John McCain's campaign has shown no compunction about scamming the campaign finance laws. He's basically breaking the public finance spending caps imposed by the public finance system for months.
But, an article in today's Washington Post brings questions about McCain campaign fundraisers to a whole new level. Seems Harry Sargeant III, one of McCain big bundlers (who he shares with Charlie Crist), has been raising gobs of money for the GOP nominee from some unlikely sources -- and there seems to be some kind of code of silence surrounding the contributions:
The 2008 presidential campaign, which could see each side spend close to $500 million, has heightened the importance of "bundlers" such as Sargeant, who not only write checks themselves but also recruit scores of other donors to give the legal limit of $2,300. Questions about such donor networks have repeatedly emerged as points of stress for the campaigns.Huh? FYI, foreign nationals are prohibited from contributing to any U.S. political campaigns. So, where did the money come from? The contributors themselves didn't want to talk to the Washington Post.
In January, Norman Hsu, a top Clinton bundler, was indicted in part on charges of circumventing legal giving limits by routing contributions though "straw donors." Earlier this week, McCain drew questions about more than $60,000 in donations that were made this year to the Republican National Committee and his campaign by an office manager with the Hess oil company and her husband, an Amtrak track foreman. In that case, the couple said they used their own money.
Some of the most prolific givers in Sargeant's network live in modest homes in Southern California's Inland Empire. Most had never given a political contribution before being contacted by Sargeant or his associates. Most said they have never voiced much interest in politics. And in several instances, they had never registered to vote. And yet, records show, some families have ponied up as much as $18,400 for various candidates between December and March.
Both Sargeant and the donors were vague when asked to explain how Sargeant persuaded them to give away so much money.
"I have a lot of Arab business partners. I do a lot of business in the Middle East. I've got a lot of friends," Sargeant said in a telephone interview yesterday. "I ask my friends to support candidates that I think are worthy of supporting. They usually come through for me."
If this seems kind of shady, it is. This isn't the first time. Greg Sargent at TPM has been tracking large contributions from Hess Oil employees. Some of those seem fishy, too.
McCain and the RNC are desperate for money to fund the negative campaign against Obama. Desperate.
