On May 8 the Washington State Republican Party reported a $30,000 contribution from the Republican Governors Association, which in itself wouldn’t be all that extraordinary except for the fact that the check was cut on January 24th.
That’s four months late in reporting a pretty substantial chunk of change, and I’m told even then they only filed after being prompted by the Public Disclosure Commission in response to an inquiry from a watchdog following up on the RGA’s own federal reports.
I suppose it was most likely an accounting screw-up rather than a deliberate attempt to evade our public disclosure laws, but if they can’t audit their own books it doesn’t give much credence to the GOP’s tired old saw of being the party of fiscal responsibility.
The RNC doesn’t have to report because they’re “not the candidate.”
Kind of Pales in comparison to your LEFTY pals Goldy. Remember this from the Seattle Times:
The Washington Democratic Party may face thousands of dollars in fines for failing to file timely reports for the 2004 election. In addition to those fines, the party could be required to repay a $100,000 fine that was suspended in 2003 as long as the Democrats didn’t have any serious campaign-finance infractions during the next five years.
In a letter to the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC), state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt admitted mistakes were made by party staff members. Late last summer, he said, the party transferred $394,000 from a federal account to a state account, but individual donor-contribution data were not disclosed, in violation of state rules.
The commission said that in October, a form was electronically filed by the Democrats for the state account, indicating the deposit of $394,000, but no individual contributors were disclosed in the report. The individual contributors weren’t disclosed until Jan. 24, 104 days late.
The commission will investigate the latest complaint and, if the party is found in violation, the reimposition of the $100,000 fine will be automatic, PDC spokesman Doug Ellis said. He said the violations are so serious they will be referred to the Attorney General’s Office for possible prosecution. The party could face fines of $10,000 for each violation.
In 2003, the Washington State Democrats were slapped with the largest campaign-disclosure fine imposed against a political party in state history after failing to properly disclose about $7 million worth of campaign donations and expenditures during the 2000 election.
Short memory Goldy.
I sure hope, for your sake, you didn’t sell the NOV I told you to buy, Cynical! It’s up $10 in the last 2 days.
I think you made Goldy’s point.
Or it’s the double standard that when the Dems do it, they are cheating but when the Repub do it, nothing happens?
If the dems got punished, shouldn’t the repubs?
Blue John–
The MAGNITUDE of the offense matters.
Here is another beauty from 2002 in the P-I of all places!!
——————————————–
Democrats underreported contributions, state finds
Thursday, July 4, 2002
By ANGELA GALLOWAY AND CHARLES POPE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
The state Public Disclosure Commission is examining millions of dollars in soft money contributions that the Washington Democratic Party failed to appropriately report during the 2000 campaign season.
The state party neglected to file timely and complete reports detailing the sources of most of its $6.6 million in “soft” or unregulated contributions from national Democratic organizations, Paul Berendt, party chairman, admitted yesterday.
Some contributions were reported on the wrong forms, others were reported late. It appears that $1 million in contributions still have not been itemized as required, Berendt said.
“It was terribly wrong for us not report this … and I hold myself accountable,” he said. Still, “it isn’t as if it was dirty money from some corporate polluter or something. It’s money that people would expect us to be receiving.”
Goldy–
Thanks for raising this issue!
Rog–
I sold NOV, McDonalds, Wells Fargo & Microsoft on May 1st.
Sold NOV @ $72.85.
Sheesh–it’s now @ 77.80!!
Oh well, made money.
Could have made another $15,000 if I had
listened to you, held on and sold today.
It would have been more short-term capital gain so more than 1/3 of that would have gone into the bureaucratic shithole via taxes.
Any other tips Rog??
I’ve been following Cabella’s a bit.
A friend of mine is convinced that in tough economic times, people buy more outdoor gear, fishing & hunting supplies.
Think I will still sit back awhile.
Goldy–
I believe your collegue Stefan created a label for you when you raised issues that turned around and bit you in the ass—
Wasn’t it something related to a sport?
Was it football?? No
Was it baseball?? No
Was it soccer????? YES
That’s it, it was soccer!
Was it something to do with dribbling? NO
How about passing? NO
Did it have to do with shooting & scoring?? YES
That’s it, now I remember————-
It was:
DAVID OWNGOALSTEIN!!
So here we go again. We see that the GOP is all for the rule of law as long as it doesn’t apply to them. That janitor at the sex-offender unit Cynical would be posting hour after hour if this involved the Dems or Dean Logan. But it’s okay since it’s his fellow republicans turning up their noses at following the rules. The republicans are cheaters, scofflaws and liars. What’s new?
Well looks like they need the same punishments the dem party has gotten over the years, granted I am sure the fines will be much lower since it’s a 30k mistake. But they should still be fined!!! This behavior is ridiculous!
As per usual, you gotta explain the nuances to the conservatives, and the “DINO’s.”
Let me highlight the point;
When President Clinton left office there was a federal surplus. Bush and the conservatives have created the largest federal deficit in our nation’s history.
When President Clinton left office he reduced the national debt. Bush and the conservatives have doubled the national debt from $4.5 Trillion dollars to nearly $10 TRILLION .
When President Clinton left office he had a “pay as you go” system. Bush and the conservatives had to bring back the 1 year Treasury Bills to help fund tax breaks for Big Oil and Paris Hilton.
So when Goldy says the GOP can’t keep track of their own books and that sort of irresponsibility doesn’t match their rhetoric on being the party fiscal responsibility and spending the American people’s money wisely.
OK? Get it? Sheeeeeeez.
Did you KLOWNS actually read the pattern of HUUUUUUUUUUUGE errors & omissions by the Washington State Democratic Party??
The quantity and magnitude of errors was mind-boggling and the timing of the errors was meaningful.
You KLOWNS are trying to compare that to one mistake when we are barely into the Election Seasons????????????
Kind of like trying to compare Hagee/McCain with Obama/Wright..
Obama sat in the pew listening to Wright spew for 20 years!!!!!!!!!
Oprah even quit.
Yet Obama stayed with his racist “spiritual advisor”.
“the party of fiscal responsibility”??? You gotta be kidding. The GOP hasn’t been fiscally responsible (at least with the public purse) since Reagan took office. I’ve lost track of how many times the National Debt has doubled since the Gipper became president. And, no, I haven’t voted Republican since.
Mr Cynical @ 2,
Excellent point, but it doesn’t take away from Goldy’s criticisms in the slightest.
Richard–
Goldy’s “point”??? which is to squeal about something that pales in comparison to the State Dems actions the past 5 years or so.
C’mon Richard.
Certainly you can see that.
You were once highly critical of the Dems for these PDC failures. Remember?
Public Disclosure Commission
“PDC? We don’t need no stinking PDC!!!”
sayeth that corrupt, irrelevant R party, long ago hijacked by wingnuts.
Anybody notice that most of the money the WSRP paid out in in-kind contributions in 2006–over $200K–was somehow not reported by the recipients? Luke Esser (current WSRP Chairman), Mike Riley, Pam Roach, Toby Nixon, Jan Shabro, James Dunn, Bob Lawrence, Ron Boehme, Jeffrey Possinger, and Kim Halvorson got help with direct mail(according to the WSRP), but they didn’t report it. Mike Riley got over $38,000, Pam Roach over $27,000! Most of the mailings qualify as last minute contributions. If the campaigns really received the contributions, why didn’t they report them? I don’t see how they could claim they didn’t know about them, because the ads would be delivered to their own mail boxes!
One would think the PDC would be jumping on this, but I don’t see any mention of it on their website.
Maybe someone hid it in the freezer. Thats how
the dems do it, right?