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1. Drop out of college.
2. Rack up multiple DUI convictions.
3. Get your dad to give the Wisconsin governor $121K.
4. Jackpot!
(Source)
Rep. Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann has so far this year raised more money for her 2012 presidential campaign than any other prospective candidate.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., raised a combined total of $2.2 million in the first quarter of 2011, outgaining presumed presidential contender Mitt Romney who raised $1.9 million over the same period. Bachmann's political action committee, MichelePAC, raised $500,000 while her Congressional reelection fund took in $1.7 million. The funds raised for her Congressional reelection could be transferred to any federal campaign, including one for president.The above-linked article notes that most of Bachmann's war chest has come in "small amounts from many individuals" rather than from major donors.
Tomorrow morning anti-gay New York state Sen. Carl Kruger will surrender to federal authorities on charges that he accepted campaign donations in return for favors doled out to powerful businessmen. Kruger was one of the eight traitorous Senate Democrats who voted against same-sex marriage in 2009.
Mr. Kruger headed the powerful Senate Finance Committee until Democrats lost control of the chamber last year, a position from which he amassed the Senate’s largest campaign war chest. One of Mr. Kruger’s campaign donors, Michael Levitis, who is suspected of serving as an intermediary between the senator and those seeking favors, pleaded guilty this month of lying to federal investigators in the Brooklyn case. Mr. Kruger is set to join an ever-lengthening parade of New York State lawmakers from both parties who have been indicted, convicted, or pleaded guilty to criminal offenses in the last decade, many of them relating to illegally soliciting or receiving money from individuals seeking help with state business.In 2008 Kruger was part of the infamous "Gang Of Three" Democrats that engineered a coup in the state Senate, installing Sen. Pedro Espada as Majority Leader. Espada lost his seat in the 2010 primary and is himself under investigation by federal and state authorities for ripping off over $14M from the public health clinic he founded. The last of the Gang Of Three, former Sen. Hiram "Slasher" Monserrate, was indicted last October on federal charges of mail fraud and corruption. Monserrate was expelled from the Senate in early 2010 over a scandal in which he slashed the face of his girlfriend with a broken glass. He subsequently lost a bid for the state Assembly.
Let's hope ALL of the Gang Of Three end up in prison.
RELATED: In December 2009 gay activists picketed Kruger's Brooklyn home, declaring that he was a known self-loathing closet case who only voted against same-sex marriage to shield his own homosexuality.
As we expected, NOM is refusing to comply with last week's ruling by a federal judge that it must disclose the names of the people who funded its successful campaign to repeal same-sex marriage in Maine. Today they kicked their appeal upstairs to the First Circuit Court, their last stop before SCOTUS.
Lawyers for the National Organization for Marriage filed their notice of appeal with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, which already is considering another constitutional challenge of Maine's campaign finance law by the Virginia-based organization. The National Organization for Marriage, or NOM, sued after the state ethics commission found that it could be required to disclose the identities of its donors. Last month, U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby granted a summary judgment upholding Maine's campaign disclosure laws as they pertain to ballot committees. Maine law says groups that raise or spend more than $5,000 to influence elections must register with the state and disclose their donors. NOM donated $1.9 million to Stand for Marriage Maine, a political action committee that helped repeal Maine's same sex marriage law.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of a Washington state anti-assisted suicide group that has refused to disclose the names of its donors. Last week NOM lost a similar battle to cloak its donors in Maine and some have expected them to take their appeal to SCOTUS.
The court on Tuesday let stand without comment a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the state's disclosure requirements. Human Life of Washington challenged the requirements as a violation of the First Amendment. The group didn't want to reveal its donors in a 2008 campaign opposing an assisted suicide ballot measure. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the disclosure requirements "have become an important part of our First Amendment tradition."Wanna bet NOM still doesn't comply in Maine?
A federal judge ruled yesterday that Maine's campaign finance disclosure law is constitutional, rejecting NOM's long-running battle to hide the names of its donors.
The challenge was brought by the National Organization for Marriage, which spent $1.9 million dollars in a successful campaign to overturn Maine's same-sex marriage law in 2009. The Ethics Commission had determined that NOM was required to disclose the identities of its donors, but the group refused, and filed suit on grounds that Maine's requirements were unconstitutional on a number of fronts. NOM argued, for example, that Maine's law was vague, that it wrongly treats ballot question committees the same as political action committees, and that its requirement for such entities to disclose all contibutors giving over $100 dollars is overly burdensome. The 22-page decision from U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby, rejects all of these arguments, and simply concludes that Maine's dicslosure law is constitutional. Attorneys for the National Orgnization for Marriage could not be reached for comment by airtime.NOM has repeatedly lost this fight and just goes on to appeal to the next higher court. Will they ignore this ruling too and try to push this to SCOTUS? Not a word about yesterday's loss on their blog.
Maine is back in court again in their now years-long battle to get NOM to comply with state campaign finance law and release the names of their donors.
The National Organization for Marriage says that identifying donors would violate their First Amendment rights and deter future donors. Lawyers for each side presented arguments Wednesday in Kennebec County Superior Court to a judge who said she will provide a ruling in writing. Assistant Attorney General Phyllis Gardiner told the judge that the ethics commission wants to question donors. "What did they understand they were asked to contribute money for?" Gardiner said. The answers would help the commission determine whether the National Organization for Marriage should have registered with the state as a ballot question committee. State law says groups that raise or spend more than $5,000 to attempt to influence the outcome of any Maine election must register and disclose their donors.NOM has offered the provide the amounts, but not the names of the donors. Why isn't Brian Brown in jail for contempt of court?
Former GOP House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been sentenced to three years in prison for funneling corporate money to Republican candidates.
The sentence comes after a jury in November convicted DeLay on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. DeLay was once one of the most powerful men in U.S. politics, ascending to the No. 2 job in the House of Representatives. Senior Judge Pat Priest sentenced him to the three-year term on the conspiracy charge. He also sentenced him to five years in prison on the money laundering charge but allowed DeLay to accept 10 years of probation instead of more prison time.DeLay is appealing the conviction.
