More Tainted Bruno Money
On the heels of our report last week of Joe Bruno’s campaign finance troubles, RT has discovered even more questionable corporate contributions to Bruno.
By way of background, corporations in NYS have a $5,000 aggregate calendar year donation limit. Each of the corporations listed below donated to Sen. Bruno, even though they also donated an amount greater than the $5,000 calendar year limit. Furthermore, and contrary to the twisted logic of unnamed republican staffers, it is the responsibility of “person making a contribution, as well as the person receiving it,” to ensure the contribution limits are not exceeded.
Before we begin, there’s another point that needs to be addressed. Certain whiny republican staffers attempt to rebut our allegations towards Bruno with the idea that the questionable contributions may have already been refunded and, therefore, the problem has been rectified. While I understand a seemingly normal person could think a refunded illegal contribution negates any implication of wrongdoing, I nonetheless reject it. The reason, you ask? Well, take a look at this. As you see, from January 2007 to July 2007 Sen. Bruno earned over $25,000 in interest on his campaign funds. Accordingly, Bruno can still make out like a bandit by holding an illegal donation for even six months and then returning it. Therefore, unless the contribution and the interest earned on that contribution are returned, the contribution limit (or at least its spirit), in my opinion, have been violated. As an interesting and irrelevant aside, Bruno’s interest “earnings” from January to July of 2007 alone are about $10,000 more than a minimum wage earner makes in a year; that’s just disgusting!
Anyway, on to the meat and potatoes.
On January 9, 2006, Hedley Park Place of Troy donated $1,000 to Bruno. For all of 2006, Hedley donated $6,750.
On January 16, 2006, Caremark RX, INC. donated $1,000 to Bruno. All told, Caremark donated $9,950 in 2006.
On two separate occasions in 2006, Kasselman Electronics donated a total of $2,000 to Bruno. For all of calendar year 2006, Kasselman donated $8,500.
On September 25, 2005, Golub Realties, INC. donated $5,000 to Bruno, despite having already donated $3,050 earlier in 2005. Bruno’s donation brought Golub to a total of $8,050 in contributions in 2005.
We all know how republicans in the NYS Senate operate. Accordingly, they will no doubt attempt to deflect attention by intimating some democrats also took contributions over the legal limit. Unfortunately, that argument neglects two critical points that I hope will preempt any such distractions. First and most notably, is the common denominator to ALL of the heretofore mentioned donors is Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. Second, Bruno’s admitted disdain for substantive campaign finance reform opens him up to strict scrutiny of his actions.
It will be interesting to see how many of these donations, and the interest earned thereon, are returned when the next campaign filings are posted. We don’t want anyone getting hurt, though, so don’t hold your breath.
Finally, here’s a note directly to Bruno and the senate majority: so long as you refuse to embrace substantial campaign finance reform, we will continue to expose your campaign finance violations (trust us, there are more). Have no doubt, responsibility for NY’s dysfunctional state government lies squarely at the feet of the senate majority.
Simply put: You can stand with progress, or progress can roll right over you. Either way, Mr. Bruno, progress will be made.
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[...] this intriguing post about how Bruno apparently profits from illegal campaign contributions that he takes his sweet time returning. As you see, from January 2007 to July 2007 Sen. Bruno earned over $25,000 in interest on his [...]
Jrviper: This is an interesting question — although one has to be careful not to imply that Bruno currently IS keeping interest from questionable contributions (do we really know?) I suppose my next question is… where DOES that interest typically go when contributions are returned? (not just involving Bruno, but other politicians?) Who do you “return” it to?
Let’s not be naive and think this is a Republican only problem. The problem in Albany will not change until Silver and Bruno are voted out of office, which will never happen. Everyone thinks Albany is doing a terrible job overall, but that their particular Assemblyperson/Senator is doing fine, so they vote them back in, and nothing changes. Just like Congress.
Moral equivalence won’t help here, Mark.
I do agree that the whole system is dysfunctional, but there’s one person standing in the way of serious, meaningful reform, and that’s Bruno. Until we get full public financing of elections, no-one has a chance against Albany incumbents. Bruno is a key, if not the key enabler of continuing this dysfunction.