Allegations Swirling Around Bruno
As a defense to our previous post on Joe Bruno’s apparently illegal corporate campaign contributions, an unnamed republican staffer made the following claim:
In fact I recognized at least one company listed where I know that the donation was returned because they hit their limit.
Unfortunately for the unnamed staffer, this claim compelled RT to rebut his claims and to further examine Bruno’s campaign finance records. As you will see, it appears this returned contribution may be much more than a simple mistake.
The contribution in question was made by Diamond Asphalt Corp. on or about September 27, 2005, to the tune of $7,500. Obviously, since corporations are limited to $5,000 in contributions per calendar year, this was an illegal contribution and it was made in one lump sum solely to Joe Bruno. Given it was illegal on its face, and Bruno knew it was a corporation (as evidenced by the donation being listed on “Schedule B” of Bruno’s disclosure) it will have to be up to Senator Bruno to explain why it was accepted in the first place, but we have a pretty good idea why.
It wasn’t until March 2007, almost two years later, that the donation was returned, and even then it was returned in two separate payments.
The only reasonable explanation for Bruno accepting a contribution from a corporation in an amount over the $5,000 limit and keeping it for almost two years before returning it in two separate chunks is that Bruno wanted the Corporation to make a donation and figured out a way in which the corporation wouldn’t have to donate a dime.
For those of us without an obscene amount of money, it’s hard to imagine earning any substantial short term income from the interest on a savings account. But for people like Bruno, who can toss around hundreds of thousands of dollars, interest is a prime place for extra campaign cash. In fact, according to a review of Bruno’s campaign disclosures, Bruno’s campaign earned a whopping $104,000 in interest alone for calendar year 2006.
The problem, as I’m sure you can tell by now, is that the $7,500 donation had to have been in Bruno’s campaign account, which earned interest. So, by sitting on a $7,500 donation for two years before returning it, Bruno would earn about $800 in interest on that one illegal donation.
Now, I can understand how a person could scoff at that, since $800 will barely pay for a decent plane ticket these days. But, when observed through the lens of the $19,500 in known contributions Bruno returned, the picture becomes much more sinister. In fact, since only one of the corporations we previously listed is known to have had their donation refunded (albeit two years later), it is safe to assume that the remaining $33,000 or so in allegedly illegal corporate contributions is, to this day, earning Bruno some handsome interest.
In summary, Senate Majority Leader Bruno appears to be accepting illegal donations, earning an enormous amount of interest on those illegal donations, and claiming to have done no wrong because (eventually) the contributions are returned.
The power wielded by Bruno over the last decade or so has so greatly damaged our State Government that we can not afford to let this linger. I emailed Senator Bruno shortly after we ran the original story on the apparently illegal corporate contributions. To date, I haven’t heard a response.
Please, feel free to contact Senator Bruno for yourself, just be sure to let us know what kind of pathetic rationalization he gives.
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Great work!
Another loophole exposed. Just like Maggie’s claim “I haven’t raised taxes”…but orders the towns to reassess, reassess, reassess. The GOP sure have gotten deception down to an artform.
Somehow the phrase “Who Me?” just keeps playing through my mind.
excellent work, friend. you are so on a roll with this one. outstanding.
great sleuthing!!
This has been Dugg by the way.
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