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What Do Senator* Sununu, Ted Stevens, VECO, and $50,000 Have in Common?

by: Dean Barker

Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 22:47:09 PM EDT
Move over, phone jamming. 

Yesterday, Marketplace explained the budding VECO scandal:

Bill Allen was a big bundler. As the founder and former CEO of an Alaskan oil services company, he encouraged his employees to donate generously to political campaigns. And they did, giving more than a million dollars since the late 80's, according to federal campaign finance reports.

But today, Allen and his former company, called VECO, are at the center of a tangle of corruption scandals. In May, Allen and one of his executives pleaded guilty to bribing Alaskan state legislators. And that wasn't all.

  Melanie Sloan: Executives there have pleaded guilty to crimes including making conduit contributions to politicians -- basically giving employees money to make contributions to politicians.

Today, Marketplace expanded on just where this money has been flowing, and it's not a pretty picture for John E. Sununu and the increasingly shady history of his 2002 senate run:
Working in concert, Ted Stevens, Bill Allen and VECO executives used half a dozen political committees to raise about $25,000 for Coleman's 2002 campaign, and $50,000 for Sununu's. Both Coleman and Sununu are running for reelection this year.

Sununu announced last week he'd donate $2,000 received from convicted VECO employees to charity.

I think Melanie Sloan, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, put it best when she said, in the first-linked piece, "VECO's a big donor, they spread money around. If I were any member of Congress receiving VECO contributions, I'd be very nervous that the feds would be looking at me."

To top it off, Marketplace has a very handy breakdown of where the more than $50K of possibly tainted money came from.  The punchline comes at the end:

July 3  $1,000 -- Robert Penney, Kenai River Sportfishing Association

...In 2004, Sen. Sununu attended the Kenai River Classic on a fishing trip organized by Sen. Stevens and Robert Penney. Bill Allen, Carl Marrs and Jim Jansen also attended.

Will tossing two grand of over 50,000 in possibly tainted money to charity keep this story from getting legs?  Somehow I doubt it.
Dean Barker :: What Do Senator* Sununu, Ted Stevens, VECO, and $50,000 Have in Common?
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What Do Senator* Sununu, Ted Stevens, VECO, and $50,000 Have in Common? | 10 comments
I'm so naive. (4.00 / 1)
Bill Allen was a big bundler. As the founder and former CEO of an Alaskan oil services company, he encouraged his employees to donate generously to political campaigns.

I've been thinking that bundlers are sort of like the folks who call you up from your college class to get you to contribute to the Alumni Fund. And some of them surely are.

But yeah, the boss who tells his executives that he can handle the paperwork for their contributions to candidate X is also a bundler.

"No matter how cynical I get, I can't keep up." - Lily Tomlin

You are not naive... (4.00 / 1)
"We are all in this alone" -Lily Tomlin

Norman Hsu took it one or two steps further, and you thought you were naive...I had no idea how these scams work, until I read it in the MSM NYT.

He scammed greedy Private Equity Funds on the promise of huge returns, Ponzi-style, so that early investors got paid off by 2nd round etc...then he gave some of that cash to people who would in turn write checks back to him, which he would then bundle to make contributions to Politicians...

Next time, there may be no next time.

[ Parent ]
They all do it (0.00 / 0)
http://www.bluehamps...

Next time, there may be no next time.
[ Parent ]
We need real campaign finance reform (0.00 / 0)
As Edwards says the system in Washington is rigged, and it is rigged against you and me.

The cost for public financing would be far less than the fleecing of our treasury by those who finance elections for our politicians. 

[ Parent ]
It's not necessary to set up a new bureaucracy. (0.00 / 0)
All that's needed is rules that regulate the behavior of office holders and those who aspire to become office holders.  Put limits on whom they can accept gifts from and restrict them from giving gifts to others in the same class.
The law is different for the agents of government.  They can only perform those task that the law permits and requires.  It would be a good thing for prospective office holders to get used to this regimen and become acquainted with the prohibitions against accepting bribes (anticipatory or after the fact).
My own preference would be that candidates for public office can only accept money from individuals who are qualified to cast a ballot for them.  Then the contribution would be an affirmation that the candidate meets the voter's criteria for public office holders. But, that's probably too much to ask.  So, just prohibit them from taking money from corporate entities, including office holders.
[ Parent ]
Corporations as Individuals (0.00 / 0)
I wonder whether not allowing corporations to contribute to campaigns would hold up in court. Case law over the last two centuries has basically given corporations the same constitutional protections as individuals under the Constitution. That is why when corporations feel their "rights" such as "freedom of speech" affected, they sue and often win their cases. On the other hand, having them as "individuals" also allows them to be sued by others.

I don't think this would change without a Constitutional Amendment or a radical departure from legal precedent.

[ Parent ]
federal ban (0.00 / 0)
Corporations can't contribute to federal campaigns. They can make donations in some states, including NH.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.


Benjamin Franklin


 
[ Parent ]
I think you missed the point. (0.00 / 0)
I'm not recommending that we restrict corporations or their "speech."  What I'm suggesting is that we prohibit office holders and potential office holders from accepting gifts from corporations.
[ Parent ]
Should it be illegal to solicit political support from one's inferiors in the workplace? (4.00 / 1)
Opinions?  I think so.
analogy (0.00 / 0)
to a superior making advances on someone they depend upon for advancement...i.e, Politcial Harrasment ? Great point.

Next time, there may be no next time.
[ Parent ]
What Do Senator* Sununu, Ted Stevens, VECO, and $50,000 Have in Common? | 10 comments
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