I just saw this on the Boston Globe website. It's from the AP.
This guy has been Teflon for way too long. Maybe this is the start of something.
I mean, we all know about the diapers. We know about the meltdown.
Now we've got this:
See below the fold for details.
Here's the story:
WASHINGTON—An ethics watchdog group filed a federal complaint Thursday accusing Republican Sen. David Vitter of accepting illegal campaign contributions from a California dry cleaning company that wanted stimulus money.
The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called the donations a "conduit contribution scheme" used by a private company to curry favor with the Louisiana lawmaker facing re-election this year. It asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate and penalize Vitter and the company.
Questions have swirled around a fundraiser Vitter held with executives of U.S. Dry Cleaning Corp., since The Times-Picayune reported recently that company officials and their spouses gave him nearly $40,000 last year.
Also, one of the four company donors told the newspaper that U.S. Dry Cleaning reimbursed his $4,800 contribution. Such reimbursements are illegal, in part because companies are barred from donating to federal candidates. The donor added that the company was seeking Vitter's help getting stimulus financing or Small Business Administration assistance, although Vitter strongly opposed the stimulus bill.
Vitter campaign spokesman Luke Bolar said the senator never made any request on behalf of the company but didn't respond to questions about why the company officials contributed to his campaign, or what issues they discussed. In a statement, he said Vitter welcomes an investigation and believes the donors should be prosecuted if they violated campaign finance laws.
U.S. Dry Cleaning has not responded to requests for comment.
Couldn't happen to a better guy.