"McAuliffe wasn't wealthy, but he realized that the connections he had made from fundraising could help him get that way. So in 1987, McAuliffe, who had registered with Congress as a lobbyist while in law school, opened a lobbying firm, McAuliffe, Kelly & Raffaeli. That year, he also became chairman of Federal City National Bank, a small savings and loan on Capitol Hill. In 1988, Federal City accepted millions of dollars in deposits from the Gephardt campaign and loaned the campaign several million dollars more.
McAuliffe's double-dipping raised eyebrows. He appeared to be using his Gephardt connections to direct deposits to a bank that he helped run, a clear conflict of interest. McAuliffe insisted that he had recused himself from bank discussions regarding the transactions. Three years later, federal regulators accused the bank of unsound business practices, and it almost collapsed before merging with another S&L. Thus began a pattern in McAuliffe's conduct of business: During the next decade, his private business often benefited from his political ties, but no one could prove that he'd broken any laws. And because he was not an elected official, no one paid his business dealings much attention."
The media missed two scandals involving leading Democrats Dick Gephardt and Tom Foley. Paul Rodriguez detailed in the August 28 Insight that a "review of how Gephardt wound up with a luxury beach house worth more than $700,000 suggests that the Democratic leader may have violated various banking and tax laws, as well as financial reporting requirements of the Ethics in Government Act. As a result, the 10-term Congressman could end up under close scrutiny by the House ethics committee."
But he's had no scrutiny from the press. Gephardt, an avid opponent of capital gains tax cuts, effectively avoided the tax by swapping a property he owned for a vacant lot in a beachfront community. He later reported it as rental property, a possible violation of the terms of the swap.
Minority leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., owns a beach house in North Carolina that the Ethics Committee was interested in because he claimed over $100,000 a year in rental income. Meanwhile, the loan documents prohibited using the house for rental purposes. Gephardt had to amend his documents THREE TIMES.
Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt submitted inaccurate financial disclosure statements concerning some $50,000 in rental income he received from a luxury beach house. To quote the Jan. 6, 1997 Wall Street Journal: "Mr. Gephardt's office says any mistakes concerned 'very technical matters.' But it would appear that by declaring his rental property as a second home he saved more than $17,600 in capital gains taxes".
Gee what S&L would that be???
Amazing.... I'm a private citizen and they sure pay attention to my business dealings. In fact, if we tried what they get away with, we'd be in prison!