Documents released today reveal that Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi was not only aware of the Building Industry Association of Washington’s (BIAW) illegal fundraising activities, but that he actively solicited funds on their behalf from at least one organization, the Master Builder’s Association (MBA). According to a summary of events posted by attorney Knoll Lowney:
The MBA was one of the groups solicited for a donation. On April 30, 2007, BIAW President Daimon Doyle attended the MBA’s Board meeting to solicit a donation to BIAW’s campaign fund, which was considered a “Fund for Rossi,” according to Sam Anderson, the MBA Executive Director. Based upon a formula, MBA was targeted for a donation of over $570,000! The Board decided to table the request until the next meeting three weeks later, expressing concern that most MBA members were democrats and may not appreciate the donation and also about other pressing MBA expenses including building repairs.
When MBA leadership met next on May 21, 2007 at a “Chair Officers Meeting,” the discussion turned to BIAW’s pending request for campaign funds. While discussing the request, all three of the MBA’s top officers reported that they had received calls from Dino Rossi. The one call for which additional detail is provided clearly confirms that Rossi called to support a MBA contribution to the BIAW’s governor’s race war chest. The minutes leave no question that Dino Rossi spoke to this officer about whether and when MBA would give to the BIAW’s governor campaign fund. The officers receiving calls from Rossi were then-MBA President Doug Barnes, First Vice President Joe Schwab, and Second Vice President John Day.
The PDC has already found the BIAW and MBA guilty of multiple “egregious” campaign finance violations, and the Attorney General has subsequently filed suit. And now we learn that not only did Dino Rossi know about the illegal fundraising, he actively solicited money for it.
This is a major scandal… the kind of scandal that could change the entire dynamic of this election.
More coming….
It SHOULD be a major scandal. The public has repeatedly let it be known that they support limits on campaign donatations, knowing deep down that if money is unregulated then the actual election is a mere afterthought.
But unfortunately, the public has less ability to discern the difference between legal and illegal activity. Allegations by one side are met with strenuous denials by the other side, and the media normally just prints both sides, without attempting to sort out who is right. The public, confused and trying to make election decisions with limited time available due to pressing personal and work obligations, ends up pushing this “noise” off to the side, where it doesn’t get considered.
This is much like the situation documented by the Pentagon during the VietNam war. Modern radio communications and electronic displays in the cockpits of aircraft were overloading the pilots with too much information. When in combat, they were trying to process too much information, and in self-defense the brain starts shutting out sources of input randomly, even though it is sometimes critical inforamtion. Hence radio tapes could clearly show pilots received the warning “missle launch!”, or “watch that MIG comming up on your six”, but the pilots would report never hearing the report.
In the grand scheme of things, if our elections are ever going to produce really qualified leaders, we need to find a way of sorting through the sound-bites of the modern media political machines so that the candidates and their REAL positions on the issues can be laid before the voters prior to the election.
I hear ACORN’s got a little scandal going on, too. Seems there’s some voter fraud being alleged. Any word on that?
2 (YAWN…)
Goldy,
Does this mean that Rossi wasn’t just coordinating with an independent expenditure campaign — he was fund raising for it?!?!
Can’t that get a person jail time?
So Rossi turns out to be an aggressive panhandler in violation of applicable laws. This is a surprise? When was a Republican ever not a lawless gold digger?
This from a guy who eagerly worked for a crooked broker who went to prison for robbing widows and orphans.
Nope, not a surprise at all.
@2 “I hear ACORN’s got a little scandal going on, too. Seems there’s some voter fraud being alleged. Any word on that?”
Yes. ACORN was defrauded by dishonest employees who went to jail. They conned ACORN into paying them for invalid voter registrations. Like the widows and orphans robbed by Rossi’s boss, ACORN is the victim of a crime.
@4 “Can’t that get a person jail time?”
Not when a partisan Republican attorney general and a partisan Republican prosecutor protect the crooks of their own party, which is what Republican criminals rely on when they break the law.
@2:
“I hear ACORN’s got a little scandal going on, too. Seems there’s some voter fraud being alleged. Any word on that?”
Yes. Your mother would like to know, “If Johnny jumped off the Empire State Building, would you jump off the Empire State Building?”
Meaning, even if so, so what? How does that excuse illegal behavior, if that’s what happened here?
Yet again, the Republican Sincerity Gap raises it head.
Hehehehehe. Bye Bye Dino. Liar. Whiner. Power-hungry thief..
Loser!
It is illegal for an independent expenditure to be coordinated with a candidate. Seems like it should be equally illegal for a candidate to raise funds for an independent expenditure. But there could be some sort of technicality that allows Dino Rossi to get away with this. It certainly violates the spirit of the law, if not the letter of the law.
5 “When was a Republican ever not a lawless gold digger?”
Well, not since the likes of Eisenhower and Dan Evans, anyway.
Then again, if either of them were active in politics today the present neocon leadership would run them both out of the party.
I just want a “Gategate” scandal one of these days.
OK so, remember back when Goldy and Co. were calling on Rossi to release his tax info and the righties didn’t defend him, but I did? My comment at the time was that you shouldn’t dis on someone for not releasing their tax info unless you find something that smells funny. This reeks like a crab cannery on a hot summer day.*
Rossi needs to release his taxes.
*I’ve worked as a commercial fisherman; I know what that smells like and it ‘aint good.
@7
ACORN helped the prosecutor and helped clean up the mess. Too bad the righties never help cleanup their messes.
re 10: He’s a bug-eyed pussy, as well.
Since the right wing trolls are sleeping today – I will write their script:
Talking Point 1: Democrats do it too!
Talking Point 2: Rossi is a good guy
talking point 3: Change the subject to taxes or attack Gregoire – indian gambling or taxes.
OK – now we don’t need any trolls – I feel better already. In fact, it is more fun to defend illegal activities than to actually care about real principles. Trolls have such an easy life!
Goldy–
Once again your flailing away, glueing a few things together and pretending to have some “smoking gun” is both humorous & predictable.
ANYTHING to draw the discussion away from issues that really matter to voters….like the $3.2 BILLION Deficit Gregoire has created by her $8 BILLION of increased spending!
Voters are tired of Gregoire/Goldstein aka TEAM HORSESASS conspiracy theory and costly lawsuits like the one about GOP or Republican.
How do these things affect the economy of Washington State and the voters pocketbook?
ANSWER: They don’t.
Keep punching at air Goldy!
Rog Rabbit spews:
” ACORN is the victim of a crime.”
Victim my ass!!
ACORN had virtually zero supervision…on purpose. How did the ficticious names ever reach King Kounty without someone in authority at ACORN catching it?? Many of the illegals had the same address Rog!!
The question has always been,
HOW MANY ILLEGAL VOTER REGISTRATIONS DID ACORN ACTUALLY GET THRU??
ACORN (O-blah-blah’s CLIENT!) would have gotten these 1100 illegal ones thru too had they mailed them instead of using UPS.
And it took a Public Records Request and Lawsuit to get these frauds out into the sunshine.
Bad try Rog…ACORN a VICTIM?????
Gimmee a break.
15. michael spews:
“ACORN helped the prosecutor and helped clean up the mess.”
That’s because they were caught red-handed!
They had no choice.
So they threw a bunch of little pawns under the bus.
@17 “Since the right wing trolls are sleeping today …”
The trolls are still shell shocked from losing $1 trillion in the stock market yesterday because of their House delegation’s gamesmanship.
Btw, I notice they’re no longer blaming Pelosi’s speech. It seems that didn’t work very well as a talking point — you know, claiming they voted against the public welfare in a national crisis because of personal pique.
Now they’re saying Pelosi’s speech had nothing to do with it (because that sounds better). Awfully hard to tell what the truth is, but one way or another, they lied about it …
@19 “ACORN had virtually zero supervision”
How do you supervise people who go door to door? Do you hire a supervisor for each worker, and have the supervisors follow the workers on their rounds? And even if they didn’t supervise their signature gatherers, I could say the same thing about Tim Eyman. Well, no problem, you would say, because initiative signatures are verified by the SOS’s office and the bad ones are tossed. Well, the same is true of voter registrations, dummy! It’s ultimately the responsibility of election officials to verify registrations, and in this state, elections are run by a Republican. In any case, even if ACORN didn’t adequately supervise their workers, that doesn’t make ACORN guilty of the workers’ crimes. ACORN is still a victim of their misbehavior. Employers ought to be able to trust their workers. By your standard, every employer who hires a dishonest employee belongs in jail. Frankly, that might not be a bad idea …
Rog–
I made $8000 in 1 day on NOV and my 2,000 remaining shares of Wells Fargo went up over 4 points today for another $8000.
Shell-shocked??
Perhaps you are…cuz you want to be.
Your KLOWNmates love and salivate over bad news and people’s misfortune.
I try to look for opportunity whenever and wherever KLOWNS see doom & gloom.
It’s worked well for me.
PS–
Have you KLOWNS donated money to your local Food Bank today?? I have.
We need to give a helping hand to those who are misfortunate….as opposed to the LEFTIST mentality of making political hay at the expense of the misfortunate.
The worse things are for the most people, the better it is for the LEFTIST PINHEADED followers of Karl Marx.
Pathetic & sick.
Man, Cynical is really straining himself on this ACORN stuff as his arguments fall apart and the issue slips away from him …
The only real issue here is that Republicans like Cynical hate community organizing in any way, shape, or form; and they hate the idea of poor people being able to vote even more …
2. Roger Rabbit spews:
@19 “ACORN had virtually zero supervision”
How do you supervise people who go door to door.”
You aren’t serious are you Rog.
Just like telephone solicitors are supervised….with a phone call validating the registration.
How complex!
Face it Rog…they didn’t want to catch any fraud. If they did, they would have had internal controls like phone call validation to do so.
@23 BFD. The market is up 485 points today, and anyone who owns stock made money today just by being alive.
@25 Don’t give yourself a hernia.
When wingnuts get desperate they trot out ACORN.
Freaking pathetic.
ACORN is not on the ballot. ACORN is not running for Governor. Ethically challenged Dino Rossi (did he commit perjury?) is, and that’s who we’re talking about here.
Holy crap.
As an independant/undeclared, I hadn’t been paying much attention to the Governor’s race until now (shame on me, I guess. I knew Rossi seemed pretty slimy, but I didn’t know the depth or breadth of it.)
This is a huge development. HUGE.
Sean–
What an idiot you are.
Independent my a$$!
I’d love to play poker with you dumbass.
You don’t lie very good.
Roger & Hal,
The Dems are just as corrupt as the Reps. That’s my point. If you choose to ignore that, so what?
From Fox News:
“WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid her husband’s real estate and investment firm nearly $100,000 from her political action committee over the past decade, a practice that she voted to ban last year and that her party condemned as part of the “culture of corruption” when Republicans did it.”
See what I mean, Rog & Hal?