McCain raises $62.5 million through public finance loophole

Here's a story you can say you read first at The Jed Report: according to FEC reports filed on July 15, through June 30, John McCain had raised at $62.5 million in private funds that can be used for his general election campaign -- even though he's already committed to accepting public funding for the general.

[truth-hurts]

he is already acting like G W Bush.

[djm]

loopholes? What you call it when the other side does something you don't like.
I thought McCain was a co-author of finance reform?... ya right!

[Old Man Charlie]

Well, at least part of that $62.5 million will be put back INTO the economy -- renting rooms, buying meals, renting cars, printing up political pamphlets/posters/buttons, and whatever else they do with that money. However, if people don't know about McCain yet, all the money in the world ain't gonna help.

[Joan]

The article failed to mention that Barack Obama has also been collecting money for the general election since March, 2007 and he would have followed the same procedure had he opted to keep his promise to accept public financing.

"The Federal Election Commission (FEC/ the Commission) met in open session on Thursday, March 1, 2007 and unanimously approved an Advisory Opinion permitting Senator Barack Obama to solicit and receive contributions designated for the 2008 presidential general election while retaining the option of refunding those contributions and accepting public funding should he become the Democratic Party’s nominee.

The Commission approved the process described by the campaign’s request in which:

- Contributions designated for the general election will be kept in a separate account;
- Only the campaign treasurer and chief operating officer will have access to this account; and
- The funds in this account will not be used for any purpose."

It would have been impossible to return the funds to individual donors so I'm sure there was a loophole that allowed for the funds to be directed to the Democratic National Committee much the same as McCain's process.

http://www.fec.gov/press/press2007/20070301me...

[Liberty08]

McCain writes the laws. McCain collects taxpayer dollars and unlimited private donations. McCain limits my personal contribution to Bob Barr at $2300. I see campaign finance reform certainly got rid of all the corruption!

[JohnInLa]

Liberty08 wrote:

McCain writes the laws. McCain collects taxpayer dollars and unlimited private donations. McCain limits my personal contribution to Bob Barr at $2300. I see campaign finance reform certainly got rid of all the corruption!

In your case I'd be happy he did...saves you from throwing any more money towards a losing cause.

[JohnInLa]

Obama is the one who has a lot of money to blow and that luxury means he's beholden to uppity contributors like those in San Francisco where he spoke about small town Americans clinging to guns and Bibles...yepper he's beholden to them and their euro-socialist ilk...mark my words.

[Summer Rain]

John in LA LA Land is just jealous.

"...There is a sense of elation in the Obama campaign as it was announced that their candidate raised $52 million in June. It's a massive haul for the presumptive Democratic nominee --$3 million short of the historic mark he hit earlier in the cycle but much larger than the $22 million that John McCain brought in this past month.

The majority of donations, Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe wrote in an email to supporters, were of the small variety, with the average amount being $68...."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/17/obam...

Arizona Donors Give McCain Cold Shoulder
Many Big Time Bundlers in Likely GOP Nominee's Home State Haven't Taken Up Their Senator's Cause
"...Sen. John McCain's Arizona campaign chairman, fellow Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, is missing from McCain's list of 26 Arizona bundlers who have raised $50,000 or more in contributions for his presidential campaign....another notable figure missing from McCain’s list is the Arizona state Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen. Pullen’s absence from even relatively minor fund-raising is one sign that conservative state Republicans might be disenchanted with McCain....the better part of the state's GOP political leadership is not listed as McCain bundlers for any amount, including former Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull, who bore the brunt of McCain's infamous temper on several occasions...McCain has a history of raising substantial campaign funds from his wife’s ownership in Hensley & Co., distributor of Budweiser and other beer brands with sales estimated at $300 million or more a year...."
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/ari...

John McCain can't even get support from his homies.
Anyone know what a euro socialist is?

[EYES OPEN]

McCAIN AND OBAMA ARE NEW YORK JEWISH MEDIA-SUPPORTED GARBAGE, OFFERED UP AS HOBSON'S "YOUR CHOICE" TO THE AMERICAN SUCKERS AND THE NEW MIGRANT CONSTITUENTS.

VOTE ONLY FOR A PRESIDENT RON PAUL IN NOVEMBER....FOR THE FIRST WORTHWHILE PRESIDENT IN RECENT HISTORY. WRITE-IN YOUR VOTES. DON'T LISTEN TO THAT EVIL "WASTED-VOTE" CRAP.

GET THE NEW YORK MEDIA OFF YOUR BACKS (AND RON PAUL'S BACK). LET THE GOOD GUYS WIN ONE.

[x-nutmegger]

Loophole ! What loophole ???

A candidate can raise funds until they are nominated by their party.
At that time they must declare taxpayer or public donation campaign financing.
Hillary is still raising money under the same so called LOOPHOLE.

Loophole ! Duh !

Those of you deducting mortgage interest on your home loans are using a LOOPHOLE.

Those of you deducting personal and dependant credits on your income tax for anthing are using LOOPHOLEs.

Anybody using any tax credit in any manner is guilty of using a LOOPHOLE !

You all are going to rot in ----( including me).

Duh !

[Stuipd Citizens]

The co-host of a recent top-dollar fundraiser for Sen. John McCain oversaw the payment of roughly $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary group that is today designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

Carl H. Lindner Jr., the billionaire Cincinnati businessman, was CEO of Chiquita Brands International from 1984 to 2001, and remained on the company's board of directors until May 2002. Beginning under his tenure, Chiquita executives paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known by the Spanish acronym AUC), which is described by George Washington University's National Security Archive as an "illegal right-wing anti-guerrilla group tied to many of the country's most notorious civilian massacres."

Late last week, Lindner co-hosted a $25,000-per-person fundraiser for McCain and the Republican Party in the wealthy Indian Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The event raised about $2 million; Lindner also serves on McCain's Ohio Victory Team.

Wow it appears hanging out with scarface paid off of the old goat!

[Stuipd Citizens]

JohnInLa wrote:

Obama is the one who has a lot of money to blow and that luxury means he's beholden to uppity contributors like those in San Francisco where he spoke about small town Americans clinging to guns and Bibles...yepper he's beholden to them and their euro-socialist ilk...mark my words.

That is McCain's judgment. He has been dealing with lobbyists for thugs killing people in Latin America and africa. He is connected to Savimbi the butcher of Angola and if you did deep, you will find his lobbyist's hand behind Darfur, Niger Delta, not to mention Bogota. The man lacks judgment.

[Summer Rain]

x-nutmegger, your ignorance is amazing. John McCain pledged to take primary campaign public funds, used the forthcoming funds as collateral for a campaign loan, and then announced that he was opting out of the public system, even though the Republican chairman of the FEC publicly told him he was violating his own campaign law. Every cent McCain raises for his campaign is a violation of the law. Yet the GOP dominated FEC lets the Crook Lie Express roll on.

A loophole is an obscure provision in the tax law that allows wealthy individuals and corporations to escape taxes that another part of the tax code says they should pay. Calling the measly little tax credits and deductions the citizens get "loopholes is just too stupid for words. You may rot in hell for lying. I won't.

[Stuipd Citizens]

Summer Rain wrote:

x-nutmegger, your ignorance is amazing. John McCain pledged to take primary campaign public funds, used the forthcoming funds as collateral for a campaign loan, and then announced that he was opting out of the public system, even though the Republican chairman of the FEC publicly told him he was violating his own campaign law. Every cent McCain raises for his campaign is a violation of the law. Yet the GOP dominated FEC lets the Crook Lie Express roll on.
A loophole is an obscure provision in the tax law that allows wealthy individuals and corporations to escape taxes that another part of the tax code says they should pay. Calling the measly little tax credits and deductions the citizens get "loopholes is just too stupid for words. You may rot in hell for lying. I won't.

"... Late last year, the FEC approved $5.8 million in public funds for John McCain's presidential campaign. That sounds simple enough, but there's a hitch: even though the money was approved in December, it wasn't actually scheduled to be disbursbed until March...

...Here's where the lie comes in: John McCain did take out a loan using the funds as collateral, and he took it out before December 20, 2007. The Washington Post broke the news in mid-February (h/t: Mark Schmitt)..."

http://www.jedreport.com

[Humphrey Bogus]

truth-hurts wrote:

he is already acting like G W Bush.

He's a rubber stamp.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1994-09-08/new...

[x-nutmegger]

Summer Rain wrote:

x-nutmegger, your ignorance is amazing. John McCain pledged to take primary campaign public funds, used the forthcoming funds as collateral for a campaign loan, and then announced that he was opting out of the public system, even though the Republican chairman of the FEC publicly told him he was violating his own campaign law. Every cent McCain raises for his campaign is a violation of the law. Yet the GOP dominated FEC lets the Crook Lie Express roll on.
A loophole is an obscure provision in the tax law that allows wealthy individuals and corporations to escape taxes that another part of the tax code says they should pay. Calling the measly little tax credits and deductions the citizens get "loopholes is just too stupid for words. You may rot in hell for lying. I won't.

A LOOPHOLE is a LOOPHOLE , whether measley or not.

What matters is how selective they are.
We are the only country I'm aware of that let's home mortgage interest be deducted from income taxes . As I know for sure Canada doesn't.
We also allow it on 2nd mortgages.

What you call stupid is what I call making mountains out of molehills. Blah ! Blah ! Blah !

[usasince1680]

Stuipd Citizens wrote:

<quoted text>
"... Late last year, the FEC approved $5.8 million in public funds for John McCain's presidential campaign. That sounds simple enough, but there's a hitch: even though the money was approved in December, it wasn't actually scheduled to be disbursbed until March...
...Here's where the lie comes in: John McCain did take out a loan using the funds as collateral, and he took it out before December 20, 2007. The Washington Post broke the news in mid-February (h/t: Mark Schmitt)..."
http://www.jedreport.com

McCain stood by his pledge to accept public financing. If he was doing anything wrong the FEC would be all over him.

Obama is a liar with more faces than Eve. He cannot be trusted.

[Summer Rain]

Stuipd Citizens wrote:

The co-host of a recent top-dollar fundraiser for Sen. John McCain oversaw the payment of roughly $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary group that is today designated a terrorist organization by the United States.
Carl H. Lindner Jr., the billionaire Cincinnati businessman, was CEO of Chiquita Brands International from 1984 to 2001, and remained on the company's board of directors until May 2002. Beginning under his tenure, Chiquita executives paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known by the Spanish acronym AUC), which is described by George Washington University's National Security Archive as an "illegal right-wing anti-guerrilla group tied to many of the country's most notorious civilian massacres."
Late last week, Lindner co-hosted a $25,000-per-person fundraiser for McCain and the Republican Party in the wealthy Indian Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The event raised about $2 million; Lindner also serves on McCain's Ohio Victory Team.
Wow it appears hanging out with scarface paid off of the old goat!

The Chita horror went well beyond paying protection money"
Colombia investigates Chiquita
"...The company acknowledged making more than 100 payments from 1997 to 2004 totaling at least $1.7 million.... According to its settlement, Chiquita made the payments during an especially bloody period on the coast of Colombia when paramilitary armies trying to wrest control of the zone massacred hundreds of leftist guerrillas and their sympathizers, and numerous human rights advocates. Tens of thousands of people fled the region.
Iguaran said his government was concerned that Chiquita’s relations with the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia went beyond that of “extortionee and extortioner.”
He said preliminary information indicated that Chiquita might have “facilitated or promoted” the paramilitary’s illegal activities.
Of special interest to his government, Iguaran said, was a 2001 shipment of two oceangoing cargo containers filled with 3,400 AK-47 assault rifles and 4 million rounds of ammunition that paramilitaries allegedly stored in a Banadex warehouse in Turbo, Colombia....Iguaran also said his office had opened an investigation of allegations by a government witness now in jail that executives of Alabama-based Drummond Corp. paid paramilitaries to kill three union leaders in 2001 at the company’s open-pit mine in the northern state of Cesar..."
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/22/world...
Of course, the GOP DOJ gave them a slap on the wrist and went home laughing:
"...The Justice Department proposed a settlement under which the company would pay a fine of $25 million — one quarter of the maximum criminal fine that would have applied had the company been found guilty in court....Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein, announcing the Chiquita plea agreement, said: "Corporations are on notice that they cannot make protection payments to terrorists." But the human rights lawyers complain that the message from the Chiquita deal is that if companies do transgress, they'll be let off lightly."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599...
After all, the dead people were brown. And not useful. "Justice" is only for campaign contributors.

[jimmy farter]

obama has raised more from soros' internet hate sites than McCain has raised legally!

rezko and pflager know of obama's illegal bribes & campaign kickbacks!!! Heck, convicted felon rezko used to be obama's financial campaign manager!!!!!!

McCain wins this argument big time - as obama continues to flip-flop his involvement with rezko and the rest of his chicago based garbage!!!!

[Summer Rain]

usasince1680 wrote:

<quoted text>
McCain stood by his pledge to accept public financing. If he was doing anything wrong the FEC would be all over him.
Obama is a liar with more faces than Eve. He cannot be trusted.

McCain is breaking his own campaign finance law while accepting public money and lying about it. The GOP has a way of kneecapping, prosecuting or bankrupting people who stand in it's way. After all, they have every communication by phone or email, every website visited by anyone in the country on record since 2001.(It started 7 months before the WTC.) How hard is it say "Let this go by and we won't prosecute your [...] for [...]'?

Obama's offer to accept public financing was predicated on reaching an agreement with the GOP nominee to restrict the role of 527's in the campaign. When Obama was nominated, he asked his supporters to stop funding Democratic 527s. He also asked Dem 527s to shut down. Even MoveOn's 527 and PAC promptly shut down. In response, McCain publicly whined about his lack of control over GOP 527s and PACS, and they were promptly flooded with corporate cash. Since it was then obvious that McCain was crooked, untrustworthy and not interested in running a clean campaign about issues, Obama opted out of the public finance system, to great applause from his supporters.

With no accomplishments to run on and a record of corruption unmatched in our political history, the GOP hopes to win on a lie and smear campaign, repeating their propaganda tactics of 2004. It won't work.

The GOP are thugs and liars, and every one of the citizens in this country knows it.

I urge Democrats on this board to copy and paste the truth whenever these filthy lies appear. Every lie is an opportunity to tell the truth. The truth will defeat the GOP and save our country.