Bronco Bob
08-21-2007, 11:30 PM
I'm bored, Meck had his fun, time to stick it to a Republican: :~ohyah!:
Corrupt Donors Can Buy Romney a Straw Poll, But Not a New Record
Mitt Romney's free spending ways on the campaign trail are no secret, but he took it to new levels this weekend at the straw poll in Iowa. According to reports, Romney spent millions of dollars to smooth talk just 4,516 people into voting for him. According to reports, Romney spent at least $442.87 per vote, though some estimates indicate he may have spent more than $1,000 per vote. By comparison, his two closest straw poll rivals spent just $57.98 and $148.27 respectively for each of their votes. [USA Today blog, 8/12/07] At the same rate of spending, if Romney were the Republican nominee, in order to buy off the same 62,040,606 people who voted for President Bush in 2004, he would have to spend more than $27.4 billion.
Romney has been forced to pour money at the voters -- including roughly $9 million of his own money -- because he has offered nothing but more of the same failed leadership we have seen from the Bush Republicans in Washington. Just this weekend, the Boston Herald reported that one of the co-chairs of Romney's national finance committee, Alan Fabian, was indicted on 23 federal counts of mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice. Fabian's indictment follows earlier reports that another of Romney's national finance directors funded a Michigan group that bought ads comparing Democrats to Hitler and that two of his biggest fundraisers and donors backed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's shameful and deceptive 2004 ads attacking veterans. Also, one of Romney's chief Ohio fundraisers gave nearly half a million dollars to an Ohio group responsible for deceptive ads and push polls in seven states during the 2006 elections.
"Considering his dismal record as governor and his failure to offer a new vision for the future of our country, it is no surprise that smooth talking Mitt Romney had to spend hundreds of dollars per voter on a straw poll that other leading Republicans weren't even participating in," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton. "The fact that Romney is relying on a shady cast of characters and criminals to finance his campaign, blindly following President Bush's failed leadership on Iraq, and pandering to the right wing by flip-flopping on key issues shows that Romney is not the candidate to bring a new direction to Washington."
[B]Mitt Romney's Dirty Donors
Alan Fabian: Romney National Finance Chair Indicted on 23 Federal Charges.
John Rakolta: Romney National Finance Co-Chair; Funded Group Behind Ad Comparing Democrats To Hitler. Romney named John Rakolta, Jr., as his National Finance Co-Chair. Rakolta also serves on Romney's Florida statewide Finance Steering Committee. [Romney Press Release, 2/22/07; Associated Press, 1/5/07; Boston Globe, 9/24/05] Detroit political consultant Adolph Mongo solicited contributions from the families of John Rakolta and Peter Cummings to fund Voice the Vote political action committee. John Rakolta and his wife each donated $5,000 to Voice the Vote. The $10,000 Rakolta and his wife gave Voice the Vote accounts for more than one-third of the $29,000 the group raised. [Detroit Free Press, 3/15/07]
-- Voice the Vote PAC Produced Ad Comparing Democrats to Adolf Hitler. In 2006, the Detroit-based political action committee Voice the Vote ran an ad in the Michigan Chronicle newspaper that featured photographs of Hitler alongside Governor Granholm and five former Democratic presidents. [Detroit Free Press, 3/15/07]
Carl Lindner: Romney Ohio Fundraiser Donated $479,224 To Group Responsible for $827,000 On Deceptive Push Polls and Ads in Seven States. "A new report on political soft money from the Campaign Finance Institute fingers American Financial Group Chairman Carl Lindner of Cincinnati and Massachusetts abortion foe Raymond Ruddy as the rich guys who financed $827,000 worth of ads that Common Sense Ohio ran during the 2006 elections." [Openers, Cleveland Plain Dealer blog, 4/11/07] Lindner's contributions to Common Sense Ohio totaled $479,224. [Campaign Finance Institute, 4/11/07]
-- Common Sense Ohio Spent $827,000 On Deceptive Push Polls and Ads in Seven States. According to the Campaign Finance Institute, Common Sense Ohio was responsible for $827,000 in deceptive ads and push polls in Ohio, Missouri, Rhode Island, Maryland, Tennessee, South Dakota and Montana. [Openers, Cleveland Plain Dealer blog, 4/11/07] "Common Sense Ohio was formed in July to run issue advertisements in the governor's race there, and it became involved in the Senate races in Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Tennessee, and in the abortion referendum in South Dakota." [New York Times, 11/6/06]
Sam Fox: Romney Backer Gave $50,000 To Swift Boat Vets For Truth, $100,000 To Romney. The Bush Administration withdrew the nomination of Sam Fax to be ambassador to Belgium after it was revealed that Fox contributed $50,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004. [AP, 3/28/07]. Fox also contributed $100,000 to Romney's PAC in Iowa and hosted a Romney political retreat in Alaska. [BostonGlobe.com, 7/20/06; AP, 9/1/06]
Bob Perry: Bankrolled Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, Divisive GOP Groups. Bob Perry, a Texas homebuilder and one of the primary funders of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, has signed on to raise money for the presidential campaign of former Governor Mitt Romney. An invite to the Dallas fundraiser for Romney on March 26 includes Perry's name as a member of the governor's "Texas Leadership Team." [The Fix, Washington Post, 3/16/07]
-- [B]Bob Perry Was Chief Backer of Swift Boat Group, Gave $4.5 Million. Bob Perry, who owns Houston-based builder Perry Homes, is a Republican Party financial donor who gained notoriety as the chief financial backer of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, whose ads criticized the Vietnam War record of Senator John F. Kerry. [Washington Post, 8/9/05] Perry gave $4.5 million to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's campaign in 2004 to distort John Kerry's military record. [Washington Post, 3/17/07] -- Perry is top Donor to College Republican Club Criticized for Racist, Anti-Immigrant Activities. Having given $200,000 on October 24, 2006, Bob Perry is the fourth largest donor to the College Republicans 527 organization. The group has come under fire lately for sponsoring activities including: Offering a dinner for two at a local Mexican restaurant for the winner of a 'food stamp drawing' that required climbing through a hole in a chain link fence and offering fake identification; Sponsoring a game called 'Catch the Illegal Immigrant' (Under the game's rules, according to one student Republican, players were to search on campus for the student chosen to wear a name tag saying 'illegal immigrant.' [New York Times, 2/23/07]); and advocating events like 'Fun with Guns,' in which young Republicans would use a BB gun or paintball gun to shoot cardboard cut-outs of Democratic leaders such as Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)" [The Michigan Daily, 9/12/06]
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,158474.shtml
Corrupt Donors Can Buy Romney a Straw Poll, But Not a New Record
Mitt Romney's free spending ways on the campaign trail are no secret, but he took it to new levels this weekend at the straw poll in Iowa. According to reports, Romney spent millions of dollars to smooth talk just 4,516 people into voting for him. According to reports, Romney spent at least $442.87 per vote, though some estimates indicate he may have spent more than $1,000 per vote. By comparison, his two closest straw poll rivals spent just $57.98 and $148.27 respectively for each of their votes. [USA Today blog, 8/12/07] At the same rate of spending, if Romney were the Republican nominee, in order to buy off the same 62,040,606 people who voted for President Bush in 2004, he would have to spend more than $27.4 billion.
Romney has been forced to pour money at the voters -- including roughly $9 million of his own money -- because he has offered nothing but more of the same failed leadership we have seen from the Bush Republicans in Washington. Just this weekend, the Boston Herald reported that one of the co-chairs of Romney's national finance committee, Alan Fabian, was indicted on 23 federal counts of mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice. Fabian's indictment follows earlier reports that another of Romney's national finance directors funded a Michigan group that bought ads comparing Democrats to Hitler and that two of his biggest fundraisers and donors backed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's shameful and deceptive 2004 ads attacking veterans. Also, one of Romney's chief Ohio fundraisers gave nearly half a million dollars to an Ohio group responsible for deceptive ads and push polls in seven states during the 2006 elections.
"Considering his dismal record as governor and his failure to offer a new vision for the future of our country, it is no surprise that smooth talking Mitt Romney had to spend hundreds of dollars per voter on a straw poll that other leading Republicans weren't even participating in," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton. "The fact that Romney is relying on a shady cast of characters and criminals to finance his campaign, blindly following President Bush's failed leadership on Iraq, and pandering to the right wing by flip-flopping on key issues shows that Romney is not the candidate to bring a new direction to Washington."
[B]Mitt Romney's Dirty Donors
Alan Fabian: Romney National Finance Chair Indicted on 23 Federal Charges.
John Rakolta: Romney National Finance Co-Chair; Funded Group Behind Ad Comparing Democrats To Hitler. Romney named John Rakolta, Jr., as his National Finance Co-Chair. Rakolta also serves on Romney's Florida statewide Finance Steering Committee. [Romney Press Release, 2/22/07; Associated Press, 1/5/07; Boston Globe, 9/24/05] Detroit political consultant Adolph Mongo solicited contributions from the families of John Rakolta and Peter Cummings to fund Voice the Vote political action committee. John Rakolta and his wife each donated $5,000 to Voice the Vote. The $10,000 Rakolta and his wife gave Voice the Vote accounts for more than one-third of the $29,000 the group raised. [Detroit Free Press, 3/15/07]
-- Voice the Vote PAC Produced Ad Comparing Democrats to Adolf Hitler. In 2006, the Detroit-based political action committee Voice the Vote ran an ad in the Michigan Chronicle newspaper that featured photographs of Hitler alongside Governor Granholm and five former Democratic presidents. [Detroit Free Press, 3/15/07]
Carl Lindner: Romney Ohio Fundraiser Donated $479,224 To Group Responsible for $827,000 On Deceptive Push Polls and Ads in Seven States. "A new report on political soft money from the Campaign Finance Institute fingers American Financial Group Chairman Carl Lindner of Cincinnati and Massachusetts abortion foe Raymond Ruddy as the rich guys who financed $827,000 worth of ads that Common Sense Ohio ran during the 2006 elections." [Openers, Cleveland Plain Dealer blog, 4/11/07] Lindner's contributions to Common Sense Ohio totaled $479,224. [Campaign Finance Institute, 4/11/07]
-- Common Sense Ohio Spent $827,000 On Deceptive Push Polls and Ads in Seven States. According to the Campaign Finance Institute, Common Sense Ohio was responsible for $827,000 in deceptive ads and push polls in Ohio, Missouri, Rhode Island, Maryland, Tennessee, South Dakota and Montana. [Openers, Cleveland Plain Dealer blog, 4/11/07] "Common Sense Ohio was formed in July to run issue advertisements in the governor's race there, and it became involved in the Senate races in Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Tennessee, and in the abortion referendum in South Dakota." [New York Times, 11/6/06]
Sam Fox: Romney Backer Gave $50,000 To Swift Boat Vets For Truth, $100,000 To Romney. The Bush Administration withdrew the nomination of Sam Fax to be ambassador to Belgium after it was revealed that Fox contributed $50,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004. [AP, 3/28/07]. Fox also contributed $100,000 to Romney's PAC in Iowa and hosted a Romney political retreat in Alaska. [BostonGlobe.com, 7/20/06; AP, 9/1/06]
Bob Perry: Bankrolled Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, Divisive GOP Groups. Bob Perry, a Texas homebuilder and one of the primary funders of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, has signed on to raise money for the presidential campaign of former Governor Mitt Romney. An invite to the Dallas fundraiser for Romney on March 26 includes Perry's name as a member of the governor's "Texas Leadership Team." [The Fix, Washington Post, 3/16/07]
-- [B]Bob Perry Was Chief Backer of Swift Boat Group, Gave $4.5 Million. Bob Perry, who owns Houston-based builder Perry Homes, is a Republican Party financial donor who gained notoriety as the chief financial backer of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, whose ads criticized the Vietnam War record of Senator John F. Kerry. [Washington Post, 8/9/05] Perry gave $4.5 million to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's campaign in 2004 to distort John Kerry's military record. [Washington Post, 3/17/07] -- Perry is top Donor to College Republican Club Criticized for Racist, Anti-Immigrant Activities. Having given $200,000 on October 24, 2006, Bob Perry is the fourth largest donor to the College Republicans 527 organization. The group has come under fire lately for sponsoring activities including: Offering a dinner for two at a local Mexican restaurant for the winner of a 'food stamp drawing' that required climbing through a hole in a chain link fence and offering fake identification; Sponsoring a game called 'Catch the Illegal Immigrant' (Under the game's rules, according to one student Republican, players were to search on campus for the student chosen to wear a name tag saying 'illegal immigrant.' [New York Times, 2/23/07]); and advocating events like 'Fun with Guns,' in which young Republicans would use a BB gun or paintball gun to shoot cardboard cut-outs of Democratic leaders such as Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)" [The Michigan Daily, 9/12/06]
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,158474.shtml