Posted on 11/11/2003 4:22:06 PM PST by vannrox
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Recently, he pledged $10 million to a new Democratic group devoted to defeating Bush in 2004. Soros's gift will be the largest single political donation from an individual in history, surpassing the $7 million check that film producer Haim Saban gave the Democratic party in 2002. "I've come to the conclusion that one can do a lot more about the issues I care about by changing the government than by pushing the issues," Soros told Fortune magazine recently.
It's not clear whether Soros can, in fact, change the government, but his $10 million pledge has instantly made him one of the most important men in the Democratic party. His money is going to a new group called America Coming Together (ACT), one of several organizations that have sprung up in the aftermath of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law. The law made it illegal for contributors like Soros to give $10 million to the Democratic party, so the founders of America Coming Together created what is, in effect, a substitute party, which can still legally accept such large contributions. Such groups are often referred to as 527's, after the section of the tax code that allows them to operate.
ACT was put together by the main interest groups that make up the Democratic constituency. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm, who is the president of Emily's List; Steve Rosenthal, the former political director of the AFL-CIO; Andrew Stern, head of the Service Employees International Union; Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club; and Cecile Richards, head of America Votes, a group similar to ACT that is made up of representatives of environmental, civil-rights, pro-abortion, and labor groups. Together, they represent pretty much everyone in the Democratic party.
Funded by Soros and others, ACT will assume some of the tasks that the party performed before reform. While it will not run ad campaigns or other media efforts, ACT will concentrate its resources on intensive get-out-the-vote efforts, now often referred to as "voter contact." When ACT announced its formation in August, its officials said it would focus on 17 states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Each state was tightly contested in the 2000 election and promises to be close again next year.
To get around Campaign Finance Reform, the Democrats have created a "Dummy Organization", known as a "527". This organization would perform all the functions of the Democratic Party, however, in order to circumvent the law, they will do everything associated with a Democrat pre-election activity, EXCEPT, call themselves Democrats.
To this end, they will recommend Democratic causes and influence voters to vote democrat, but they will do this under a umbrella company. This company will be used to VIOLATE THE LAW.
This will be done much the same way as was done by the Chinese Military during the 1996 Clinton Election Campaign.
By every measure, the mones to support the Democrat cause will be obtained from FOREIGN NATIONALS.
By every measure, the LAWS to prevent the influence of American Elections by Foreign Nationals will be ignored, and where possible, circumvented.
The monies provided by George Soros forthe Democrat Party will come from his foundations. None of which are us based. Under campaign law, it is ILLEGAL for anyone, even Billionaires, to influence an election through the use of monies from other countries. WHy is John Ashcroft permitting this to occur? Why isn't Geoge Soros in jail. He has already gave the Democrats 15 Million dollars. Why is the people of EASTERN EUROPE supporting the Democrat party?
Soros is not planning to contribute to a partisan political campaign (which would limit him to $2,000). He is contributing to an organization he has set up which will run issue ads designed to undermine Bush's re-election prospects, all carefully done within the limits of the law. This is no different than what many conservative organizations, funded by wealthy individuals, do. I guarantee you that Soros (and anyone else on either side of the political fence) will have a corps of legal experts vetting the operation to make sure it is technically legal.
As for his foreign-based corporate structures, I'm quite sure that he won't be stupid enough to have them directly contribute to any political campaign. If he needs money from them, he can simply sell a portion of those assets and use the proceeds. Again, he'll have whole law firms available to make sure everything is done legally.
I have no idea how much ready cash Soros has laying around. But a few tens of millions of dollars is petty cash out of a fortune of $7 billion. Some of that fortune will certainly be readily liquifiable. Remember, financial markets are Soros' area of expertise; this is how he made his money, and it should be trivial for him to figure out how to easily access his money.
Do you happen to hae a copy or a link to his speech at the mellon Center in PA? June 4th, 2004 I think.
media bump
bttt
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