Tag: Campaign Finance

In an absolutely hilarious statement, his spokesperson explains the plight as NOT being needed for paying the help:

Schauer spokesman Zack Pohl said the campaign has "every day expenses" such as offices, employees and materials to pay for and denied the request for public funding was a sign of a fundraising weakness for Schauer seven months before the primary.

"It's fairly common on the Democratic side, especially when you have a wealthy opponent like Rick Snyder," Pohl said.

Schauer isn't seen a good investment, even though he is all the Dems have, and that isn't saying much. In the meantime, if the political welfare check doesn't arrive on time, you can bet the operations will be done out of a cold cardboard box with a few less employees. Economic reality folks.

And in other news, Governor Rick Snyder will spend half a million smackers to persuade folks what a good job he has done:

" Records reviewed by the Free Press show the Snyder campaign has purchased $400,000 worth of TV air time during the Feb. 2 Super Bowl with Fox affiliate WJBK-TV (Channel 2) and $18,000 worth of ad time on the Lansing Fox affiliate, WSYM-TV (Fox 47). Though full details were not available, the purchases are part of a statewide buy for a 60-second spot. "

He pads the expenses with his own services.

The ivory tower reports Foreclosure Don David Trott has heavily invested in his own campaign to become a US congressman.

"An Oakland County lawyer has raised nearly $650,000 in a month on the campaign trail -- including more than $200,000 from himself -- far outdistancing the Republican congressman he hopes to unseat."

However, Trott isn't really leaving himself as exposed as those whom he has made his living off of for so many years.  Risk is for losers, right?  Get a few Daddy war-BUCKS from Cronyist liberal Illitch family, some Devos dollars, and bill yourself heavily so that an amended filing pays you for your time.  The story continues:

".. Trott contributed more than $105,000 in in-kind services -- including research, consulting and legal fees -- as well as putting $102,600 of his own money into the campaign, according to FEC records.

It seems that the "more than $105,000" number can be considered a debt of the campaign with a little modification of the paperwork.  Add that to his personal $102,600 cash infusion, and he could make a little ka-ching for his troubles as long as there are others filling the coffers.

Protecting Michigan Taxpayers today announced the filing of multiple campaign finance complaints against personal injury lawyer and failed gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fieger and his law firm, Fieger & Fieger, P.C. in connection with hidden spending by the firm in support of Proposal 2, the government union boss power grab overwhelmingly rejected by voters on Tuesday.

"Geoffrey Fieger may be a high-powered personal injury lawyer but that doesn't mean he is above the law," said Jared Rodriguez, Spokesman for Protecting Michigan Taxpayers.  "His decision to flout campaign finance law and to illegally hide his spending on behalf of Proposal 2 from voters raises serious questions about the real amount of money spent by big labor on this failed, divisive attempt to put union bosses above the members they claim to represent."

Violations of Michigan's campaign finance law committed by Fieger and referenced in today's complaint include:

• Violation of Section 24 of the MCFA by failing to file a Statement of Organization with the Michigan Department of State;
  
• Violation of Section 34 of the MCFA by failing to file the pre-general campaign statement due October 26, 2012; and
  
• Violation of Section 47(4) of the MCFA by failing to indicate that advertisements paid for by Fieger were paid for "with regulated funds."

High-dollar political donors associated with Michigan's labor movement are encouraged and instructed on how to hide limitless, undisclosed campaign contributions in secret slush funds, according to a leaked letter and PowerPoint presentation being distributed by Andrew Nickelhoff, the union lawyer behind Proposal 2 and 4.

The leaked private letter and PowerPoint stands in stark contrast to hypocritical public statements from supporters of Proposal 2, Nickelhoff's employers, who have insincerely and hypocritically called other organizations "shadowy."

"The scheme by Proposal 2 and 4's attorney to solicit secret, undisclosed campaign contributions is another example of Prop 2 supporter's continuing pattern of deception and hypocisy," said Nick De Leeuw, Spokesman for Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution.  "Nickelhoff infamously told voters they'd simply have to "guess" what his deceptive ballot proposal would do; now he is caught instructing donors how to hide their contributions."

In a letter dated May 9 and distributed to potential donors, Nickelhoff solicited and outlined in detail how high-dollar donors could contribute potentially millions of dollars to a secret slush fund without ever disclosing their identity.

There's a very interesting and disturbing story in Bloomberg News that hits close to home with me. I've long been preaching about how important it is to get a good and trustworthy treasurer if you are running a campaign or forming a PAC. Some of my previous posts on this area are as follows.

Shameless business plug for my company, posted in 2009

2006 - What not to do. This was one of the inspirations of me forming the business.

From 2008 - Report on an embezzlement

From Bloomberg

Representative Susan Davis' latest letter to supporters said: "We have been robbed!!"

Davis, 67, is one of several California Democrats whose campaign accounts were allegedly looted during the past year by their treasurer, Kinde Durkee. On Sept. 10, Davis sent out the appeal to begin rebuilding her account.

Five days after Durkee's arrest in Burbank on Sept. 2, Representative Frank LoBiondo's former campaign treasurer was sentenced to 30 months in prison for embezzling more than $450,000 from the New Jersey Republican's campaign committee.

As candidates raise more money for their campaigns, there is greater opportunity for nefarious treasurers to embezzle campaign cash from politicians accustomed to putting their careers in the hands of consultants, aides and volunteers, said Michael Toner, a former Federal Election Commission chairman.

Here's the front of the postcard with the name and address retracted.

The post primaries were due yesterday. After this broad shot fired across the board, I'm here to show in spades that those in glass houses should not throw stones. Whether it was due to malfeasance or just incompetence, Judy Daubenmier's crew screwed up. If you are going to fire off, you better be clean, because I can find where the skeletons are buried.

This is a personal blog post not tied to the business, so I'll go into a little more detail and bluntness here which I did not post on the business website. There is an excellent FAQ there that can answer many questions.