“Mr. Clout” may be down and out
Tom Reynolds (R-NY 26th) may have been called “Mr. Clout” by The Buffalo News Sunday Magazine but with the unfolding NRCC auditing scandal I think he may be a bit down and out. From DemocraticUnderground.com:
The FBI is investigati[ng] the NRCC ( National Republican Congressional Committee) for forging it’s official audit. They were apparently, running a money laundering operation within the national party, to use soft money as hard money, to pay official bills and expenses.
(snip: bold mine)
The people named, who ran the NRCC, are:
Christopher J. Ward, the ‘outsider’ who mastermined it all, unbenounced to all those innocent Republicans leaders who signed off on the official audit & expenses.
(snip)
Susan Arceneaux
A close Bush friend, a Swift Boat employee. WHo knows what she was up to?Rep. Tom Davis-VA
The name on the legal documents.Rep. Tom Reynolds-NY
The other name on the legal documents.(snip: bold mine)
Christopher J. Ward, was found to have made soft money into hard money in a 2000’s election and the NRCC was fined $250,000 for a $500,000 transfer.
The problem, today, not only involves that crime, but goes back to when the Contract With America began the flourishing of such soft money PACs. These groups, of unlimited and unregulated, mainly corporate, money had to shift the books, after the McCain-Feingold Law went into effect in 2002.
The NRCC had to now, pay employess, rent offices and provide the FEC, a full accounting of expenses as hard money. Christopher J. Ward, was the OFFICIAL auditor for the NRCC, at that time of transistion, so they got creative and thought they would easily hide the transfers, within state PACs and campaigns.
Christopher J. Ward is accused of sending the FEC, the official NRCC audit.
A forged audit, which the top Republican leadership, in Congress had to sign off on, as valid and verified.
Dirty tricks, is not what this is all about.
Intentional money laundering is. The NRCC was running a sham funding scheme, akin only to a Colombian drug cartel or Capone’s failed attempt to skirt IRS rules.
The entire piece is worth reading.
An interesting thing about the word “clout” is that it also means “a blow, especially with the fist.” I think “Mr. Clout” may be taking it on the chin with this latest scandal.
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