Free Republic

GOP blasts Holden for not returning 'dirty money'By JOHN LATIMER Staff Writer Updated: 03/05/2010 05:58:35 PM EST Pennsylvania's Republican committee is criticizing 17th District Congressman Tim Holden for not returning campaign money he received from embattled New York Congressman Charlie Rangel. On Thursday, the Republican Party of Pennsylvania blasted Holden and five other of the state's congressional Democrats for not returning campaign contributions from Rangel. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee rebuked Rangel for taking trips to the Caribbean that were underwritten by corporate sponsors in violation of House gift-giving rules. The committee said it could find...

As the Toyota Scion of Scranton dealership continues to replace gas pedals on Toyotas recalled for unintended acceleration, managing partner Greg Gagorik depicted the automaker as a victim of a political hit. At a media event on Thursday at the dealership's new Scranton showroom and service center, Mr. Gagorik handed out lists of contributions by trial lawyers and the United Auto Workers union to congressmen who grilled Toyota executives last month over acceleration problems blamed for dozens of deaths. Mr. Gagorik attended those hearings, where the U.S. government's majority stake in General Motors hung heavy in the hall. "One day,...

Republican National Chairman Michael Steele is spending twice as much as his recent predecessors on private planes and paying more for limousines, catering and flowers – expenses that are infuriating the party's major donors who say Republicans need every penny they can get for the fight to win back Congress. Most recently, donors grumbled when Steele hired renowned chef Wolfgang Puck's local crew to cater the RNC's Christmas party inside the trendy Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue, and then moved its annual winter meeting from Washington to Hawaii. For some major GOP donors, both decisions were symbolic of the kind of...

Scott Brown’s astounding fund-raising - $14.2 million in 19 days - during the stretch run of last month’s special Senate campaign was fueled in large part by small donors. A summary report of Brown’s fund-raising shows that nearly $7.9 million of the $13.9 million donated by individuals came from donors who gave him $200 or less. That’s 56.6 percent of the total from individuals (another $300,000 came from party or political action committees). The full report, which runs more than 4,000 pages and will detail specific donors who gave more than $200, will not be available to the public on...

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - The Zionist Organization of America on Tuesday asked potential students and donors to the University of California, Irvine to look elsewhere after months of growing tension between Jewish and Muslim students. In a statement, the New York-based organization lambasted Chancellor Michael Drake for not condemning anti-Semitic speech on campus and enabling a years-long history of "bigotry, discrimination and the violation of civil rights" by the school's Muslim Student Union. "We're not asking the university to infringe on anyone's free speech rights, but our contention all along is that the chancellor has his own free speech rights,...

President Obama says its obvious, anybody who would dare fight his Obamacare measures are on the leash of the special interests. Funny how he never mentions the special interests that he is beholden to, like the unions who were exempted from "the Cadillac tax." Or the real reason there is no tort reform, the President's ties to the Legal industry. At Open Secrets you can pull up campaign contributions by candidate and industry. The are calculated from PAC contributions and contributions from individuals giving more than $200, as reported to the FEC. Individual contributions are generally categorized based on the...

Jerry Brown Backers Announce Plans To Go After Meg Whitman Democrats are raising funds for media spots attacking the GOP gubernatorial hopeful. By Evan Halper February 13, 2010 Reporting from Sacramento - Although Democratic front-runner Jerry Brown has not yet declared himself a candidate for governor, his backers have unveiled plans to start spending millions of dollars attacking wealthy GOP hopeful Meg Whitman in an attempt to curb her momentum. With Whitman gaining on Brown in the polls, even though the two would not go head-to-head until November, Democratic operatives have created independent campaign committees aiming to raise as much...

A record $3.47 billion was spent on federal lobbyists in 2009, according to a new study by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Ergo, fair now to say that Wall Street and K Street had a bull year, while Main Street suffered in recession. The lobbyist boon times were tied to the legislative debates of the day: health care reform, financial reform and energy policy.

Democrats are hoping to fast-track a set of sweeping new campaign finance regulations to prevent the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United decision from affecting the November midterm elections. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Thursday unveiled the majority party's legislative response to the Citizens United case, which they and other Democrats — including President Barack Obama — have sharply criticized as one that will "open the floodgates" to corporate financing of federal elections. Opting against a constitutional amendment to undo the court’s rejection of existing laws that ban certain political spending by corporations, Democrats are...

OBAMA'S OWNED -- YOU CAN BANK ON ITFebruary 10, 2010 The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are bristling with the news that Republicans have decided now is the time to suck up to Wall Street. As the saying goes, there is no truer friend than a Wall Street arbitrageur -- they are the salt-of-the-earth, the most loyal men who ever drew a breath! What are Republicans thinking? While not every money-manipulator on Wall Street deserves to be treated like a heroin dealer, lots do. Could the Republicans be a little more discriminating in picking up the Democrats'...

February's Top Ten list compiled by the FPPC identifies those individual donors who have contributed the most money to California candidates and ballot measures from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2009. This list includes five candidates or former candidates for state office, whose totals include personal money contributed to their own campaigns, as well as money they contributed to ballot measures and other candidates and committees.

Does anyone know of a source or how to located news stories or information about NPR funding from conservative vs. liberal donors? I heard a news story some time back (last few years) but haven't been able to locate it through various Internet searches. IIRC the gist was that NPR gets more (or a surprising level of) money donated by coonservatives.

When you get an invitation from the city's hottest lobbyists for a dinner in honor of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, expect to pay. But even with the promise of dinner prepared by "celebrity women chefs," ticket prices ranging from $5,000 to $30,400 are enough to choke on. "Whatever," Democrats will say as they fork over the money to attend the exclusive fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at the home of überlobbyists Heather and Tony Podesta. And the truth is, this is now an annual event. Several top Dems plan to attend the February 9 soiree, including DCCC Chairman...

Payments from a wealthy heiress to the Mellon fortune through a Monroe, N.C., interior decorator helped subsidize the cover-up of John Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter. The decorator, Bryan Huffman, eventually became the conduit for as much as $700,000 from Rachel "Bunny" Mellon – what the Edwards camp called "Bunny money" – to help cover the expenses of Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young, Edwards aide who claimed to be the father of her baby. Mellon's money was part of more than $1.5 million that Young told ABC News was used for the cover-up. He said the money paid for a...

On Monday we learned the Obama administration awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to Checchi & Company, owned by Vincent V. Checchi a prominent Democratic campaign contributor. The Contract was awarded without entertaining competitive bids. Despite President Obama's long history of criticizing the Bush administration for "sweetheart deals" with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids The contract, awarded on Jan. 4 to Checchi & Company Consulting, Inc., a Washington- based firm owned...

The U.S. has canceled a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan awarded to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor who did not face competitive bids. The cancellation comes after Fox News first reported on the details of the contract last week, prompting lawmakers to make inquiries into the deal. State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said that USAID terminated the award and is now working on an appropriate resolution. "If you want to say this violates the basis on which this administration came into office and campaigned, fair enough," Crowley told Fox News. The contract had been...

By James Rosen - FOXNews.com The Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a prominent Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned. Despite President Obama’s long history of criticizing the Bush administration for “sweetheart deals” with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned.

For anyone who has ever seen Tim Robbins talk about, well, anything political, you probably find it hard to fathom that he would donate much more than a mean-spirited scowl at a extreme right-wing Republican candidate. Like us, you would be wrong. According to Federal Election Commission records dug up by the Daily Beast, Robbins shelled out $5,000 worth of donations to 10 Republican candidates in the 2006 election cycle, including a $500 check cut to controversial Arizona politico J.D. Hayworth. "Maybe because I covered the Durham Bulls as a sports broadcaster in the late 1970s and early '80s? Maybe...

SACRAMENTO -- For a "lazy" candidate -- as a leading Republican called Jerry Brown -- the expected Democratic nominee for governor was a pretty active fundraiser in the final days of 2009. And he appears to be dipping into the Republican donor base while he's at it. Brown dropped another $560,000 into his campaign treasure chest in the last two days of 2009, pushing his total tally past $12 million for the year, .. Among Brown's recent donors were a pair of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's VIP contributors: Los Angeles billionaire developer Rick Caruso and William Robinson, the reclusive billionaire founder...

As you start to read all this, you'll laugh at how incestuous it all gets. Let's start with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which as I've noted in the past is tied in with the Soros foundation. Together, the two worked on something called The Project on Death in America.(PDIA) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2341083/posts And speaking of Mr Soros, he himself(his foundations) have given directly to NPR. Compared to some of the other numbers I'm seeing, it's a small amount of $250,000. But it doesn't matter. Soros money is soros money in my book. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2396058/posts Additional information about RWJF can be found here....