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Read the DNC press release below first if you wish. It will help explain why the following names, words or phrases are being presented. Marcotte, McEwan, Pandagon, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bill Clinton, impeachment, Whitewater, McDougal, pardon, savings and loans, Lewinsky, and an additional long list of Clinton conquests, Vince Foster, moveon.org, DailyKos and the wonderful associations with the Glover Park Group are just a few blemishes the DNC should be concerned about. And there’s no need to get nasty. Not like this is first being published here. The DNC would do well to take the advice about people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. There would be plenty of volunteers to provide a vast quantity of the left’s dirty laundry. That notion will be dismissed for now. This continues after the press release.

DNC: Corrupt Donors Can Buy Romney a Straw Poll, But Not a New Record

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The following is being
issued by the Democratic National Committee:
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’ve 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. [Boston Herald, 8/11/07; AP, 8/9/07]
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.”
Mitt Romney’s Dirty Donors
Alan Fabian: Romney National Finance Chair Indicted on 23 Federal
Charges. [Boston Herald, 8/11/07]
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]
– 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]
Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee,
http://www.democrats.org. This communication is not authorized by any
candidate or candidate’s committee.

SOURCE Democratic National Committee

There are disclosure reports available online regarding all necessary financial data of candidates. The sources of the money, beginning and ending amounts for the reporting periods, etc. Even the Dems are required to follow these rules. The press release above from the DNC in typical fashion fails miserably to provide an accurate description of events. They refer to http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/ and an August 12 post that quotes the Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/09/AR2007080902379_pf.html. By WaPo’s excerpt below:

One candidate, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, has assembled an unrivaled operation for the event: a statewide corps of 60 “super-volunteers,” who have been paid between $500 and $1,000 per month to talk him up; a fleet of buses; more than $2 million in television ads in Iowa; a sleek direct-mail campaign; and a consultant who has been paid nearly $200,000 to direct Romney’s straw poll production, which will include barbecue billed as the best in the state.

you get a different description than what the DNC suggests. Feel free to read the information at the links provided above. If you find any reference to WaPo’s source of the numbers, post in the comments. Even if accurate, Romney, like Giuliani and even McCain raised more campaign contributions than the other candidates at the Iowa Straw Poll. So of course he is going to spend more. The largest single expenditure is for TV ads the others cannot afford. Is he supposed deny himself the advantage of raising more money than his opponents and not outspend them?

The holier than thou Dems living in the previously mentioned glass house may like to consider this. Their top candidate, Hillary Whitewater Rodham Clinton spent $29 million dollars on her re-election campaign for no more of a reason than she could. Her opponent had virtually no chance of winning since the GOP declined to contest her re-election. In essence she could have stayed home and mailed in the victory. Maybe you would like to ask her why she wasted $29 million dollars she could have used to help all her victims.

The source of their complaint, http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=1016570&srvc=art, is omitting the fact the man turned himself in to the FBI, was release on his own recognizance and his attorney said they hope the issue will be resolved. Even if he was guilty, the issue is about his own business activities and nothing to do with the campaign. It would be nice if the DNC practiced what they preach, like allowing people to be presumed innocent.

Even if the accusations about Rakolta and contributing to groups who do less than admirable campaign tactics, until negative campaigning is a thing of the past, the DNC should just be quiet about it. Both sides, every side have been guilty of it. Even their press release in this post could be defined as nothing more than negative campaigning. The only thing you know for sure, they wouldn’t be issuing press releases so fast and so furious if they were not worried about their competition. Which is nearly everyone else on the planet. Too much time has been wasted on this DNC crap the way it is. If you need more fact checking of the DNC press release in this post you will have to find it yourself. Links to the most important sources they did not provide are in the text above in case you missed it.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

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