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Good ol' reliable blue VA flipped couple years ago... many blame it on Chinese "votes."

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Investigation into McAuliffe's foreign donation campaigns
Engineered by The Clinton Foundation

In 2016, former Gov. of Virginia Terry McAuliffe was under a joint investigation by the FBI and prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section. The investigation centered around Terry McAuliffe’s 2013 campaign and whether he accepted political contributions that were forbidden by federal law.

As part of the probe, investigators have scrutinized McAuliffe’s time as a board member of the charitable foundation set up by former President Bill Clinton: The Clinton Global Initiative.

McAuliffe is a Clinton insider.....former chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2000 to 2005, and co-chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, speaking to reporters said he was “shocked” by the investigation and that it “has nothing to do with the Clinton Foundation.”

“This was an allegation of a gentleman who gave a check to my campaign,” McAuliffe said. “I didn’t bring the donor in. I didn’t bring him into the Clinton foundation. I’m not sure if I’ve even met the person, to be honest with you.” Among the McAuliffe donations that drew the interest of the investigators was $120,000 from Chinese businessman Wang Wenliang through his U.S. businesses. Wang was previously delegate to China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s ceremonial legislature.

Mr. Wenliang chairs the privately held China Rilin Construction Group, which holds a majority stake in Dadong Port Group, a strategic Chinese port near North Korea. He is also Chairman of the Board Zhongyu Gas Holdings Limited.

U.S. election law prohibits foreign nationals from donating to federal, state or local elections. Penalties for violations include fines and/or imprisonment. It appears that Mr Wang holds a permanent resident status, according to a spokeswoman, which would make him a U.S. person under election law and eligible to donate to McAuliffe’s campaign. The donation in question revolves around $70,000 for his campaign and $50,000 for his inaugural — from West Legend Corp., a New Jersey construction materials company controlled by Chinese billionaire Wang Wenliang. As The Intercept explains:

The sheer size seems improper. Yet Virginia permits unlimited, direct contributions by both individuals and corporations to candidates for state offices — e.g., governor, the state senate and general assembly. Virginia is one of six states that allow direct, unlimited contributions by anyone. (The others are Alabama, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, and Utah.) In other words, for Virginia state elections, the fact that Citizens United made it possible for corporations to spend an unlimited amount in ways uncoordinated with candidates was largely irrelevant. Corporations could already just cut checks directly to candidates for as much as they wanted.

Then there’s the issue of West Legend’s foreign ownership. According to U.S. law, it’s illegal for a “foreign national” — meaning a foreign individual, corporation, or government — to make any donation in connection with a federal, state, or local election. However, the legal definition of a foreign national specifically excludes any “corporation … organized under or created by the laws of the United States.”

So, since West Legend Corp. is incorporated in the U.S., it’s not a foreign national and can take part in U.S. elections like any other American company.

Where Wang’s permanent residency would be legally significant is under FEC regulations that forbid any foreign national from engaging in the “decision-making process of any person, such as a corporation,” regarding political expenditures. As long as everyone participating was a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, then Wang and McAuliffe are legally in the clear. FEC advisory opinions also suggest that to be legal, the $120,000 donation must have been generated by business activity in the U.S.

Mr Wang Wenliang also has been a donor to the Clinton foundation, pledging $2 million. He also has been a prolific donor to other causes, including to New York University, Harvard University and environmental issues in Florida.

While the way politicians harvest money from donors is appalling, as of yet, there is no evidence that McAuliffe broke any rules in this particular case.

In 2015, McAuliffe’s political action committee, Common Good Va., returned a $25,000 donation from a company with ties to Angola’s state-owned oil company after The Associated Press raised questions about its legality. Federal law prohibits campaigns at any level from receiving money from outside the U.S.

Clinton Foundation donors gave $13 million to Terry McAuliffe

Records show that there are 120 donors who have contributed to both Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the Clinton Foundation, giving a total of $13.4 million to the governor’s campaigns, inauguration, state party and political action committee. That increases to nearly $18 million if donors to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign are included.

In fact, West Legend Corp. was on the was only the 57th biggest donor to McAuliffe during his two campaigns for governor. Coming in first at $6.7 million was the Democratic Governors Association PAC. Next was Independence USA, a Super PAC funded by Michael Bloomberg to promote gun control, with $1.7 million. Among the other corporations that gave to McAuliffe are tobacco giant Altria ($243,667), Hospital Corporation of America($177,500), and Genentech ($150,000). Notable individual donors include long-time Clinton supporter Haim Saban ($572,636), Facebook’s first president Sean Parker ($500,000), BET founder Robert Johnson ($495,000), and Bill Clinton ($110,000)

The investigation from the Washington post shows a long symbiotic relationship between McAuliffe’s governorship and Hillary Clinton’s prospects for taking Virginia. This was briefly discuss in a previous article, and would be further expanded upon in subsequent ones. 57 small Clinton donors gave a total of $5,513,171 to McAuliffe

This bracket has the largest number of donors, who mostly gave moderate amounts to both campaigns. All but two gave less than $250,000 to McAuliffe. One of the exceptions is billionaire environmentalist Thomas S. Steyer, who gave McAuliffe a total of $1.6 million through his PAC.

The other is Rhode Island marketing executive Mark Weiner. He and his firm gave nearly $380,000 to McAuliffe, who helped Weiner win the right to sell official Bill Clinton inauguration merchandise. McAuliffe even pitched the items on QVC. Weiner later connected McAuliffe to an investment that allowed him to profit from a stranger’s death. McAuliffe later donated the profits to charity.

Dubai's A. Huda Farouki, a longtime Clinton supporter who spent New Year’s Eve in 1999 with the Clintons, gave McAuliffe $100,000 in campaign cash and at least that much to the Clinton Foundation. He is chairman of Dubai-based defense contractor Anham, which a government audit found to have over-billed the Pentagon by $4.4 million, Bloomberg Business reported.