America Coming Together, the leftist group bankrolled by George Soros and other wealthy Democratic donors, has been fined for violating campaign finance laws, Kenneth P. Vogel reports for The Politico:
The Federal Election Commission has fined one of the last cycle's biggest liberal political action committees $775,000 for using unregulated soft money to boost John Kerry and other Democratic candidates during the 2004 elections.America Coming Together (ACT) raised $137 million for its get-out-the-vote effort in 2004, but the FEC found most of that cash came through contributions that violated federal limits.
The group's big donors included George Soros, Progressive Corp. chairman Peter Lewis and the Service Employees International Union.
Read the whole story at the link above. The obvious reaction is, "So what?"
ACT shut down its operations after the 2004 election, so presumably there is no money to actually pay the fine. All this does is underline both the ineffectiveness of the FEC as an enforcer of campaign finance laws (since its investigations never conclude until years after the elections affected by the illegal funds) and the fact that "Campaign Finance Reform" was a total sham.
Soros may be the only man in history to have become a billionaire without creating any new wealth, since the bulk of his money was made in currency speculation. He also made substantial money from his holdings in the shadowy banking industry of the Cayman Islands, so that may have involved some wealth creation - OR it could just have been money laundering for drug dealers. The secretive banks aren't saying.
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Filed under:
Campaign Contributions
Tags: campaign finance, Federal Election Commission, Soros
Comments (3)
This can be stopped. Fine ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by kim | August 30, 2007 7:33 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
This can be stopped. Fine the donors as well as the organization.
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1. Posted by kim | August 30, 2007 7:33 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on August 30, 2007 07:33
2. Posted by Oyster | August 30, 2007 8:13 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
It would take just as long to prove individual donors were complicit. Again, the election is over and the damage done.
2. Posted by Oyster | August 30, 2007 8:13 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on August 30, 2007 08:13
3. Posted by kim | August 30, 2007 9:11 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Yes, O, but if the law were there pre-emptively it would stop this nonsense. I'm sure there is a better way, though.
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3. Posted by kim | August 30, 2007 9:11 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on August 30, 2007 09:11