Thanks to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, we now know a lot more about finances of the Herman Cain campaign.
According to an October 30 story:
Herman Cain’s two top campaign aides ran a private Wisconsin-based corporation that helped the GOP presidential candidate get his fledgling campaign off the ground by originally footing the bill for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for such items as iPads, chartered flights and travel to Iowa and Las Vegas – something that might breach federal tax and campaign law, according to sources and documents.
Internal financial records obtained by No Quarter show that Prosperity USA said it was owed about $40,000 by the Cain campaign for a variety of items in February and March. Cain began taking donations for his presidential bid on Jan. 1.
Prosperity USA was owned and run by Wisconsin political operatives Mark Block and Linda Hansen, Cain’s current chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, respectively.
The authenticity of the records was verified by two individuals close to the firm.
The New York Times followed several days later.
The story resulted in a Federal Election Commission complaint by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington against Friends of Herman Cain, Prosperity USA, and Block.
Based on internal financial records from Prosperity USA obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the complaint alleges Prosperity USA made illegal corporate contributions to Herman Cain’s presidential campaign by using $40,000 in corporate funds to buy iPads and pay for campaign trips to Iowa, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston and Dallas in February and March of 2011.
The complaint also alleges Mr. Block personally violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by authorizing the illegal corporate contributions as president of Prosperity USA, and then by accepting the illegal contributions as treasurer of Friends of Herman Cain. This makes Mr. Block the first person in the history of the Act to have both given and received the same illegal contributions. The complaint also alleges Mr. Block violated the Act by failing to disclose the Prosperity USA expenditures.
Meanwhile, another group has asked the IRS to review the apparent misuse of funds channeled through the tax-exempt organization.
There’s some meaty reading here. Have fun.
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Mr. Cain’s strange ties to the Koch (Charles and David) billionaire brothers (pronounced as Coke) is most disturbing of all for me.
These guys appear to have bought some members of the U.S. Supreme Court and most of the right wing of America. Last week, Herman Cain claimed the Kochs are his “brother from another mother.”
Mighty strange trio, I think.
It’s crazy how much money is needed in political campaigns. I don’t trust all parties – Democrats, Republicans.
But, to hear the looney right tell it, the Kochs are pillars of the community compared to George Soros, who single-handedly destroyed the economies of five European countries. Amazing, isn’t it? These days, the only necessary qualification to be president is to say whatever nonsense someone else believes to be true.
Don’t forget Rupert Murdoch, the Australian media mogul. He was best friends with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair — who said of himself that he would not be able to be in power without Murdoch’s backing — and Italian PM Silvio Berlesconi, who is a media mogul in his own right. (In fact, the three of them used to vacation together in Italy when Blair was PM). Murdoch seems to have a right-wing agenda, but he backs a wide range of politicians because his other ambition is just simply power and money.
I heard an interview on NPR with former NY Mayor Ed Koch (pronounced “kawtch”, in this case), where he said that he was a hopeless nobody when he first ran for mayor. One day he got a phone call from someone named Rupert who claimed that he was a supporter. “Rupert?”, Koch thought to himself. “I don’t know any Jews named Rupert….” Murdoch said that he felt that the unions were destroying New York, and that he thought maybe Koch was the man for the job of keeping the unions down. Koch agreed, and he got to become mayor largely because of Murdoch.
To their credit, these politicians like Blair and Ed Koch are very open about Murdoch’s influence on themselves. That is exceptionally honest if one thinks about it. Also, Soros, the Koch brothers and Murdoch, despite the destruction that they make wreak, are also completely sincere players in the political system. Perhaps that speaks well of both them and the political systems in which they act.
Do we have stunningly open if flawed politicians in Hawaii? No, not anymore. (Burns used to be very open about the moral ambiguity of politics, like when he chastised Tom Gill’s idealism.) Do we have major behind-the-scenes players who are noble in their intentions. No, not at all. (Thurston Twigg-Smith used the Honolulu Advertiser to subvert the status quo of which he was a privileged product. The Star Advertiser, run by mediocre outsiders at the behest of the status quo, is the opposite of that.)
All I know is that I have a sudden urge for pizza.
As a staunch democrat, I’d like to see the repugnant (or whatever the GOP calls itself these days) party chose Herman Cain for its candidate. It should make an easy win for Obama, and dem funds could be diverted elsewhere as needed.
As an American, though, I simply can’t see the republican party as other than an agent for the rich and privileged – no matter what the cost for the rest of us. I seriously don’t believe we’ve had a good republican president since Ike – all they’re good for is war, attacks on social security, and driving up the national debt with sleazy tax cuts for their rich chums.
The existing field of republican candidates for president is a sad joke that would make Lincoln roll over in his grave!