SusanG has been writing frequently on the sketchy dealings of GOP bundler Harry Sargeant. Sargeant first came to attention as the chief bundler in a series of questionable donations to GOP presidential nominee John McCain:
The bundle of $2,300 and $4,600 checks that poured into Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign on March 12 came from an unlikely group of California donors: a mechanic from D&D Auto Repair in Whittier, the manager of Rite Aid Pharmacy No. 5727, the 30-something owners of the Twilight Hookah Lounge in Fullerton.
But the man who gathered checks from them is no stranger to McCain -- he shuttled the Republican on his private plane and held a fundraising event for the candidate at his house in Delray Beach, Fla.
Harry Sargeant III, a former naval officer and the owner of an oil-trading company that recently inked defense contracts potentially worth more than $1 billion, is the archetype of a modern presidential money man. The law forbids high-level supporters from writing huge checks, but with help from friends in the Middle East and the former chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit -- who now serves as a consultant to his company -- Sargeant has raised more than $100,000 for three presidential candidates from a collection of ordinary people, several of whom professed little interest in the outcome of the election.
The trail of shady Sargeant bundles then leads to Sargeant's old fraternity brother (and McCain's potential running mate), Florida Governor Charlie Crist. McClatchy reports:
Jihan Nassar, a homemaker in Corona, Calif., is listed as a $500 donor to the campaign of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. But she insists she never gave a dime.
''I can't make any donations, financially,'' Nassar said Friday. "We never made any donations, sir. I have no idea what you are talking about.''
Nassar and her husband, Waleed, are among more than three dozen California donors listed as giving to Crist's campaign on June 19, 2006 -- donations bundled by a controversial Delray Beach defense contractor now under scrutiny for contributions to GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
On Thursday, the McCain campaign said it would return $50,000 in donations tied to businessman Harry Sargeant III, finance chairman of the Florida Republican Party and a college buddy of Crist's.
Well, guess who else has been a beneficiary of Sargeant's substantial largesse in the past?
Miami's Diaz-Balart brothers, of course.
In toto, the brothers have taken over $20,000 from Sargeant and his family. As the ethical clouds swirl over Sargeant's head, it would be the least they could do, I should think, to return Sargeant's money. Even John McCain has done that, after all.
Failing that, however, please help cancel out Sargeant's money by donating to Orange to Blue candidate Joe Garcia, the opponent of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart in Florida's 25th District.
Send the message that you won't let Harry Sargeant's shady money buy this election, at the presidential level or the Congressional level as well.
Help Joe Garcia give South Florida the kind of representative they deserve, and help take Washington back from people like Harry Sargeant.
On the web:
Joe Garcia for Congress
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