Party Senate Candidate who upset the progressive Mike Castle in the GOP primary  (O'Donnell WINS!), only to see  the Delaware State GOP turn against...

<p>Former Delaware U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell says the Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint filed against her during last year's campaign by the Delaware Republican Party.</p> <p>The state GOP accused O'Donnell and the Tea Party Express of violating FEC rules that restrict coordination between candidates and outside political organizations.</p>

While speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on May 20, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that the U.S. electoral process has been broken by the Supreme Court with its ruling in the Citizens United campaign finance case. But an inconvenient truth for Trumka lies in readily-available campaign finance records. According to OpenSecrets.org's list of the top 140 donors from 1989 to 2010, 12 out of the top 15 donate overwhelmingly to Democrats. As a matter of fact, a majority of those who give the most donations are unions such as the SEIU, American Federation of Teachers, and...

A few weeks ago, the National Institute for Money in State Politics published a report showing a marked spike last fall in campaign contributions to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller by lawyers and law firms that represent big banks after Miller announced he was opening an investigation into the nationwide mishandling of foreclosures by Bank of America, Chase and others. On April 20, TIME reported that a lawyer and a consultant for Bank of America, which is in direct negotiations with Miller over its handling of foreclosures, gave a total of $15,000 to Miller’s campaign.

Reporting from Washington— A lobbying battle is raging largely behind the scenes over a seemingly obscure executive order that could — if signed by President Obama — make public the political spending that many corporations can now keep secret.

The old Chicago Machine pol began the day's lecture... “It all started in the sixties, or so I’m told… the goo-goos (ya know, the ‘good government’ types) were starting to scream about ‘getting the money out of politics.’ Impossible, of course, and thoroughly stupid… as if ya could have elections in a country of 300 million people widdout the money for printing, for mailings, radio ads, tv spots, and staff… it’s just crazy. But we found a way to make the most of it.” The boy understood. “Okay, I see where you’re going, Pockets… you’re talking about the Federal Election...

April 23, 2011 (Dover, Delaware) -- Randall Chase, the Associated Press' Delaware Bureau Reporter, embarrassed the Associated Press over the Easter weekend with a negligently false report about Christine O'Donnell's campaign and her campaign finance reports. Randall Chase falsely reported that in April 2009, Christine O"Donnell was not a declared candidate for office. In fact, CHRISTINE O'DONNELL DECLARED HERSELF A CANDIDATE FOR THE 2010 ELECTION CYCLE IN DECEMBER 2008 On February 12, 2009, the Delaware Business Ledger reported "O'Donnell wastes no time in announcing Senate candidacy." On February 13, 2009, radio station WDEL reported "Christine O'Donnell to run for U.S....

As he ramps up his 2012 re-election bid, President Obama on Thursday turns to one of his earliest and most pivotal constituencies of support when it comes to campaign cash: Hollywood. Obama is set to headline a fund-raising rally at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Calif., which will feature appearances by actress Rashida Jones, entertainer Jamie Foxx and singer Jason Mraz. Tickets for the event range from $100 to $2,500, with 3,000 people expected to attend. Afterwards, the president will attend two intimate dinners for Hollywood heavyweights—one at Sony Studios, hosted by Sony CEO Michael Lynton, and another...