- 02-14-01
- ATTENTION O'REILLY!
- WHY ARE YOU PROVIDING SO MUCH AIR TIME TO MICHAEL BROWN?
- BROWN IS MORE THAN A MERE JESSE JACKSON APOLOGIST. HE IS A CROOK.
- YOU EXPOSE THE FORMER, BUT, WITH YOUR DEFERENCE, CONCEAL THE LATTER.
Ron Brown's Son Gets Probation
Receives three years' worth for illegal donations to Kennedy's 1994 campaign
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Nov. 21) -- The son of the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown received three years' probation and a $5,000 fine for illegally contributing to Sen. Ted Kennedy's 1994 campaign.
Michael A. Brown, a Washington lawyer, pled guilty in August to misdemeanor charges that he had exceeded the $2,000 limit on individual donations to a federal candidate.
He must also perform 150 hours of community service and pay an additional $7,818 for the costs of his probation.
Brown, 32, gave $2,000 to his secretary and $1,000 apiece to two co-workers which they then gave to Kennedy's campaign. Brown himself received the money from Oklahoma fund-raisers Gene and Nora Lum, who have admitted they laundered $50,000 through "straw donors" including Brown.
"Mr. Brown would like to have the court believe this incident... was due to an over-enthusiasm for Sen. Kennedy's campaign," said Justice Department prosecutor Jonathan Biran. But, Biran said, "he knew what the rules were regarding personal contributions. In 1994, he decided that on two occasions these rules didn't have to apply to him."
In a statement at the sentencing, Brown told the judge, "I stand before you accepting full responsibility for my actions."
"I expect to move forward with renewed energy in meeting my court-ordered obligations and in advancing the goals of education and opportunity championed by my father and to which I have committed myself," he said.
Ron Brown's Son Guilty Of Laundering Donations
The Washington Times
August 29, 1997 Jerry SeperMichael A. Brown, son of the late Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown, pleaded guilty Thursday to federal election law violations for illegal donations he made during the 1994 campaign.
In a deal with Justice Department prosecutors, Mr. Brown admitted to a misdemeanor count of exceeding the legal limit of $2,000 for an individual donor when he illegally routed $4,000 to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's 1994 campaign through "straw donors" as an officer of an Oklahoma utilities firm run by Democratic fund-raisers Nora and Gene Lum.
Mr. Brown, 32, told U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina that charges in the government's plea agreement were "very accurate" and admitted he broke the law by finding others to divert the cash to the campaign of the Massachusetts Democrat. Judge Urbina accepted the plea and set sentencing for Nov. 21.
Mr. Brown agreed to cooperate in the government's probe of campaign-finance abuses in exchange for no prison term. Prosecutor Raymond N. Hulser said the amount of the donations dictated that a misdemeanor charge be filed instead of a felony. The charge carries a one-year prison sentence and a $100,000 fine.
Mr. Brown, in a statement, said he took "personal responsibility for a single misdemeanor violation" of election laws and had "fully cooperated" with the court, law enforcement officials and the Justice Department. He said he hoped to "put the tragedy of the last year fully behind" him.
The Brown plea was the second for the government in its probe of campaign-finance abuses. In June, the Lums pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a scheme to pass $50,000 through others to the Kennedy campaign and that of W. Stuart Price, an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the House in Oklahoma. They also agreed to cooperate in the government's campaign-finance probe.
Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Price were not implicated in the scheme.
In the Brown case, records show he contributed $1,000 to Mr. Kennedy's re-election campaign on May 27, 1994, and made another $1,000 donation on Sept. 20, 1994. On the same day as his second donation, the government said, he disguised $4,000 in additional contributions to Mr. Kennedy by routing them through three others.
Mr. Brown, according to the records, later reimbursed the three individuals for the donations. The Justice Department said funds for "these unlawful contributions" were given to Mr. Brown by the Lums.
Sentencing for the Lums is scheduled for Sept. 9. They face five years in prison and fines totaling $250,000. Prosecutors have said they would seek reduced sentences if the Lums provide "substantial cooperation" in the campaign-finance probe.
The Lums were among party loyalists who sought Commerce Department access to further their business interests in exchange for campaign donations to Democrats. Nora Lum, a frequent White House visitor, was chief operating officer of Dynamic Energy Resources Inc., a Tulsa pipeline company. Gene Lum served as a company director.
As director of the Asian Pacific Advisory Council, which sought donations from Asian-Americans for Mr. Clinton's 1992 campaign, Nora Lum also was a confidante to John Huang -- former Commerce official, Democratic National Committee fund-raiser and Lippo Group executive at the heart of the government's campaign-finance probe.
She was named by Ronald Brown, then chairman of the Democratic National Committee, to head APAC in August 1992 and raised more than $250,000 for the Clinton campaign. According to FEC records, her appointment came after she made donations of $20,000 to the DNC.
Her name first surfaced in a probe by independent counsel Daniel S. Pearson of suspected financial irregularities involving Ronald Brown. Mr. Pearson was named in June 1995 to look into possible criminal violations involving Ronald Brown's receipt of $400,000 from First International Inc.
Ronald Brown was killed in a plane crash in Croatia in April 1996. The Pearson probe was then turned over to the Justice Department.
Note : "Mr. Brown agreed to cooperate in the government's probe of campaign-finance abuses in exchange for no prison term." This is the specious rationale of Reno and the Justice Department for permitting Michael Brown to avoid a prison sentence. Now he will merely pay a fine and walk away. His "cooperation" will probably prove to be as worthless as Hubbell's. The Justice Department will seek reduced sentences for the Lums as well in return for their "substantial cooperation." They know a great deal about John Huang but Reno realizes they can be relied upon to disclose nothing of real value. (Beginning to detect a pattern in the way our stonewalling attorney general plans to protect friends of the administration?)
Posted by: Bill Barclay (Billbarcly@aol.com)
Ron Brown's son gets probation for fundraising wrongdoings
Copyright © 1997 Nando.net
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- 06-25-00
- ATTENTION BILL O'REILLY!
- REGARDING JESSE JACKSON $$$,
- YOU AREN'T CONNECTING ALL THE DOTS
The O'Reilly Factor Talking Points - 6.21.00 "I'm Bill O'Reilly reporting from Chicago ... thanks for watching us tonight. We are here in the Windy City because this is the base of Jesse Jackson whose finances we have been investigating as you may know. And that's the subject of this evening's Talking Points memo. Trying to pin down how much money Reverend Jackson's charities get from donations and where that money goes is like trying to grab a greased pole &emdash; it is nearly impossible. Right now Reverend Jackson oversees four organizations which are receiving charitable contributions. The Factor has obtained 1999 tax information for two of them from the State of Illinois. The combined income from Rainbow Push and the Push for Excellence organization was more than four million dollars, much of that money going for travel and administrative expenses which are not itemized. In fact, no one received a salary at Push for Excellence and after the small salaries were paid at Rainbow more than three million was left over money which was spent but we don't know exactly how and neither does the State of Illinois. But the big winner for Jesse Jackson is his new Citizenship Education Fund which runs the Wall Street Project. Here the money flow is major: $2,250,000 in 1998 and none of the officers at the Citizenship Education Fund are receiving a salary. One trustee member was paid 60 thousand dollars but that's it &emdash; that means that big money is floating around in unitemized expenses. The Wall Street Project is designed to get minorities involved in stocks and bonds. The Factor has learned that the following entities gave Jackson's project significant amounts of money in 1998: The Chicago Stock Exchange, Dean Wiitter, Donaldson, Luftkin and Jenrette, Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber, The Travelers Group and Time Warner all kicked in 50 grand each and the New York Stock Exchange threw a party for Jackson and wrote off 90 thousand dollars in expenses. And that is just a partial list. As we have reported previously unitemized travel expenses for Jackson's organizations are running into the millions each year but at this time the State of Illinois and the IRS have not seen fit to audit the expenses. The last time a Jackson organization was audited was during the Reagan Administration in 1982 approximately one million dollars was found unaccounted for. Jackson took eight years to pay back 550,000 dollars in penalties. Jackson himself will not talk with us about his finances despite being pressed by Hannity and Colmes. And then by Fox anchor David Asman the Reverend took a different tact. Now we are not saying that Jesse Jackson is doing anything wrong but two of his organizations are tax exempt and all are charitable enterprises so tax deductions are being taken. This clearly puts Jackson's money into the public domain. He himself is a millionaire and we would once again urge him to explain his financial situation. And that's the memo."
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