Maybe he’s got some sort of Magic Light that can tell tainted Mexican drug-laundering money from good?
Janison: Campaigns shedding donors in financial scandal
[snip]
Fraud allegations swirling around Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford last week drew attention to his contributions to Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans) and to House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan). A Rangel spokesman said $10,800 that Stanford contributed over the years would be donated to charity.
Why, that’s almost half. Kind of. Moderately close to almost half. OK, so it may be closer to a third. The difference, by the way, is the $25K that went to the Rangel Victory Fund – which, bluntly, I consider Rangel to be morally on the hook for if the people who he helped refuse to pay back the money*:
Texas Businessman Sought Influence in Corridors of Capitol
[snip]
Among the recipients of Mr. Stanford’s largesse is House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.), who has long advocated lenient tax policies toward Virgin Islands residents and in 2007 introduced a bill to enforce a statute of limitations on IRS scrutiny of islanders’ old tax returns. That year, Mr. Rangel traveled to Antigua for a development conference partly sponsored by Mr. Stanford, who also donated $28,300 to Mr. Rangel in 2008.
“I met Stanford a couple of times,” Mr. Rangel said. “He has never discussed any legislative issue with me nor has anyone to my knowledge representing him ever discussed any legislation.”
Mr. Stanford wrote two $250,000 checks to the Democratic Party in 2002.
Plus the help that Stanford gave the Democrats with their convention last year, of course. One wonders whether they’ll donate that money, too… actually, one doesn’t. Even if they had it, they’d probably not want to waste it on the poor; it’d be much more useful to spend it on explaining why the Democrats are so much better than the Republicans when it comes to corruption.
No, by “better” they don’t want you to think “more efficient”…
Moe Lane
PS: How about you, Representative Meeks (D, NY-06)? You feel like keeping all that dirty drug money?
*(All names from ActBlue’s helpful list of Rangel Victory Fund members.)
Rep. John Boccieri (D, OH-16). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D, IL-11) . Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Mr. Ashwin Madia (D). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Rep. Dan Maffei (D, NY-25). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Rep. Eric Massa (D, NY-29). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Rep. Michael McMahon (D, NY-11). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Rep. Walt Minnick (D, ID-01). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Mr. Jon Powers (D). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Mr. Dan Seals (D). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Ms. Linda Stender (D). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Crossposted to Moe Lane.
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
I have received communication from all those mentioned
Jack_Savage (Diary) Monday, February 23rd at 4:43PM EST (link)These statements are as follows:
Rep. John Boccieri (D, OH-16). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
Umm, Stanford? You mean, like that college out West? Ummm, no – why should I?
Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D, IL-11) . Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
“I will NOT! I am proud to have used that money to fight George W. Bush and evil Republicans, and I cannot think of a better use of it! Absolutely NOT!”
Mr. Ashwin Madia (D). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
“Are you making fun of my name? By the way you wrote it? Is that what this is, Mr. Funny Person? You think my name is funny, don’t you? You’ll be getting a little visit from the IRS soon, and not the division that overlooks the tax deficiencies of Democrats either, buster.”
Rep. Dan Maffei (D, NY-25). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
“I am for the legalization of drugs, and view Mr. Stanford as a Freedom Fighter in that regard. He also, however, has a son that is a Boy Scout, so I will be returning a small portion of the money representing that horrible lapse in judgement by Mr. Standford.”
Rep. Eric Massa (D, NY-29). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
“First, let me again state that my last name has no bearing at all on my opinion of African – Americans, and that in light of the election of His Honor Barack Obama I will be looking into a poll-tested version of a last name for my constituents to vote on by e-mail. What was the question again?”
Rep. Michael McMahon (D, NY-11). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
“Hell no. My brother Ed was supposed to be my meal ticket, and now he’s out hawking “Cash For Gold”. Absolutely not. Are you so dense that you cannot see I am the victim here?”
Rep. Walt Minnick (D, ID-01). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
“Sure. Why not. I’ll be getting a pile of laundered stimulus money in the next few weeks, so no big deal.”
Mr. Jon Powers (D). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
“Sorry. I invested it with Linda Stender. I’ll let her explain.”
Mr. Dan Seals (D). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
“Since my musical comeback opening for the Dixie Chicks is on hold for the time being, I will put the money in escrow to be used only when the Dow breaks below 7000. Like it will tomorrow. So, no.”
Ms. Linda Stender (D). Will you be returning your portion of Stanford’s laundered drug money?
“I invested the money with a certain friend who has had some cash flow problems of late. He is safe inside his penthouse apartment, but a little package he was trying to send me got intercepted and has put me in a little bind. Bernie – call me? OK?”
I report, you decide.
To be fair
GreyCloak (Diary) Tuesday, February 24th at 1:32AM EST (link)From Open Secrets dot Org, here are Stanford donations for the last two election cycles:
10/27/06 $2,100 Nelson, Bill (D)
4/8/05 $5,000 National Republican Congressional Cmte (R)
7/20/05 $25,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
7/20/06 $2,100 Hatch, Orrin G (R)
11/2/06 $2,000 Maffei, Dan (D)
6/18/07 $2,000 Cornyn, John (R)
8/20/08 $1,000 Rangel, Charles B (D)
2/3/08 $2,300 Rangel, Charles B (D)
5/21/08 $28,500 National Republican Congressional Cmte (R)
12/7/05 $2,100 Ney, Bob (R)
12/7/05 $2,100 Ney, Bob (R)