Will A Court Allow Duncan Hunter To Avoid Prison Time In Return For Resigning From Congress? Darrell Issa Is Waiting

Drunkin' Hunter & DJ Trumpanzee

Duncan Hunter and his wife misappropriated at least a quarter million dollars from campaign funds to use for their lavish lifestyle. Hunter has decided his best defense was to blame his wife for stealing the money without his knowledge. The problem with that strategy is that he was using some of the money to pay hookers/lobbyists and carry on affairs with various women. But his lawyers have come up with a way around that damning evidence of malfeasance. They’re asking the court to exclude the evidence that he was using the stolen funds during extramarital affairs because the relationships with at least five women "often served an overtly political purpose."

The lawyers said the evidence would embarrass Hunter since it “reflects poorly on his character” and would prejudice a jury against him. I’ve never heard anything so judicially insane in my life. It’s like saying that evidence of the murder can’t be used because it would prejudice the jury against the defendant and reflect badly on his character and would embarrass him. Hunter is obviously at the end of his rope and is probably negotiating behind the scenes too resign from Congress in return for leniency.

Most of the facts about Hunter were widely know during the 2018 campaign. But Hunter still managed to win in a deep red (PVI is R+11, where Trump beat Hillary 54.6% to 39.6%) San Diego area district. It was a lot closer than anyone thought it would be— 134,362 (51.7%) to 125,448 (48.3%), largely because Hunter ran a smear campaign against Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, accusing him of being a Muslim terrorist, even though he is a church-going former Obama administration aide. This false ad was run over and over and over throughout the district, despite being denounced in the national and local media:




Hunter, an untreated alcoholic, is a racist and a rabid Trumpist, who claims he was the first member of Congress to have endorsed Trump. Before being kicked out of the Marine Corps reserves in 2017 Hunter asserted that the American intelligence community was filled with "seditious Obama folks" who "hate Donald Trump" and are trying to undermine the Trump administration. He also described the American government as "Orwellian.” After being indicted on 60 federal charges he was kicked off 3 committees by the House Republican leadership, particularly the Armed Services Committee where his presence was considered a national security risk.

Hunter’s wife has already pleaded guilty and is likely to testify against him if his case ever goes to trial. Meanwhile Campa-Najjar is running for the seat again. But he may never get to take on Hunter. The local and national GOP establishment is encouraging Hunter to resign and there are as many as half a dozen Republicans primarying him, including the mayors of Temecula and El Cajon. Lurking in the background is former congressman Darrell Issa, who was too scared to run last cycle in his own district but would like to get back into Congress to represent a much safer red district. Trump nominated Issa to head the U.S. Trade and Development Agency but he hasn’t been confirmed. Ironically, like Campa-Najjar, Issa is also of Arabic heritage.

Nor does he like in the district

After He's Out Of The White House, Will Trump Plead Ignorance About The Illegality Of Taking Foreign Bribes?

I admit I watch a lot of Maddow and pretty much embrace all the Russian conspiracy stuff she's constantly peddling. But I never needed her to tell me that Trump's is the swampiest presidency since Warren G. Harding's. Maybe Ulysses S. Grant's? Except in Trump's case, it's clearly the man at the top who's the most corrupt of all. And one thing that I never doubted for a second is that Trump takes bribes-- from any and all sources... including from abroad, a major no-no. He's been taking money from Russia, Ukraine, various pieces of the former Soviet Union, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, China... anywhere he could get them from. Friday, The Guardian published a piece by Jon Swaine, Trump inauguration took money from shell companies tied to foreigners, that lays out some of the evidence regarding just the Inauguration aspect.



Short version of Swaine's exhaustive report: Shell companies were created to mask foreign bribes that poured into the pockets of Trump and his corrupt family. "The Guardian," he wrote, "has identified the creators of three obscure firms that contributed money to Trump’s inaugural committee, which collected a record $107 million as he entered the White House in 2017. There was a lot more foreign money than the 3 instances Swaine dug into.

The three companies each gave $25,000 to Trump’s inaugural fund. At least one of the contributions was made for a foreign national who appears ineligible to make political donations in the U.S.

A spokesman for Thomas Barrack, the chairman of Trump’s inauguration committee, declined to comment. The contributors denied wrongdoing.

Federal prosecutors in New York and the attorney generals of New Jersey and Washington DC have in recent weeks issued subpoenas to the committee, demanding records and information on its contributors and spending.

U.S. election law prohibits non-resident foreigners from contributing to political campaigns, including inaugurations. Donors or campaigns who “knowingly and willfully” breach this rule may be fined or prosecuted.

One of the $25,000 donations to Trump’s inauguration was made through a Delaware shell company for a wealthy Indian financier based in London, who appears to not hold US citizenship or residency.

Another was made by a company formed in Georgia by a lobbyist with connections to the Taiwanese government. His wife said the firm was funded by Chinese investors. One of their daughters was later given an internship in Trump’s White House, which they said was unrelated to the donation.

A third $25,000 contribution was made through a company formed anonymously in New York by an Israeli real estate developer who has helped other foreign developers with legal issues in the U.S. The Israeli developer said he held U.S. residency, commonly known as a “green card,” which permitted him to contribute legally.

Ann Ravel, a former commissioner at the federal election commission (FEC), said the use of anonymous companies was the biggest problem for authorities trying to ensure transparency and legality in political donations.

“We need stronger regulation,” said Ravel. “But our campaign finance system is structured to not let us find out who is behind these contributions.”

Authorities including Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US election, are looking into issues around foreign money in American politics and possible attempts to buy influence with Trump’s administration.

A Washington-based lobbyist, Sam Patten, admitted last year that he illegally funnelled $50,000 to Trump’s inauguration from a Ukrainian oligarch. Patten, a former colleague of the convicted ex-Trump aide Paul Manafort, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and failing to register as a foreign agent.

One $25,000 contribution to Trump’s inaugural fund came from a shell company tied to Cyrus Vandrevala, a Mumbai-born financier based in London. Vandrevala has said he funds property developments in India, where Trump owns luxury towers.

Vandrevala’s father-in-law, Niranjan Hiranandani, is one of the wealthiest figures in Indian real estate. He currently serves as president of an influential real estate industry lobby group in the country.

In an interview published days after Trump’s inauguration, Hiranandani said he hoped the new president would not hinder India’s real estate industry by restricting US visas. He suggested it was unlikely Trump would “want to do something that can have a negative impact on his ongoing projects in India.”

Vandrevala, 46, has an Indian passport and declares his nationality as Indian, according to business records obtained from authorities in Delhi. A source familiar with his arrangements said he did not hold U.S. citizenship or a “green card.”

The contribution appears to have paid for two VIP tickets to Trump’s inauguration. He and his wife, Priya, attended the event in Washington and also enjoyed a “private breakfast” with Trump, according to an article in the UK’s Asian Lite newspaper, which was written by a veteran Indian reporter who knows the Vandrevalas.

Another British-Asian newspaper, Eastern Eye, reported Vandrevala was “friendly with Trump’s daughter Ivanka.” Editors did not respond to questions about the source of that information. The White House did not respond to an inquiry.

The link between the contribution and Vandrevala is hidden in the public record. FEC filings list a $25,000 donation from a limited liability company (LLC) calling itself Sierra Vista. Its stated address is a suburban office park in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

Vandrevala’s U.S. investment company, Intrepid Capital Partners, has an office at the same complex in Wayne. Separately, an LLC named Sierra Vista 1 has also cited the office park as its address in business records.

Sierra Vista 1 was formed in Delaware, a state renowned for its low-tax and high-secrecy regime, in which companies are not required to disclose the names of officers, directors or owners.

The only person named in paperwork filed to Delaware when Sierra Vista 1 was set up in 2014 was John Teaford, a businessman who has worked on several Vandrevala ventures since the 1990s.

An executive at Intrepid Capital Partners, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said Sierra Vista 1 was an investment vehicle funded with Vandrevala’s money.

Vandrevala did not respond to emails and messages left at his office in London. Reached by telephone and asked whether he handled Sierra Vista’s payment to the inauguration for Vandrevala, Teaford said: “I probably did.”

Intrepid Capital Partners has a property arm, ICP Real Estate, which was created to finance developments in India. It claimed to be amassing a $7bn investment fund for building homes and has targeted the cities of Mumbai and Pune, both of which are home to Trump-branded towers.

Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, has described India as “the biggest push for our organisation.” The Trump company lists four Indian developments in its portfolio. A visit to the country last year by Trump Jr incurred almost $98,000 in publicly funded security costs.

Two months before election day in 2016, a new shell company was registered in Georgia. The company, Jan Castle LLC, was formed by a man named David Sean, who paid the $100 fee and signed the simple one-page form required by the state.

Sean listed his office address as a numbered “suite” on a street that runs past a country club in Sandy Springs, one of the country’s wealthiest suburbs.

The state’s paperwork said explicitly that a physical address was required-- a mailbox was not acceptable. But Sean’s address was, in fact, a mailbox inside a shipping store on a strip mall. Sean, a Taiwanese-American businessman, is based more than 2,000 miles away in southern California and is also known as Pong Hsiang.

Shortly before Christmas in 2016, Jan Castle LLC contributed $25,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund.

Sean, 59, said he was a US citizen. He declined to discuss the activity of Jan Castle or the status of any other people involved in the company, and the Guardian was unable to locate records on either.

But Sean’s wife, Joann, said in a brief telephone interview in late January that Sean created Jan Castle for three Chinese investors. Sean later denied his wife had said this. The company’s original filing to Georgia identified someone named Jianning He as its “organizer,” but gave only the same mailbox address as contact information.

Sean rejected requests over several weeks to discuss the contribution to Trump’s inauguration. Eventually he agreed to a meeting in person, but then changed his mind. Finally, in a series of text messages, Sean said: “I refuse to collude with Chinese communists and insist [on] investment with no condition attached.”

He went on to say: “My company objective is to take back stolen trillion dollar from communist China and put into manufacturing sector in United States. And I will work hard to achieve this mission objective til the day I am perished from the earth.”

Sean, who describes himself as an enthusiastic Trump supporter, also provided copies of complaint letters he said he had sent to the FBI, the CIA, the FEC and the IRS, requesting that each agency investigate the author of this article.

One of Sean’s daughters carried out a White House internship last year. She posted photographs to social media, including one of her class of interns posing with Trump. Sean said the internship had no link to the contribution.

During the 1990s, Sean worked in Taiwan as a consultant for the Hsinchu Science Park, according to his résumé. The park was developed by the Taiwanese ministry of science and technology from the 1980s as its answer to Silicon Valley.

Later, according to the résumé, Sean became a “US federal government relations consultant.” Records filed to Congress say that from 2012-14, he registered as a lobbyist in Washington, representing his own financial advisory firm.

In some lobbying filings, Sean registered jointly with an associate named Johnny Lu, who was said to be an “international trade consultant.”

Lu, who is also known as Lu Zhongying, is an adviser to Taiwan’s overseas community affairs council, according to a Taiwanese government spokeswoman in California. Lu did not respond to messages left with his family. A cellphone registered in his name did not accept incoming calls.

The Swamp Revisited by Nancy Ohanian

The pair told an ethics watchdog they were lobbying on issues such as international trade and foreign investment in the US. They reported lobbying the White House, Congress, and government agencies including the bureau of export administration and the federal trade commission. They did not list any foreign clients.

Records obtained from state authorities across the US show Sean has used at least 10 mailboxes around California, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Wyoming to open many other companies over the past two decades. The purpose of some of the companies was unclear. One named Johnny Lu as president.

In 2015, Sean created a company named Global Prosperity Foundation Corp from the mailbox near Atlanta. He told regulators it would “facilitate communication with US major trading partner’s trading organizations and promote the investment advantages of United States” [sic]. It was closed shortly before the donation to Trump’s inaugural fund was made.

Another $25,000 came into Trump’s inaugural fund three days before the president’s swearing-in from a company named New York State Property Management Corporation. The company gave as its address a house in the Long Island town of Hewlett, close to John F Kennedy airport.

A company with that name is registered with New York authorities at a small office building elsewhere in the region. The Guardian traced the firm back to Elon Lebouvich, an Israeli businessman in his mid-40s, who is involved in New York real estate.

According to court records, Lebouvich has also gone by other names, including “Allen Lebo”, and has served as a representative for a family of wealthy Moroccan investors in US legal disputes. A member of the family declined to discuss their relationship.

Lebouvich is currently developing a $5m retail property in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, according to sources familiar with his work. According to city records, the building is owned by an LLC controlled by the 74-year-old mother of Lebouvich’s attorney. The attorney and his mother declined to comment.

In a brief telephone interview, Lebouvich said his $25,000 contribution paid for two tickets to the inauguration for “me and somebody else.” He would not say who used the second ticket. When asked if he was entitled to contribute, he said: “I don’t have the time to talk about it” and ended the call.

In a subsequent email, Lebouvich said he had held permanent US residency for about five years, which would mean he was entitled to contribute. He declined to discuss the contribution and threatened legal action.

The FEC has seemed unwilling to actively guard against foreign contributions in US politics. In 2017, two dissenting commissioners said the FEC had failed to properly investigate a complaint alleging foreigners donated $55,000 through LLCs to a campaign group supporting a congressman.

The commission is understaffed. All four current commissioners have served well beyond their six-year term limits. For the past year, the FEC has operated with four commissioners instead of six because Trump has not filled two vacant seats.

Ellen Weintraub, the FEC chairwoman and the only sitting Democratic commissioner, has frequently criticised her colleagues for what she views as an unwillingness to adequately regulate campaign finance, including the threat of foreign money.

In a letter to Congress sent last September, Weintraub said the FEC was “naively and dangerously” ignoring the reality of foreign interference and had no plan to counter it.

“This situation will not improve until this commission has at least four members who are willing to enforce existing law barring foreign-national political involvement and address dark money,” Weintraub wrote.

Benedict Trump? Individual 1

What's crazier-- Trump's furious twitter stream howling at the moon about his legal jeopardy (above)-- much of which was certainly written by his current lawyer-- or the very timely Trump Code of Dishonor (below). Yesterday, tacitly admitting he directed Michael Cohen to pay off the hookers Trump feared would derail his presidential bid, Individual 1 claimed he did not direct Cohen to break the law while making the payoffs. Trumpanzee tweet: "I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law." At his sentencing session, Cohen attributed his offenses to his "duty to cover up [Trump's] dirty deeds."

Salon published an essay by Lucian Truscott, Maria Butina’s plea is the worst news ever for Trump and Trump is yet to make up what cockamamie story he wants his moron, primarily lo-education white evangelical followers to repeat to each other. The Russian spy plead guilty to engaging in a conspiracy against the U.S. The conspiracy, she admitted, was acting as an illegal foreign agent. Spies gotta spy.

She admitted to acting under the direction of Putin crony Alexander Torshin (who seems to have disappeared a couple of days ago). And here's the bad news for Trump and the Republican Party and the now bankrupt NRA: "She agreed to turn over any evidence of crimes she is aware of, submit a full accounting of her financial assets, sit for interviews with law enforcement (and waive right to counsel during those interviews) and testify before grand juries or in trials in Washington or elsewhere." Presumably she will have the goods on how the Russians laundered tens of millions of dollars into the Trump campaign through the NRA.



Back to Truscott who makes the point that this is the worst news Señor Trumpanzee has faced in months. Before she appeared and 'fessed up Thursday morning, Truscott wrote that she would "admit to conspiring with a Russian official believed to be Alexander Torshin 'to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics . . . for the benefit of the Russian Federation' (Torshin recently retired from being a deputy director of the Russian central bank). She will also admit to attempting to influence the National Rifle Association and 'Political Party 1,' believed to be the Republican Party. Butina will admit to setting up a meeting between senior officials of the NRA and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in December 2015, in the early months of the Trump campaign. She later reported to Torshin, 'We should let them express their gratitude now, we will put pressure on them quietly later.'

Butina has been indicted by the U.S. Attorney of the District of Columbia, whose investigation was separate from that of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, so you would think that would come as good news to Trump. But Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was also charged by the D.C. U.S. attorney and the U.S.attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia as well, and it is known that Mueller has been cooperating with the U.S. attorneys for D.C., Eastern Virginia, and the Southern District of New York as well. So the fact that Butina is pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate means that Mueller will be a beneficiary of what she knows about Russian influence in the election of 2016. But even that isn’t the worst news Trump got this week.

No, what Trump should really be worrying about is what Butina’s guilty plea says about his friend Vladimir Putin in Russia. Butina was obviously operating as an intelligence agent of the Russian state, and she wouldn’t be agreeing to plead guilty and cooperate with investigators for Mueller or anyone else if she hadn’t been given the go-ahead by her bosses back in Moscow. Butina faces a sentence of zero to six months under the federal statute she was charged with, and even if she ends up serving time, she will be deported immediately upon her release from prison.

Marina Butina wouldn’t have anyplace to go in Russia if her handlers at the Kremlin hadn’t told her it was okay to tell U.S. prosecutors everything she knows about how her attempt to influence American politics worked from 2015 through 2016. If Putin has decided to cut Butina loose, he’s cutting Trump loose as well.

...With all of the guilty pleas and sentencings in court this week, speculation has been flying that Special Counsel Mueller is reaching the end of his investigation. Don’t believe it. The Washington Post reported this week that 14 Trump friends, associates, and campaign and transition officials had contacts with Russians during the 18 months of his campaign.

Note: Congressman Lieu, a former Air Force JAG officer, serves on the House Judiciary Committee

Every single one of them lied about Russia. They started out by flatly denying they had any contacts at all with any Russians. Then they admitted they had a few, but the contacts were innocuous. When numerous meetings with Russians came to light, they said the contacts didn’t amount to anything. When it turned out the contacts were serious, they began denying there had been any “collusion” with the Russians. Trump made it a refrain, that there had been “no collusion” with Russians during the many times he now had to admit his people had met with them.

Robert Mueller, who has indicted and/or taken guilty pleas from 33 individuals and at least three companies, is turning from indictments of Russians to indictments of their American counterparts. He is focusing his investigation not on “collusion,” but on conspiracy to defraud the United States of America. That’s what he indicted 13 Russians who worked for the Russian troll factory, the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg: conspiracy “to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the government through fraud and deceit for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016.”

Mueller indicted 12 Russian military intelligence agents for “Conspiracy to Commit an Offense against the United States” by hacking into Democratic Party emails and to “stage releases of the stolen documents to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.” He accused the Russians of using false identities and making false statements to hide their connections to “Russia and the Russian government.”

Mueller has been after a conspiracy between Trump and the Trump campaign and the Russian government all along. And he’s using fraud and conspiracy statutes under the U.S. Code to do it.

Mueller is going to connect Donald Trump and his campaign directly to the government of Vladimir Putin. This week, with the guilty plea of his agent Maria Butina, Putin appears ready to help him.

Robert Mueller has never cared about “collusion.” All he has cared about is breaking the law, which Donald Trump has done plenty of. Trump can tweet all he wants, but he can’t stop the big truck coming straight at him driven by Robert Mueller.

The Other GOP Election Scandal That May Lead To A Special Election-- FL-15

Florida's 15th congressional district-- the heart of Florida-- connects the Tampa Metro to the Orlando Metro, hitting the suburbs of both while being primarily agricultural. The two biggest population centers are Lakeland and Brandon... and neither is all that big.

The district is marginally red-- with an R+6 PVI. Obama lost both times he ran and Trump beat Hillary by 10 points-- 53.1% to 43.1%. It used to be Adm Putnam's district but Dennis Ross won it when Putnam went on to be state Agriculture Commissioner. Ross decided to retire this year and, with help from Marco Rubio, state Rep Ross Spano won a Republican primary against ex-state Rep Neil Combee. Meanwhile, self-described "moderate," Kristen Carlson, an EMILY's List candidate, beat a progressive Navy vet, Andrew Learned. She outraged him by self-funding around $100,000 into her campaign.

In the general, Carlson spent $2,038,400 to Spano's $851,583, a hefty chunk of which was illegally obtained. More on that in a moment. Ryan's SuperPAC spent $1,744,302 attacking Carlson and the DCCC responded with just $694,360, pretty much sealing her fate. The race was rated a toss up leaning towards Spano. 538 gave him a 57.9% chance to win and her a 42.1% chance. Every legitimate poll showed Spano ahead of her, though not prohibitively so. The biggest part of the district is in the Tampa suburbs (Hillsborough Co.) and that was very close with just a small lead for Spano, His lead in Lake County was also small, but Spano lead her by a very wide margin in Polk County. Overall, the results looked like this:

John Romano's column in the Tampa Bay Times yesterday, Welcome to Congress, Rep. Spano. Now please resign, explains what happened next.

He has yet to be sworn in as a congressman, and Ross Spano’s reputation is already hopelessly cheapened.

It started benignly enough with late campaign finance reports, escalated to potential illegal campaign donations and now seems to be entering an inappropriate staffing juncture.

The revelations are coming so routinely that they are threatening to obscure the one thing that voters should care about most:

He cheated.

All of the accusations and details are important-- and need to be investigated by the appropriate authorities-- but the bottom line is Spano broke some pretty important rules to win a congressional seat.

It doesn’t matter if it was unintentional. It doesn’t matter if it fails to rise to a criminal level. It doesn’t matter if he was the favorite anyway.

This Hillsborough County politician won an election unfairly, and that reality cannot be ignored.

Thus, he needs resign. Before he even takes office.

Really, it shouldn’t even be a debate. The evidence is clear enough that Spano himself has acknowledged potential misdeeds, although he claims it is a case of ignorance more than malfeasance.

Setting aside the ramifications of that defense-- the man is an attorney who has served three terms in the state House of Representatives, and he doesn’t understand basic campaign financing laws?-- it still does not change the fact that his victory is irrevocably tainted.

Think about it this way:

What if you accidentally filed false tax returns? Do you think the IRS would accept “oops’’ as a defense? Even if you weren’t charged with a crime, I’m pretty sure the feds would want their money back.

What if you were an athlete who accidentally took performance-enhancing drugs? Do you suppose the International Olympic Committee would be okay with you keeping that gold medal?

Well, those same standards should apply in an election.

In other words, voters should get their ballots back.

In this case, Spano acknowledged he may have (i.e. probably) accepted loans from friends and then used that money in his campaign, which is specifically forbidden because it would be a simple way to get around individual donation limits. When it was first pointed out to Spano, he suggested the money might have been legally donated by his wife. That excuse didn’t hold up very long.

We’re not talking a few hundred, or even a few thousand, dollars. The amount of loans and donations, first discovered by Tampa Bay Times correspondent William March, was in the six figures.

As if Spano were trying to create a template as to why these shady transactions are illegal, he apparently allowed one of the people who loaned him money to later fire his campaign treasurer and be part of the hiring process for his congressional staff, according to a recent Politico report.

So you have a politician who conveniently failed to file campaign reports on time, conveniently suggested his wife gave him this mysterious money, conveniently got rid of his campaign treasurer and, when all else failed, conveniently suggested personal loans might have been used, quite innocently if illegally, for his campaign.

By this point, whether you believe Spano’s many explanations is irrelevant.

The harm has been done and the only solution is Spano’s departure and a special election for his not-even-warm congressional seat.

The first Democrat to represent Polk County in recent times was Alan Grayson. I wonder if there's any way to talk him into running for the seat. He'd be a hell of a lot better than either Spano or Carlson.

Maine Democrats Don't Need More Crooks Like Lucas St. Clair And His Family Messing Up Politics

Jared Golden was endorsed by Maine's AFL-CIO today, not by rich friends of mommy

Today, Maine's AFL-CIO announced ttheir endorsement of Jared Golden in the Democratic primary. Speakers included Cynthia Phinney, Maine AFL-CIO President, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Ron Green of the Professional Fire Fighters of Maine, Patrick Carleton, a Chesterville papermaker and member of the United Steelworkers, and Julie Eaton, a Stonington lobsterman and member of the Machinists union-- and, of course Jared Golden, a veteran and member of working class who isn't cowed by rich snobs who inherit their parents' money.

Golden's opponent, Wall Street puppet Bruce Poliquin, a rubber stamp for Trump and Ryan, is one of the GOP's most vulnerable incumbents but before Golden can take him on, he has to get through a primary that includes a multimillionaire who's the heir to the Burt's Bees fortune, Lucas St. Clair. St. Clair's most recent e-mail starts by saying "You deserve a member of Congress who listens to you, not corporate special interests and the wealthy elite, not mentioning that special interests and the wealthy elite is precisely who is financing his campaign. In fact, Maine Public Radio had pointed out that he's not even in Congress yet and he's already cheating and breaking campaign finance laws in the same way rich Republicans do. "A new, secretive group appears to be attempting to tilt the three-way Democratic contest in favor of one of the candidates-- Lucas St. Clair," Public Radio explained this week.

St. Clair's campaign has said it has nothing to do with the TV spots blanketing the airwaves. But there are signs that the group behind the ads has close ties to St. Clair and his mother, Burt’s Bees Inc. co-founder Roxanne Quimby.

Campaign ads that make a case for a candidate are paid for by the their campaigns, and if you want to see who's funding those campaigns, you can.

But that's not the case with a new group called the Maine Outdoor Alliance, a nonprofit organization that sprung up in late March. The group is now running ads about saving the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument from the Trump administration-- an issue that has been largely settled since December, when Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the monument is likely safe from changes by the federal government.

Nonetheless, the ads provide a number to call Zinke, so viewers can tell him to leave the monument alone. The number goes to the general number for the Department of Interior-- a bureaucracy of over 70,000 employees.

But contacting Zinke probably is not the main purpose of the ads. They focus heavily on the congressional candidate who is often credited with making the national monument a reality.

Testimonials like that are pretty standard in candidate ads, and they would make perfect sense in a campaign spot for St. Clair, one of three Democrats in the primary for the 2nd Congressional District seat.

But the Maine Outdoor Alliance does not explicitly say in the ad that it supports St. Clair's candidacy. It is incorporated as a nonprofit and its ads are classified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as issue based-- a pair of designations increasingly used by so-called ‘dark money groups’ that attempt to influence voters, but whose donors can remain secret.

Dan Corcoran, a forester who appears in one of the ads, said he cannot remember the names of the people from Maine Outdoor Alliance who contacted him.

"It was not my understanding that it was a campaign ad,” Corcoran said. “It was to identify and build support for the national monument.”

Corcoran also said that he is not entirely sure who Maine Outdoor Alliance is, which puts him in the same position as the rest of the public.

So far, the Maine Outdoor Alliance isn't responding to requests for comment.

But publicly available information offers some clues about who is running the organization. According to articles of incorporation papers filed with the Secretary of State, Nathan Deyesso is the incorporator for Maine Outdoor Alliance.

Deyesso runs a business in Scarborough and, according to a 2008 copy of Gould Academy's alumni magazine, he was St. Clair's best man at his wedding.

Deyesso did not respond to requests for comment.

Nor did Barrett Kaiser, a Montana-based political consultant linked to the agency that FCC documents show purchased the Maine Outdoor Alliance ads. Kaiser was hired by Burt’s Bees Inc. co-founder Roxanne Quimby to lead the monument campaign.

Quimby is St. Clair's mother. She did not respond to requests for comment.

"You know, I don't think there's any question that the people who are doing this are supporters of Lucas and the effort he put it in to creating the national monument," said David Farmer, a spokesperson for St. Clair’s campaign.

"We don't know who's doing this," he said.

Farmer said the campaign is not affiliated with the Maine Outdoor Alliance.

"We have not talked with them, we have not coordinated with them in any way. And we were unaware of the ads until we saw it like everyone else," Farmer said.

Farmer also said that these kinds of ads are the reality of the campaign finance laws that many Democratic candidates say are broken. Among them is St. Clair, who addressed the explosion of spending and dark money groups during a candidate forum held in January.

"You know I think that Citizens United and money in politics has been the ultimate corruption of our democracy in our lifetime," he said.

Farmer was asked if St. Clair planned to denounce the dark money ads running on his behalf.

"Yeah, we would prefer that it be a straight contest," Farmer said.

It does not look like Maine Outdoor Alliance will let that happen, though. The group just increased its television ad buy to over $300,000 for the first half of May.

Golden has taken this lying down. His campaign issued a statement: "There is a problem in this Democratic Primary. And that problem is easy to define: Secretive donors are spending unlimited amounts of money to influence this election.Last week, a mysterious Portland-based organization, the Maine Outdoor Alliance, spent more than $300,000 dollars to run television and digital ads. The source of their money is unknown, their donors are secret, but their intentions are clear. They want to buy this nomination for my opponent, Lucas St. Clair. As we enter the final month of this primary race, I expect to see more of this type of money enter this race. However, I’m holding our campaign to a higher standard-- I’m not taking any of it.

"The Maine Outdoor Alliance was clearly created to buy influence in this primary, and to do so without any accountability. But here’s the real problem. Lucas St. Clair’s campaign has said, and I quote: 'We don’t know who’s doing this.' That simple statement doesn’t pass the straight face test… As you’ve seen and heard reported by the Bangor Daily News and Maine Public Broadcasting, the Maine Outdoor Alliance is run by the best man from Lucas’s wedding. And the political consultant who helped procure these television ads has a long history of working with Lucas St. Clair and his family.

"I am calling on all Democrats in Maine, and across the country. Put your cards on the table, reveal all of your donors, and reject shady outside organizations like the Maine Outdoor Alliance who hide information on who’s trying to buy elections from voters. This is how Democrats bring about real change: by holding ourselves and our own campaign finance practices accountable to the higher standards that we are fighting for. Because here’s the bottom line-- and it’s an important lesson I learned in the Marines. As leaders, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard. Just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should. Just because we can do something, doesn’t make it right."

If you'd like to help Jared combat St. Clair and his friends and family from stealing the nomination, please consider clicking on the Blue America congressional thermometer on the right and chipping in what you can. Poliquin will make mincemeat of someone like St. Clair. This is a seat the Democrats can take back... as long as they have the right Democrat running.

Using Campaign Cash Like A Personal Piggy Bank

Can you smoke cigars in prison? Duncan Hunter may soon find out

On Thursday a federal jury in Houston ruled that Steve Stockman, a far right-wing Republican, is guilty of 23 felonies, having defrauded two conservative mega-donors and funneling their $1.25 million into personal and campaign expenses as part of what prosecutors have described as a "white collar crime spree." The lunatic fringe Stockman is now at risk of having to serve decades in prison. The prosector Ryan Patrick, son of Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, described Stockman, who was taken to prison immediately after the guilty verdict was read, as a flight risk.

Another of the many ways crooked congressmembers can steal campaign funds is to retire. Once they retire they can "hire"-- at a substantial salary-- a wife or a son or a parent to "administer" the left over campaign money. On Monday, Ken Doyle, writing for Bloomberg reported that Ex-Candidates May Face Restrictions on Campaign Cash. He started with two of Illinois' finest-- Jesse Jackson, Jr, who went to prison, and Aaron Schock, who's still in a long drawn out trial-- who used campaign war chests as personal piggy banks. Duncan Hunter, Jr (R-CA) is likely to go to prison for the same thing.

The Federal Election Commission is being asked to write new rules to draw a clear, bright line so ex-candidates can easily figure out how they’re allowed to spend their backers’ campaign donations.

...The FEC has asked for public comments on a petition filed by the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, which seeks new restrictions on use of campaign money by anyone no longer running for election. There’s a “disturbing trend of lawmakers leaving office with sizeable campaign chests, and then using those leftover campaign funds in ways that appear to constitute personal use,” the group wrote.

The FEC will decide after the May 21 comment deadline whether to issue guidelines or write a new rule, spokesman Christian Hilland told Bloomberg Government in an email.

The Tampa Bay Times has found almost 100 “zombie” congressional election committees that are still spending money even though there’s been no campaign for many years. Some of the zombie committees merely contributed leftover cash to other candidates, as the law allows. Others spent money on salaries, meals, travel, rent, phone bills and other expenses not clearly related to any campaign.

In addition to campaign expenses, current lawmakers are allowed to use campaign money to cover certain costs related to carrying out duties as “a holder of federal office.”

A new class of retirees soon will have to learn to live without being able to tap campaign accounts for some expenses.

A Bloomberg Government review found that 35 current lawmakers who’ve announced they aren’t running for re-election had almost $38.6 million in their campaign accounts at the end of 2017, according to the most recent FEC disclosure reports.

The biggest war chest for a retiring lawmaker is more than $6.2 million held by the campaign of Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN). His campaign committee is still flush even after refunding more than $1.2 million in contributions last year, according to a year-end disclosure report filed with the FEC.

Here are the dozen members not running for reelection with the biggest nest eggs right now:

• Bob Corker (R-TN) $6,234,997
• Orrin Hatch (R-UT)- $4,980,936
• Ed Royce (R-CA) $3,678,625
• Pat Meehan (R-PA) $2,340,502
• Ted Poe (R-TX) $2,054313
• Elizabeth Esty (New Dem-CT) $1,437,905
• Jeff Flake (R-AZ) $1,406,775
• Trey Gowdy (R-SC) $1,364,419
• Ryan Costello (R-PA) $1,364,121
• Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)- $1,166,676
• Gene Green (R-TX) $1,131,194
• Darrell Issa (R-CA) $1,052,398

Note that each of them is a conservative-- what a coincidence!

Corker’s congressional office didn’t respond to a request for comment on what he plans to do with his leftover campaign money. Corker could hold money in his committee account for a future campaign, give it to other candidates or donate to charities.

Ex-candidates also can give unlimited amounts to a national committee of the Democratic or Republican party, though few retiring lawmakers appear to be doing so, a Bloomberg Government review of FEC reports found.

Another option is that a retiring lawmaker’s campaign committee can be converted to political action committee. A PAC can collect additional contributions to be used to help other candidates, but personal use restrictions would still apply under a series of FEC advisory opinions, according to commission spokesman Hilland. Campaign money given to a charity also can’t be used to pay a candidate or candidate’s family.

One retiring lawmaker, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), recently converted her campaign committee to a PAC called South Florida First. That PAC then transferred more than $177,000 to a “leadership PAC” linked to Ros-Lehtenin, called IRL PAC, which was set up almost 20 years ago. The move was allowed by the FEC under a provision allowing transfers between “affiliated committees,” Hilland said, though he noted that contributions received by affiliated committees are subject to the same contribution limits.

According to its most recent disclosure report, Ros-Lehtinen’s IRL PAC had just over $8,000 in cash last October, when it received an infusion of $177,445 from South Florida First, the congresswoman’s converted campaign committee. Afterward, the leadership PAC contributed $16,000 to other Republican candidates but also spent more than $23,000 on “operating expenditures” including hotels, meals and tickets to Disney World.

Ros-Lehtenin’s congressional office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) asked the FEC in 2015 whether he could use of hundreds of thousands of dollars in leftover campaign money for “substantial post-retirement obligations arising from his 34-year tenure as a federal officeholder and, in particular his twelve years as Democratic Leader.” Unlike House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who was retiring around the same time, Reid had no provision for special government funds to run an office and hire staff, the request noted.

The FEC effectively rejected the request. Two commissioners holding Democratic FEC seats-- Steven Walther and Ellen Weintraub-- recused themselves from voting, and a third FEC Democrat, Ann Ravel, said she would support Reid’s request. Republican commissioners Lee Goodman and Caroline Hunter repeatedly questioned whether granting the request would set a precedent giving all former members of Congress wide latitude to ignore legal restrictions on personal use of campaign money in retirement.

The request was withdrawn prior to a final commission vote.

Campaign Legal Center attorney Brendan Fischer said he expects this petition to result in action because Republican and Democratic FEC commissioners generally have taken a strict view of permissible uses of campaign money, especially for retiring lawmakers.

The Jackson and Schock cases stand out because there have been so few criminal prosecutions for campaign finance violations.

After 17 years in Congress, Jackson spent most of the following two years in prison and a halfway house. He pleaded guilty to skimming $750,000 from his campaign committee to pay for such items as a memorabilia collection.

Schock was a rising Republican star until he drew attention by decorating his congressional office like the PBS television show Downton Abbey. The charges he’s fighting involve the personal use of campaign and official accounts.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) last year repaid tens of thousands of dollars to his campaign committee for family vacation and other expenses. Hunter is the subject of Ethics Committee and Justice Department investigations.

Last year, a civil enforcement case pursued for years by the FEC resulted in a court-ordered $30,000 in penalties levied against Christine O’Donnell, a former Republican Senate candidate from Delaware, for using campaign funds to pay her apartment rent. U.S. District Judge Leonard P. Stark rejected arguments that restrictions on personal use of campaign funds are unconstitutional because campaign spending is equivalent to free speech and protected by the First Amendment.

The Campaign Legal Center has filed an FEC complaint against the campaign committee of Mark Takai (D-HI), which reported that it continued to pay almost $6,000 per month to a consulting firm headed by campaign treasurer Dylan Beesley for 18 months after Takai died of cancer.

The group also has filed a complaint against the campaign committee of former Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), which reported expenditures for cell phone bills, lobbying-related expenses, and payments to his wife for five years after leaving office.

The new FEC rulemaking petition proposes strict limits on what people who are no longer running for office can do with excess campaign cash. “It is very difficult to see how cell phone bills, office rent, travel expenses, or club dues are expenditures 'in connection with the campaign for Federal office' if a person is no longer a candidate,” according to the petition.

Will Duncan Hunter Be On Trial Before Or After The Midterms?

Young Duncan Hunter was elected because most of the voters in the district thought he was his father, also Duncan Hunter, who resigned rather than go to prison with his crony and partner-in-crime Duke Cunningham. Hunter Senior, I wrote in 2005, had a hand in virtually every military scandal involving large sums of money that had gone down over the past 2 decades. He was a key participant in getting Air Force funds questionably diverted to his campaign contributor, Boeing (the bi-product of which was the disgrace and resignation of Air Force Secretary Jim Roche). Cunningham went to prison; Hunter and Jerry Lewis, a sleaze-bag Republican from a neighboring district, were allowed to retire. Now the folks who live in Temecula, Escondido and in the desert and mountains east of San Diego are stuck with Hunter, Junior, who learned his criminal behavior on his pappy's knee. Rachel Bade and John Bresnahan discerned what they could about the FBI investigation of the larcenous right-wing congressman.

The criminal investigation into Rep. Duncan Hunter is intensifying as a grand jury in San Diego questions multiple former aides about whether the California Republican improperly diverted political funds for personal use.

Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed Hunter’s parents, as well as a female lobbyist with whom many people close to the congressman believe he had a romantic relationship, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation.

The Justice Department is trying to determine whether hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hunter’s campaign account were spent improperly on his family and friends. Hunter already sold his home to pay back what even he now acknowledges were improper charges, moving his wife and kids in with his parents while he mostly lives in his Capitol Hill office.

...Three people with knowledge of the probe told Politico that Hunter's wife, Margaret, who acted as his campaign manager, is at the center of the FBI inquiry. Many of the alleged campaign charges in question-- including tuition payments for their children’s schooling and dozens of restaurant meals where no donor appeared to be present-- were made by Margaret Hunter, those people said.

But Hunter is also under intense scrutiny by the FBI and federal prosecutors. Federal agents have questioned his former staffers about whether thousands of dollars spent at Washington restaurants were legitimate campaign expenditures. They’ve also inquired about his relationships with several women in Washington, including one who worked in his office.

“He’s enjoyed his time in Washington-- probably a little too much,” said one House Republican lawmaker who has known Hunter for years but wants him to retire in order to protect the seat. “His wife supposedly had the campaign credit card, but that’s not an excuse. You can’t just blame your wife.”

...Hunter has developed a reputation on Capitol Hill for drinking heavily and carousing, according to multiple lawmakers and staffers who have witnessed his behavior over the past several years.

Former staffers to Hunter said he and his lawmaker friends-- dubbed the "bros caucus” by his aides-- would regularly go to the Capitol Hill Club, a Republican hangout, to drink beer, sometimes during the day. Congressional aides have recounted to Politico at least two stories of recent official meetings where lawmakers questioned whether Hunter was intoxicated.

In one December huddle between Republicans on the Armed Services Committee and GOP leaders, Hunter raised his voice at Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), accusing the Republican leader of undercutting the military with an irresponsible funding strategy. According to people who were present or heard about it afterward, members noticed his bloodshot eyes and speech and questioned whether Hunter was under the influence.

One Republican lawmaker said in an interview that he spoke to Hunter about his drinking habits and urged him to get evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder. Former aides to Hunter said other lawmakers approached Hunter on the same grounds.

...While Hunter was in Washington, Margaret Hunter was in San Diego taking care of their three children. She allegedly grew reckless in using the campaign credit card for personal use, according to sources familiar with the workings of the Hunter campaign. The Hunters’ most recent financial disclosure report, from May, lists no assets and between $60,000 and $115,000 of debt.

Margaret Hunter’s trips to shopping malls, surf shops and fast food restaurants are among the transactions the FBI is examining, according to sources close to the investigation. The Hunters repaid the campaign more than $60,000 in improper campaign charges, but federal prosecutors are interested in tens of thousands of additional charges, according to several sources and a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Hunter has run up huge legal bills as he tries to avoid a criminal indictment. FEC records show his campaign paid more than $535,000 last year to at least a half-dozen law firms to represent him and his staff in both Washington and California. Lawmakers are allowed to use campaign contributions to cover legal expenses.

The negative publicity surrounding the criminal investigation also has had an effect on Hunter's fundraising. In the last quarter of 2017, Hunter spent nearly $179,000 on legal fees, while raising less than a third of that total, roughly $51,000.

If Republican leaders are going to press Hunter to step down, they need to do it soon. California’s filing deadline is March 9. Hunter’s district is solidly Republican, but his legal troubles could make the race competitive in a Democratic wave election.

“There are some people who want” Hunter gone, said one senior Republican lawmaker. “That’s a fact. ... People don’t want to see any more baggage.”

...Hunter’s personal problems in Washington started early. While Hunter Sr. rarely drank and was careful never to be seen alone with another woman, Hunter was more carefree, said sources close to him.

At one point, then-Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) warned Hunter and his friends to cut it out and stay away from female lobbyists they’d frequently dine with at night. Hunter's father also called staff and members to check in on his son, said sources who know both men. (Hunter Sr. disputed this account, saying he’s never worried about his son’s drinking habits.)

The drama only increased when Hunter’s longtime chief of staff, Vicki Middleton, left the office in late 2014. Middleton, a “second mother” to Hunter in the words of one former aide, had worked for his father for years. And Hunter’s staff said he mostly behaved well in her presence.

Around that time, Hunter hired a young woman whom investigators have inquired about during their probe, sources familiar with the questioning said. Hunter promoted her from intern to full-time, a decision that perplexed staffers who said she frequently failed to show up for work and was hostile to co-workers.

Former staffers to Hunter said the atmosphere grew toxic because of the woman, who would text with Hunter and sometimes accompany him to the Capitol Hill Club. Multiple aides complained about her attire, saying it was inappropriate for a work environment. Two aides kept a tally of how many days of work she had missed. The woman would also show up uninvited at Hunter’s campaign events, including one in San Diego.

Despite mounting concerns within his office, however, Hunter refused to fire her. The nature of the relationship caused some of his staffers to question Hunter’s judgment.

At the same time, on the other side of the country, Margaret Hunter started using the campaign credit card liberally, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation. In the spring of 2016, Hunter's staffers began to take a closer look at their campaign finances after a series of news reports about questionable charges, such as $1,300 in video game charges that appeared on Hunter's FEC report.

Multiple stories by California newspapers would later detail money spent on oral surgery, jewelry from Italy and, most memorably, $600 to fly a pet rabbit across the country. After further scrutiny, Hunter aides realized that was only the beginning.

Hunter in early 2016 brought in an outside law firm to do an independent audit going back to the date that Margaret Hunter received her campaign credit card. Hunter was expecting that the audit would turn up $20,000 in campaign expenses he would have to repay and was shocked when the firm found more than $60,000, according to one former aide. He told close associates it was his wife’s fault.

The FBI started inquiring about campaign transactions going back more than five years. Part of the investigation centers on possible falsification of FEC reports, including whether information was intentionally entered incorrectly to cover up purchases. Law enforcement is also looking at credit card fraud, since the campaign disputed the video game charges with the credit card company; investigators want to verify that the charges were indeed made in error.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation said Margaret Hunter didn’t keep many receipts because FEC reports don’t require that practice. So prosecutors have attempted to obtain the records from businesses, as first reported by the Union-Tribune.

Also under the microscope are campaign funds spent at myriad trips to grocery stores, shopping malls and stores like Pier 1 and Barnes & Noble. Investigators are trying to verify that money was actually used on campaign items. Also under scrutiny are numerous charges at fast food restaurants.

Law enforcement officials have also asked whether Hunter tried to configure his internal audit so that he could afford the amount he would have to pay back, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.

Can the drunken, randy and sticky-fingered Hunter be beaten in November? Bade and Bresnahan wrote that "some Republicans are urging GOP leaders to force him to retire, worried that his troubles could cost the party another seat in its uphill effort to maintain the House majority." Issa, on the run from Doug Applegate, in the nearby 49th district, announced his own retirement, but has made it known that if Hunter doesn't run, he'll move east and run there. Trump beat Hillary 54.6-39.6% in the district, which has a PVI of R+11, the second reddest in the state (tied with Doug LaMalfa's) and slightly worse than Kevin McCarthy's.

Hunter, who has raised $454,806 and has just $290,904 cash on hand, has a Republican primary opponent, Shamus Sayed, who has raised $185,539 (mostly from self-funding). Hunter also has half a dozen Democrats vying for the seat including two well-funded contestants, Ammar Campa-Najjar, who has raised $504,928 and Josh Butner, who has raised $421,385. Each has about the same amount as Hunter does in his war-chest. Ammar Campa-Najjar is the progressive in the race and is leading Butner in every metric except the DCCC metric. The DCCC seems to see him as the more garden variety Democrat and leans in his direction.