I read the article. I also did some research on the crimes for which he was indicted and convicted. He set up a charity “Life Without Limits”. He had multiple bank accounts under the name “Stephen E Stockman dba Life Without Limits.” No appreciable disbursements were made for the charitable purposes. The funds were used for personal expenses and redirected to his campaign fund through third parties. He also filed federal tax returns which did not report the fund used for personal expenses. He and a campaign worker and a staffer were convicted on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering. The prosecution presented over 140,000 documents as evidence. He was convicted of 23 of the 24 counts against him.
Stockman was apparently low on funds at the time of his trial so he used a court appointed attorney. Likely that did not serve him well in such a complex case.
I did not read the entire court proceedings but the behavior (fake charity, moving money through multiple bank accounts, failing to report income) isn’t typical of someone who isn’t trying to disguise activity.
My perception is Stockman was an outspoken conservative who lived a lifestyle beyond his means and yielded to temptation to use a fake charity to funnel funds to support his lifestyle. He also used the charity to allow business cronies to make large tax deductible contributions of funds which were later funneled to his campaign. Campaign contributions are not tax deductible.
Obama administration officials were likely scrutinizing the records of prominent Republicans and looking for evidence to prosecute them. It also isn’t hard to believe some Republican and some Democrat Congressmen are breaking the law every day. Regardless of the motivations of the prosecutors, if Stockman was breaking the law he deserved to be prosecuted, and if convicted sent to jail. So do the other dirty members of Congress.
It is a threat to good governance when DOJ is directing most of its efforts against politicians of the opposition party and when politicians of the party in power are automatically given a pass on illicit activity. The only recourse the citizens have for highly partisan and politicized prosecutors is the ballot box.
The best defense for GOP politicians against politicized Democrat prosecutors is to behave ethically and comply with the law. If the idea comes to you that you can set up a fake charity and funnel contributions to your campaign and personal expenses through it, if you are a moral and ethical person your 6th sense will be activated and you will immediately know it isn’t a proper thing to do.
Former Rep. Steve Stockman, Texas Republican, did more as an elected official than perhaps any other to alert the nation to the fact that Lois Lerner, the now-disgraced IRS official, was using her powerful position to target conservatives.
He boldly led the charge that eventually resulted in Ms. Lerner admitting her abuse of power, being held in contempt of Congress and being ousted her from her post.
But while Ms. Lerner now lives as a free woman, even though she and her crooked government buddies enacted revenge on Stockman, who now is languishing in a federal prison under a 10-year sentence.
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The case against Steve Stockman? It involves the supposed tricking of nonprofit donors, based on four checks and two donors. It took twice as long as the Trump investigation, four grand juries, the pressuring of witnesses and millions of dollars to convict the former legislator.
Poignantly, neither of the donors complained or contacted the government; rather, the DOJ sought them out. The government’s own key FBI witness, Ben Wetmore, called it a “show trial — a real-life, Soviet-style prosecution.”
An FBI witness testified at Stockman’s trial that an agent was brought onto the FBI team to investigate the congressman the same month Stockman appeared on Fox News calling for Ms. Lerner’s arrest.
The government organizations and people on whom Stockman blew the whistle are the very ones who tried and secured his conviction — the FBI, DOJ and IRS.