Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Posted on 08/28/2007 12:03:15 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
WASHINGTON (Map) - Former Washington lobbyist and candidate for the GOP Presidential nomination Fred Thompson hasn't let accusations that he's violating Federal Elections Commission (FEC) law by running a shadow campaign slow him down. Thompson will be in the Twin Cities today to raise money for his "testing the waters" campaign while experts continue to assert that Thompson is using a loophole in the law to avoid the scrutiny that comes with becoming an official candidate for the GOP nomination.
For someone who is only "testing the waters," Thompson's campaign team has seen a lot of upheaval. Today his communications director, Linda Rozett, is the third campaign staffer to resign from Thompson's "testing the waters" campaign in the last month.
"The only thing Fred Thompson's campaign seems to be testing is the limits of the law," said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Amaya Smith. "Thompson continues to fundraise, hire and replace staff, and campaign around the country, pretending to be 'testing the waters.' Twin City voters have had enough of the Bush Administration which thinks it's above the law, they don't need four years of more of the same from Fred Thompson."
Experts Believe Thompson Is Operating Beyond the Law
ABC News' Conservative Commentator/Legal Expert Jennifer Rubin: Thompson "Well Beyond" Legal Limits. "Thompson appears to have gone well beyond the limits imposed by federal law." [ABCNews.com, 7/16/07 (http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3379643)]
Campaign Finance Experts Believe Thompson is Operating at The "Edge" of the Law. "Some campaign finance specialists said Thompson is, at the least, operating at the edge of the law by fund-raising and organizing with few constraints even though it seems clear he's going to run, while the other Republican contenders have to reveal donor information and disclose their personal finances. That has let Thompson avoid playing the money expectations game, in which campaigns are judged in part by the money they raise." [Boston Globe, 7/28/07]
Advocates of Strict Campaign Finance Law Say Thompson Goes Beyond Law. "This is supposed to be a grace period by the [Federal Election Commission] to explore a candidacy, and it certainly appears he has gone beyond that," said Mary Boyle, spokeswoman for Common Cause, which advocates strict enforcement of campaign finance laws. What Thompson "avoids right now is the scrutiny that other candidates get from campaign finance reports. That is part of the vetting process of running for president." [Boston Globe, 7/28/07]
Campaign Legal Center: Thompson "has violated" the Law. According to Paul Ryan, FEC program director and associate legal counsel of the Center, a non- partisan group says "to the extent he has decided he is a candidate but has not registered as a federal campaign committee or disclosed his funds, at the very least, he has violated the spirit, if not the actual letter, of the law." [ABCNews.com, 7/16/07 (http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3379643)]
Former FEC Top Lawyer Says "Red Flag." Former FEC General Counsel Larry Noble said "I think that's problematic. Clearly it's a red flag," discussing Thompson's disclosure that he had raised $72,000 in contributions designated for the general election. ["The Trail," WashingtonPost.com, 7/31/07 (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the- trail/2007/07/31/the_noncandidates_fan_dance.html)]
Citizens For Responsibility And Ethics In Washington: Thompson "Abusing" Law. According to Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, "You don't need to hire a policy director and other operational staff just to test the waters. In addition, he appears to have raised far more money than necessary to prove he has national support ... At this point he's abusing the testing the waters exception to avoid having to disclose his contributors." [ABCNews.com, 7/16/07 (http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3379643)]
Time Magazine: "Federal election law requires Thompson to declare himself a candidate once he decides to plunge into the water, which -- given that he has signed up more than two dozen staffers, opened two offices and appointed his second and third campaign managers -- he seems to have done." [Time, 8/6/07]
New York Sun: "Flagrant." "The strongest case can be made based on a section of the law that states a candidate has ceased to test the waters -- and has, instead, jumped in -- when "The individual makes or authorizes written or oral statements that refer to him or her as a candidate for a particular office.' On this point, the campaign (mostly the candidate himself) has been flagrant." [New York Sun, 8/21/07]
Newsweek White House Reporter: "Thin Ice." Newsweek White House Correspondent Holly Bailey, reporting on an FEC complaint against Thompson said that he is operating "on thin ice." [MSNBC, 12:45 pm, 8/21/07]
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They are bitching about this while Hillary does any damn thing she pleases to get money? Chris Dodd putting the arm on bankers for contributions while he is the senate banking chairman? This is laughable.
How much money did he illegally accept from the Chinese government?
Will everything be ok if he just pays back the loan after the election like the Clintons did?
Ping!
Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
WARNING: If you want to join, be aware that this ping list is EXTREMELY active.
And we are more than happy to run it as an information piece.
Does anyone read the "Examiner"?
I live in Fort Worth and I’d never heard of them until I posted a couple of stories from them.
“...at the very least, he has violated the spirit, if not the actual letter, of the law.”
You mean like a couple who have already served 2 terms as co-presidents, who are trying for another 4 or 8 years despite constitutional amendment designed to limit the number of terms a president can serve?
Romulans here to defend Fred against the baby-abortin’, gun-grabbin’, homo-marriage-lovin DNC in 3,2,1,...Oh, that’s right, they have ncthing to say because their candidate supports the same things. Never mind.
It’s probably one of those free weeklies full of personal ads, staffed by j-schoolers and itinerant poets.
Sometimes you can get a decent restaurant review out of such pubs, though. In my neck of the woods, the outwardly-liberal “Stranger” has better journalism than the “P-I”, because the Stranger admits its bias upfront, while the Pravda-Izvestia still thinks it’s a mainstream Fourth Estate.
Funny how they don’t put this kind of thing out about Ron Paul,Tancredo, Hunter...
Perhaps not as an “information” article, but more as a “telling” article?
In other words he is COMPLYING with the law.
Cry me a river.
They had their reasons for running it. And I’m sure their editor would be more than happy to run an obfuscated, twisted justification for it.
They’re really predictable that way. Smarter than the rest of us, you know. If you don’t know, they’d also be glad to explain about the gnashing of teeth and weeping they do every day about running anti-GOP pieces.
He’s a District Attorney.
(At least he plays one on television.)
I found a horoscope on Fred while searching for news on his soon-to-be campaign. I don’t believe in astrology, but FWIW:
Fred Thompson, Taking His Time
In the tradition of Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Law and Order actor Fred Thompson is seriously considering running for president* at a time when many Republicans are openly expressing disappointment with their current choices. The former Senator from Tennessee has been meeting with top unaligned strategists and fundraisers, and he’s polled well – just behind Giuliani and McCain even though he’s an undeclared candidate.
Fred Thompson (August 19, 1942; Sheffield, AL; time unknown) was born with his Leo Sun exactly opposite the U.S. Moon, a placement which makes him a natural favorite with the American people. Bill Clinton’s Sun is in the identical degree of Leo (they share the same birth day), and both have a natural sense of showmanship that easily captures popular approval.
Thompson’s Mercury-Mars conjunction in analytical Virgo squares Saturn in intellectual Gemini. This exceptionally tight configuration reflects his legal jousting in both the political arena (during the Watergate hearings) and on TV. Typically, Mars-Saturn squares have trouble with timing, either jumping in too soon (eager Mars) or waiting too long (cautious Saturn). But through the school of hard knocks, one’s problem area can eventually become a strength.
Transiting Pluto has been forming an empowering trine to Thompson’s Sun over the past year, during which time he’s said “I’m seriously considering it, and I’m happy to hear your thoughts and ideas.” Pluto turns direct on September 6 while making its last trine to his Sun. If he decides to run, this politically-charged celestial hit should quickly vault him to the top tier. We should expect a decision no later than early August, when transiting Saturn is conjunct his Sun.
http://www.wstardesigns.com/Horoscopes/horoscope-archives/2007/horoscopes040907.html
Hillary! moved up her announcement to a very early date, because she has all the money in the World and because she knows that public opinion, positive and negative, is pretty much fixed for her. Her strategy is to spend her opponents into the ground and to allow enough time to pass for negatives to build on her opponents just as they have on her. It is a good strategy, and all the other candidate allowed themselves to be buffaloed into declaring early as well. All but Fred Thompson, of course.
It is a measure of how far the Round-Heeled Media is in the tank for Hillary! that nobody is pointing out that the Labor Day before the election year is the typical time to announce. Everybody is just pretending that this advanced timetable and the ever earlier primaries (NH is in October, I think!) are all designed to aid Hillary!.
The fact that Fred Thompson would not be buffaloed just makes me support him more.
Will the DNC say anything about this?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1887586/posts
I’m starting to hold my breath now...
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