Ok. So this really hit a pet peeve of mine: saying one thing while doing the other, especially under the guise of progressive reform.
This is what I've seen unfold over the past few days, where we've seen Rhode Island senate candidate Matt Brown campaign for campaign finance reform on one hand, and launder money through democratic party offices with the other.
This has been partly discussed on previous diaries here and here
But there's another Roll Call article from March 2nd that hasn't - to my knowledge - been discussed yet on kos yet that explains the situation even further. And it gets even more disturbing for Brown.
Read on:
Party Donor Had Maxed Out to Brown
By Lauren W. Whittington
Roll Call Staff
March 2, 2006
Even as his campaign aides sought Wednesday to defend contributions he has received from three state Democratic committees, campaign finance records raise new questions about the propriety of the donations Rhode Island Senate candidate Matt Brown (D) collected on the final day of 2005 from those parties.
Federal Election Commission reports show that a donor who had already maxed out to the Rhode Island secretary of state's campaign contributed to the Massachusetts Democratic Party just days after that state party gave money to the Rhode Island Senate hopeful.
Richard Bready, the CEO of Providence-based Nortek, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, donated $5,000 to the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee federal fund on Jan. 5, one week after checks totaling $10,000 had been cut to Brown from the same account.
FEC records also show that Bready, who had already given the maximum $4,100 to Brown, has not aggressively contributed to partisan organizations or candidates outside of his state in the past three election cycles. In the 2004 cycle, he gave to the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and the Democratic National Committee and on the last day of 2005, he gave $4,000 to Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.).
A Brown spokesman acknowledged earlier this week that the campaign had suggested to a few donors that they give money to the state parties that had been helpful to Brown.
However, if those donors had already given the maximum amount to Brown's campaign -- as is the case with Bready -- the contributions to those parties could be considered a violation of campaign finance laws.
All this after Brown and his campaign released a progressive plan to reform campaign finance law, including public financing of campaigns. While I'll remain open-minded as the legality of Brown's own fundraising is investigated further, if this holds true, his credibility on the issue is totally shot.
It's this kind of false, say-one-thing-and-do-another progressive that really irks me.
Is there an explanation for this from the Brown campaign?
I've been watching this race from afar, but am not from Rhode Island - any opinions from anyone in RI about what is going on?