Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Which Politicians Need To Give Back The Bribes They Took From Adelson?

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The Adelsons injected tens of millions of dollars into the campaigns last year through secretive SuperPACs run by Rove, Koch brothers operatives, the Republican Jewish Coalition and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (which is notorious for laundering illegal contributions from China and other countries into campaigns for right-wing politicians). They also gave $5 million to the Congressional Leadership PAC, which spent heavily to elect right-wing politicians and was best known for a campaign smearing Betty Sutton on behalf of Jim Renacci (R-OH). And the biggest amounts of cash the Adelsons gave went into the failed Gingrich and Romney campaigns. But what about money-- whether Mafia money from Vegas or money from China-- that Adelson used for buying influence in Congress?

Adelson's partner in crime, his Israeli wife Miriam (who vowed to return to her homeland if Obama was reelected), wrote a series of immense checks to right-wing outfits, $11,500,000 to Rove's operations; a million to the Republican Jewish Coalition; half a million to the Patriot Prosperity PAC (the Adelsons' crazy right wing operation in New Jersey which wasted a million and a half dollars and lost every single race it touched), hundreds of thousands to the RNC, etc. She also gave thousands of dollars to candidates who have pledged fealty to the Adelsons, many of whom were defeated but many of whom are currently in Congress:
Joe Heck (R-NV)
Mark Amodei (R-NV)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
John Boehner (R-OH)
Miss McConnell (R-KY)
Deb Fischer (R-NE)
Dean Heller (R-NV)
Sheldon Adelson, spent much more. Miriam wrote a check to Cantor and Ryan's Young Guns PAC for $2,500,000 on April 30, 2012. Sheldon wrote a $2,500,000 check the same day. But he was also busy writing massive checks for state-based outfits like Independence Virginia PAC ($4 million), the sleazy Michigan based attack fund, Hardworking Americans Committee ($1 million) and Florida's Freedom PAC ($2 million) and Treasure Coast Jobs Coalition ($500,000), which spent over $2 million bolstering war criminal Allen West. Adelson wrote checks personally to Republican Members of Congress Joe Heck who have been loyal to his operations. None of these Members of Congress has returned the tainted checks they got from the Adelsons:
Joe Heck (R-NV)
Mark Amodei (R-NV)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
John Boehner (R-OH)
Miss McConnell (R-KY)
Deb Fischer (R-NE)
Dean Heller (R-NV)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
The biggest cash infusions laundered from Chinese gambling and prostitution rackets to political races went from Adelson to Cantor and Boehner, $5 million each. That buys a lot of clout in Washington. Cantor used that money to win primary battles for candidates he knew would toe the party line, like Richard Hudson, who was running against Tea Party favorite Scott Keadle in North Carolina.

Before Al Capone was finally convicted on income tax evasion America's #1 gangster was "an innocent man" and even palled around with corrupt politicians. Today the biggest organized crime figure-- and biggest single Mitt Romney donor-- is Vegas-based mobster Sheldon Adelson. He has a myriad of serious legal cases pending against him but he has the best legal minds money can buy keeping him out of prison. Adelson and his Israeli wife have pumped tens of millions of dollars into the Republican Party-- partly protection money and partly to move forward his very specific agenda (everything from war against Muslim states and American unions to low taxes for billionaires and a gambling casino in Manhattan). During the campaign, it was revealed that the immense sums of money he was injecting into the campaigns-- like the $10 million to the Koch brothers, and $5 million each to Boehner's and Cantor's SuperPACs, was in large part coming from a prostitution network he was running in southern China.
The fired former chief executive of Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s Macau casinos alleges in court documents revealed Thursday that billionaire Sheldon Adelson personally approved of prostitution and knew of other improper activity at his company's properties in the Chinese enclave.

...In the lawsuit, he accuses the company and Adelson of breach of contract and of pushing him into illegal activity in Macau, a former Portuguese colony near Hong Kong where Sands has established a strong business presence. The company owns the Venetian Macao and Sands Macao casino resorts, the Plaza Macao hotel, restaurant and shopping complex and the newly opened Sands Cotai Central resort with three hotels and two casinos.

In documents revealed Thursday-- including a sworn seven-page declaration that Jacobs submitted along with a summary from his attorneys of problems obtaining documents from Sands-- Jacobs describes an effort he launched after arriving in Macau in May 2009 to rid the casino floor of "loan sharks and prostitution."

"This project was met with concern as (company) senior executives informed me that the prior prostitution strategy had been personally approved by Adelson," Jacobs said in the documents.

In his court filing, Jacobs alleges other documents that haven't been turned over include records of misuse of "blue card' work permits and the hiring of illegal workers in Macau; emails and records of Adelson controlling a "Chairman's Club" allowing favored members, including known or suspected organized crime figures, exclusive access to Sands China's most luxurious accommodations; and email requests from Adelson to a Macau lawmaker who Jacobs said was hired as outside counsel after Jacobs was fired.

...Jacobs' lawsuit has drawn interest from U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission investigator for possible violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to a filing with the SEC. The law bars American companies from paying foreign officials to "affect or influence any act or decision" for commercial benefit. No charges have been filed.
This should have come as no surprise to anyone who was paying attention to Adelson's business antics in China (and Las Vegas). Macao has long been known as a haven for gangs and corruption. In fact, in December 2010, police rounded up more than 100 suspected prostitutes at the Sands’ Venetian Macao casino-resort while Adelson was in town." Even GOP hack John McCain accused Adelson of pumping “foreign money” into the 2012 campaign.

The Democrat who ran against Cantor last year, Wayne Powell, was disgusted but wasn't surprised to see Cantor accepting all those millions of dollars in tainted cash from Adelson and his wife. "This is typical of Eric Cantor," he told us. "He will take money from any source to perpetuate his ongoing sale of influence to the highest bidder, as long as it supports his political advancement."

Old... but timeless:

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2 Comments:

At 1:28 PM, Anonymous me said...

This kind of crap is the best argument for public funding of election campaigns.

 
At 12:57 AM, Anonymous ap215 said...

Amen

 

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