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Islamic leaders tied by federal investigators to the radical Muslim Brotherhood in America – including one under active investigation for alleged terror-financing – have recently donated to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for president, according to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by WND. Jamal M. Barzinji earlier this year gave Obama $1,000, a gift that records show has not been returned. Other Democratic candidates, including Rep. Jim Moran, have refunded donations from Barzinji since federal agents raided his Virginia home and offices in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Obama's top Muslim adviser resigned earlier this month over controversy surrounding his...

Free to Blog It isn't every Tuesday that DailyKos and the Heritage Foundation find common cause, but that was the case after a Federal Election Commission ruling last week that exempts political bloggers from rules governing political organizations. The decision, great news for bloggers, also highlights the proliferation of chronic whiners that the campaign finance laws have produced. Politicians and their allies increasingly are resorting to lawsuits and regulatory complaints in an attempt to silence opponents and critics. In this case, the whining was done by a Hillary Clinton supporter who complained that a pro-Obama blog called Iowa True Blue...

When Democrats gather in Denver, Colorado, and Republicans in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, for their political conventions this summer, they'll be taking along with them a big gift from federal taxpayers. Democrats will be holding their convention in Denver, Colorado, at the Pepsi Center. 1 of 2 The Federal Elections Commission has announced that each convention will receive $17 million in taxpayer funds, money approved by Congress as part of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund.

WASHINGTON -- Dividing along partisan lines, the Federal Election Commission couldn't agree Thursday on whether Sen. David Vitter, R-La., can use campaign money to pay all the legal costs related to his involvement in a Washington escort service scandal. In a 3-3 vote, with all three Republicans voting yes and all three Democrats no, the commission deadlocked on whether Vitter could use campaign money to pay more than $160,000 in legal fees accrued in monitoring the federal criminal case against Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called "D.C. Madam, " and quashing her defense team's subpoenas of the senator. A majority vote...

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat's campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports. An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. -- a subsidiary of ACORN -- worked in "get-out-the-vote" projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat's campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports. An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. -- a subsidiary of ACORN -- worked in "get-out-the-vote" projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary.

"...E-voting systems have to be completely redesigned with security in mind, McDaniel says. In the short term, this means adding more thorough vote-auditing capabilities so that discrepancies can be investigated. "The elections systems should have the same quality, the same reliability, the same testing and the same certification requirements as financial systems," he says. "If the systems used by banks, which have to report to the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission], had this level of quality, no one would put their money in the bank."..."

In 2000, FEC investigators descended on Muleshoe, Texas, a small farming town of just under 5,000 inhabitants west of Lubbock. They were looking into a complaint filed against local citizens who made the horrible mistake of putting up competing signs alternately supporting Al Gore or George Bush. This political rivalry started when Harvey Bass, the owner of the local furniture store, took an empty refrigerator box, painted “Save Our Nation, Vote Democrat, Al Gore for President” on the side, and placed the box on the porch of his store. Two other local citizens, Bill Liles and Mark Morton, got tired...

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain won a round against Democrats on Thursday when the Federal Election Commission rejected their contention that he violated campaign finance laws during the GOP primary.

WASHINGTON - John Edwards' political action committee paid his mistress $14,000 after she stopped working for it to obtain 100 hours of unused videotape she had shot for his unsuccessful presidential campaign, an associate told The Associated Press on Thursday. The woman, Rielle Hunter, already had been paid $100,000 for the programs. The explanation — which Edwards' advisers declined to discuss on the record — is the first effort to justify the payment in April 2007 to Hunter. That payment came months before Edwards' chief fundraiser quietly began sending money himself to the pregnant woman. Edwards last week acknowledged he...

Encouraged by the U.S. Supreme Court, conservatives are launching a wholesale legal assault on campaign finance laws. And among the leaders is a man once charged with enforcing those laws: former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith. His goals are big. He doesn’t want to just scale back the laws; he wants to pretty much wipe them out. “Are we better off with McCain-Feingold?” Smith asks. If it were overturned, he adds, “that would put us in a system that existed before Jack Abramoff, William Jefferson, Bob Ney, Mark Foley and Ted Stevens. Those scandals happened during the McCain-Feingold era.”...

Bloggers and web site operators may support, oppose, link to, and work cooperatively with federal political candidates. This freedom was reaffirmed when the newly re-constituted Federal Election Commission released its first two enforcement cases August 12. The Commission’s refusal to regulate blogging and internet sites is not new, but it is notable is that the pro-blogger decision was made within a week or two of the new Commission taking office. Of the scores of items on its docket, the new Commission chose to address this one first: quite likely because they wanted to send a signal to that bloggers are...

More obfuscation and Chicago style three card monty. No mention of the jihad donations from Gaza, or gibberish donors etc. . “As part of a continuous review the Committee researches and reviews for any errors, then subsequently updates to make the necessary corrections. The Committee is constantly reviewing the contributor’s information in order to rectify any potential data entry errors.”

In digging deeper into the illegal foreign campaign contributions from Palestinians, Cathy came across these FEC letters. Obama knew these contributions were illegal and "Palestinian". He didn't report them. He took a page from his days as a "commnity organizer" for the most corrupt political machine in America. It's what they do. Bringing the worst in American politics to the national level. It seems the FEC actually did their job. But the chosen One-bama is special and above the law....... he is a citizen of the world.

I just found $399,323,24 in fishy donations from overseas. Searched for “NA” as State, and voila, 760 contributions from overseas. I posted on another thread and don't want to list all 760 again... They are all overseas, and knew not to post country code... NONE of the results are for McCain or Clinton. I used the Orlando Sentinal's search page

In a previous post, we were trying to make sense out of "CENTS" in the foreign donation docs. Obama’s campaign donation pages are rife with donations that end in CENT. Thousands of them. Odd numbers all. Cathy and I have gone through thousands and thousands of donations that end in cents (as in dollars and cents) for Obama and there were NONE for McCain. More evidence of foreign contributors, since Americans living overseas would almost uniformly be able to contribute dollars. The donations don’t show up on the FEC search either by individual or by the candidate. If you scroll...

OBAMA FUND RAISING BY STATE, FOREIGN COUNTRY, AND NON-REPORTING SOURCES FEB TO JUL 2008* FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL SOURCE TOTAL NO STATE WAS SUPPLIED $11,901,609 $23,537,915 $16,233,073 $12,048,335 $8,875,133 $21,550,546 $94,146,611 1 $226 $226 60 $200 $100 $100 $200 $600 75 $176 $176 AA $4,318 $5,776 $5,136 $1,900 $601 $3,053 $20,784 AB $5,050 $1,282 $750 $1,650 $8,732 AC -$135 -$135 AE $25,209 $26,666 $11,906 $11,241 $12,963 $20,151 $108,136 AP $5,794 $10,264 $8,529 $6,030 $4,173 $5,975 $40,765 AU $2,300 $2,300 Alabama $67,556 $116,938 $64,360 $54,813 $54,864 $91,707 $450,238 Arkansas $32,380 $58,878 $39,227 $29,425 $23,549 $72,476 $255,934 American Somoa...

HOME CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS AND DATA PRESIDENTIAL REPORTS 2008 JULY MONTHLY REPORT FOR C00431445 CONTRIBUTIONS BY EMPLOYER OBAMA FOR AMERICA       PO Box 8102       Chicago, Illinois   60680 FEC Committee ID #: C00431445 This report contains activity for a Primary Election Report type: July Monthly Filed 07/20/2008 EMPLOYER SUM NO EMPLOYER WAS SUPPLIED   22,680,330.28 'NONE'   1,009.00 'SELF'   550.00 (1) IOWA CITY VA HOSPITAL AND (2) UNIV   50.00 (FORMER) DUNELAND SCHOOL CORPORATION   100.00 (INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR)   100.00 (MT) MEDIA TEMPLE   30.00 (N,P) ENERGY, INC   30.00 (NA)   0.00 (NONE)...

HOMECAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS AND DATAPRESIDENTIAL REPORTS2008 JULY MONTHLYREPORT FOR C00431445CONTRIBUTIONS BY STATE CONTRIBUTIONS BY STATE OBAMA FOR AMERICA       PO Box 8102       Chicago, Illinois   60680 FEC Committee ID #: C00431445 This report contains activity for a Primary Election Report type: July Monthly Filed 07/20/2008 STATE SUM NO STATE WAS SUPPLIED   21,550,546.04 1   225.80 60   200.00 AA   3,053.33 AB   1,650.00 AE   20,150.79 Alaska   48,593.92 Alabama   91,706.80 AP   5,975.03 Arkansas   72,475.67 American Samoa   271.68 Arizona   370,319.96 BC   500.00 California   4,310,929.63 Colorado  ...

As we move toward the general election, the Democratic Party has to be the Party of ordinary Americans, not Washington lobbyists and special interests. We've unilaterally agreed to shut lobbyists out of the process, and are we're relying on people just like you. We have a chance to change the way business is done in this country, and we're taking the lead. Will you join us and make a contribution right now to help us elect Barack Obama?

WASHINGTON (June 25, 2008) – Obama’s decision to use only private donations for his campaign mandates that he be more transparent about his fundraising, the groups wrote. McCain’s continued reliance on private money until his party’s nominating convention also underscores the need for greater disclosure. The eight groups urge the candidates to disclose more complete information about donors to set a high standard of campaign funding transparency for future presidential candidates. Specifically, the groups ask the candidates to divulge on their campaign websites the exact amounts that bundlers raise for their official campaign committees and joint fundraising committees that benefit...

I have been pouring over docs from Obama's foreign contributions and it's rotten. As I pointed out here, there are way too many overseas contributions and I find it hard to believe they are all American citizens. $500,000 came into the campaign via “not employed” people. How does the FEC monitor that?

The committee hosting the Democratic National Convention has used the city's gas pumps to fill up and apparently avoided paying state and federal fuel taxes. The practice, which began four months ago, may have ended hours after its disclosure. An aide to Mayor John Hickenlooper released a statement Tuesday evening saying that Denver 2008 Host Committee members would pay market prices for fuel and would also be liable for all applicable taxes. However, Public Works spokeswoman Christine Downs told City Council members just hours before that host committee members were fueling up at the city pumps. The city does not...

The very first fact every American must reconcile with is the fact that “lobbying” elected representatives, like other forms of prostitution, is as old as the constitutional republic itself. Ever since the moment that our founding colonies ratified these words, “Governments instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and established that we the people were endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, namely “freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” Americans have been using...

Here is the op-ed piece written by Sen. John McCain that the New York Times declined to run. The piece was released to CNN by the McCain campaign: In January 2007, when General David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation "hard" but not "hopeless." Today, 18 months later, violence has fallen by up to 80% to the lowest levels in four years, and Sunni and Shiite terrorists are reeling from a string of defeats. The situation now is full of hope, but considerable hard work remains to consolidate our fragile gains. Progress has been due primarily to...

Recently, prodded by a letter from campaign finance reform groups, and after the New York Times pointed out that the Obama campaign had not updated its bundler list for months, the Web site added a flotilla of names, along with each bundler's city and state. However, the Web site does not provide the bundlers' occupations or employers, although those should be readily available to the campaign from the bundlers' individual contributions.

A watchdog group filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Senate Ethics Committee Wednesday against Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) over a discounted mortgage he received from Northern Trust. Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog group, filed the report after The Washington Post reported that Obama received a discount on a mortgage for a Chicago home valued at $1.65 million. The complaints said the Illinois senator received a loan at the interest rate of 5.625 percent, which Judicial Watch says is lower than the standard rate of between 5.93 and 6 percent indicated by surveys....

The Senate confirmed five new commissioners for the Federal Election Commission last night, ending a six-month impasse during which the agency was paralyzed by its lack of a quorum. "We're finally going to restore the FEC," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said as the chamber prepared for the voice vote. The six-member panel has been unable to consider action this election year because only two commissioners were left after three recess appointments expired in December. Democrats blocked consideration of any replacements over objections to one of President Bush's choices, former Justice Department official Hans von Spakovsky, whom they...

The Democratic National Committee today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in D.C. to compel the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate John McCain's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the FEC's matching funds program despite using the program to financially benefit his campaign -- just one of many McCain campaign improprieties.

WARREN, Mich (Reuters) - Three former chairmen of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday, bolstering the Illinois senator's economic credentials and bipartisan appeal as he closes in on his party's nomination. Former SEC head William Donaldson, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, joined Arthur Levitt and David Ruder in backing Obama, who leads rival Hillary Clinton in the number of delegates necessary to become the Democratic White House nominee. Levitt was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, while Ruder was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, a...

WASHINGTON - President Bush nominated two new Republicans and one new Democrat to the Federal Election Commission Tuesday in an attempt to break a Senate confirmation deadlock that had paralyzed the regulatory agency. Bush resisted efforts to withdraw the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official whom he nominated in 2007 but who had not been able to win votes in the Senate to get confirmed. The White House said the latest compromise would permit a separate vote on von Spakovsky. The stalemate over von Spakovsky had left the six-member FEC without a quorum to conduct business...

McCain Campaign May Have Accepted In-Kind Contribution from Foreign Nationals in Contravention of Federal Election Laws Contact: Press Office 202-646-5188 Washington, D.C. Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it filed a formal complaint, dated April 22, 2008, with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) related to a fundraising luncheon held at London’s Spencer House to benefit Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign. The venue for the event was apparently donated to the campaign by foreign nationals, in violation of federal campaign finance laws. “Recent news reports suggest that Sen. John McCain and John...

When he effectively wrapped up the Republican nomination on Tsunami Feb. 5, John McCain completed one of the greatest comebacks in American political history. Unfortunately, while spending much of the subsequent 12 weeks taking well-deserved victory laps, Mr. McCain has also apparently taken a worrisome vacation from fund-raising. The McCain campaign recently filed yet another disappointing fund-raising report (this one was for March) with the Federal Election Commission. The presumptive Republican nominee raised only $15.2 million last month. In February, which included 24 days after he clinched the nomination, Mr. McCain raised only $11 million. That was actually less than...

Complaint filed against Elton John/Hillary fundraiser By Michelle Malkin • April 14, 2008 Judicial Watch has filed a complaint with the FEC over that Elton John/Hillary fundraiser. Not that there’s anyone actually at the FEC who’ll do anything about it, what with the stalemate over FEC nominees rendering the office completely dysfunctional. Oh, well. Here’s the press release: Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) related to a fundraising concert by musician Sir Elton John on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s presidential...

Obama Exploit Election Commission? by Marion Harrison Issue 104 - March 26, 2008 Opinions vary as to the worth of the role of the Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) when it fully is functioning as prescribed by law. Regardless of one’s opinion as to whether the Federal election law scheme as legislated and implemented is the ideal, FEC is the duly constituted Federal regulatory agency and the only one. How dysfunctional - maybe just plain bizarre - that FEC should be stalemated as the country enters a time when both political parties could be disabled by its inaction. FEC by statute...

A few years ago, the Federal Election Commission ruled that bloggers are eligible for the same exemptions from campaign-finance law as mainstream media outlets have enjoyed for decades. But the FEC's membership will change over time, meaning that the beliefs of the commissioners are likely to change as well. So a future FEC could rule differently. That's what concerns Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), a longtime proponent of preventing the federal government from extending campaign-finance laws to the Internet. His answer: On Thursday, Hensarling introduced a four-page bill he's calling the Blogger Protection Act of 2008. Hensarling intends to enshrine into...

Are Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Elton John breaking U.S. laws by allowing the British pop singer, a foreign national, to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign by performing a concert on her behalf? That's the question Inside the Beltway put to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) yesterday, which does not rule out the possibility. First, some background supplied by the FEC: The goal of the 1966 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was to "minimize foreign intervention" in U.S. elections by establishing a series of limitations on foreign nationals. In 1974, the prohibition was incorporated...

Are Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Elton John breaking U.S. laws by allowing the British pop singer, a foreign national, to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign by performing a concert on her behalf? That's the question Inside the Beltway put to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) yesterday, which does not rule out the possibility. First, some background supplied by the FEC: The goal of the 1966 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was to "minimize foreign intervention" in U.S. elections by establishing a series of limitations on foreign nationals. In 1974, the prohibition was incorporated...

The Supreme Court can do much today to remove the McCain-Fein gold speech-regulation law's stain if it decides to hear the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.... The 2008 election season is well under way, yet political speech remains decidedly un-free in America- held hostage to the vanity of John McCain and the cynicism of his accomplices in Congress and the media, who seek to silence their political opponents in the name of clean government.... Citizens United, an activist conservative group, wants relief from burdensome disclosure and disclaimers rules in ads for its documentary, "Hillary: The Movie." While...

This Commentary on January 9, 17 and 28 discussed the irresponsible and unprecedented understaffing of Presidential appointees in a host of Federal regulatory agencies, including the Federal Election Commission. (The January 17 Commentary follows: All three are accessible on the Free Congress Foundation Website, www.freecongress.org.) Understaffing alone can cause ineffective functioning in a Federal agency, as elsewhere. Understaffing to the extent of denying a regulatory agency its quorum necessary to function is, of course, completely debilitating. The bulk of this understaffing is the fault of leftist United States Senate activity and inactivity, not of President George W. Bush. The Federal...

Oberlin College has come up with a creative way for students from out of state to show they reside in Ohio, so they can vote. The college in northern Ohio is sending out dummy utility bills to dorm residents. There are no charges for students to pay for their phone and high-speed Internet connections, but there's a bold-faced note at the bottom saying the statement can serve as proof of ID at a polling place. The arrangement got a blessing from the state's top election official. Colin Koffel from Madison, Wis., says he and other out-of-state students at Oberlin were...

Mike Huckabee said today he's staying in the Republican presidential race because Sen. John McCain might have run afoul of the Federal Election Commission and be unable to campaign for much of the rest of this year... "He wrote these laws," the former Arkansas governor said, adding they were "one of the worst things to happen to American politics." "It may very well be that the law he pushed comes back to bite him." At issue is Mr. McCain's request last summer to take part in the federal matching funds program for the primary election and his request earlier this...

Howard Dean is upset that John McCain wants out from public matching funds for the primary. So much so that's he's filed a complaint with the FEC. Very well. If that's how he really feels about it, he'll tell Senate Democrats to give up their extraordinary block against the President's FEC nominees -- a block that is preventing the FEC from holding a pro-forma vote to allow McCain out of the system. And who put the hold on Hans Von Spakovsky, one of the FEC nominees in limbo? Barack Obama. (In fact, this left-wing blogger asserts that Obama is THE...

Democrats file complaint against McCainComplaint asks FEC to look into McCain's decision to opt out of public financing system Posted: Monday, February 25, 2008 at 3:19 p.m. WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic Party has filed a complaint against Republican John McCain with the Federal Election Commission. It's calling on the FEC to investigate McCain's decision to withdraw from the primary election's public financing system. The Democratic National Committee contends McCain cannot reject the public funds because he faces questions over the terms of a loan he obtained late last year. McCain was entitled to $5.8 million in federal matching funds...

WASHINGTON — The national Democratic party wants campaign finance regulators to investigate whether Sen. John McCain would violate money-in-politics laws by withdrawing from the primary election’s public finance system. McCain, who had been entitled to $5.8 million in federal funds for the primary, has decided to bypass the system so he can avoid spending limits between now and the GOP’s national convention in September. Federal Election Commission Chairman David Mason notified McCain last week that he can only withdraw from public financing if he answers questions about a campaign loan and obtains approval from four members of the six-member commission....

The national Democratic party wants campaign finance regulators to investigate whether Sen. John McCain would violate money-in-politics laws by withdrawing from the primary election's public finance system. McCain, who had been entitled to $5.8 million in federal funds for the primary, has decided to bypass the system so he can avoid spending limits between now and the GOP's national convention in September. Federal Election Commission Chairman David Mason notified McCain last week that he can only withdraw from public financing if he answers questions about a campaign loan and obtains approval from four members of the six-member commission. Such approval...

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will file a complaint against Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Monday, charging that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is breaking the law by trying to get out of a public financing agreement. In a Sunday afternoon conference call with reporters, DNC chairman Howard Dean said McCain's attempt to withdraw from a loan agreement that hinged on an acceptance of public financing speaks directly to McCain's "integrity." "This is a classic example of someone who talks one way and does another when it benefits him," Dean said. On the call, Dean...

Greg sends this news my way: The founders of Ben & Jerry's endorsed Barack Obama on Monday, and lent his Vermont campaign two "ObamaMobiles" that will tour the state and give away scoops of "Cherries for Change" ice cream. Hmmm. Is the value of two retrofitted Honda Elements for a week and the ice cream worth more than the maximum $2300? Even if it's $2300 each from Ben and Jerry? Will the ice cream be distributed by Obama campaign staff, or by Ben and Jerry staff? Would the labor cost put it over $2300? Cost of gas?

The author and chief proponent of much of the tangled web of campaign finance rules and regulations, has decided that he can continue write the rules as they apply to his campaign while on the fly.Last summer, McCain asked to participate in the public financing system when his campaign hit the skids after the immigration amnesty debacle. After his request was approved by the FEC, he was scheduled to receive some $5.8 million. The money, however, would not come without strings attached. The restraints on fundraising as well as the state-specific spending limits imposed by the law, would mean that...

5 Million Internet Views of Hillary!Uncensored Film Helps Derail Hillary White House Bid! 13 Minute Segment of Hillary! Uncensored Film Ranked By Google As #1 Video in the World in November, 2007 Hillary Clinton’s sinking political fortunes have been linked in part to the viral phenomenon surrounding the unedited 13 minute segment of the first ever documentary on Hillary R Clinton, Hillary ! Uncensored. The documentary presents and documents the illegalities claimed in the landmark civil fraud suit against the Clintons pending in California, Paul v Clinton et al. The 13 minute segment of the 65 minute documentary Hillary! Uncensored-...