Sometimes it pays to be incorporated. No matter how small or phoney the corporation is. I get the craziest of calls. But the one I received yesterday takes the cake. I think I stumbled onto a
Republican soft money scam...
Yesterday I received a phone call from a female aide to the Office of REPUBLICAN Congressman Tom Reynolds (26th District, New York). At first when I answered, the aide told me to hold on the phone for a brief taped message. The taped message was Congressman Reynolds announcing that I had been chosen to be the New Jersey Chairman of the NRCC's Business Advisory Council (see http://www.businessadvisorycouncil.org/). And as chairman I'll get: a cool mallet with a plaque; get to take special polls; attend meetings with other members; get my name added on to an ad in the Wall Street Journal; and get invited to a black tie dinner with ...drum roll...THE PRESIDENT!
Ha! Oh you know this is like asking a sideshow Carny to fleece a country bumpkin, like putting a "No smoking" sign in front of a pyromaniac, like
asking Saddam Hussien to host a Bush Family reunion,...well, you get the picture...
Anyhow, the aide gets back on the phone and starts yacking about how Reynolds has been fighting for the small businessman and fighting tax, blah blah blah and when I join up i'll have my name listed on this Wall Street Journal full page ad -- FOR $500 BIG ONES.
I Tell her " Gee, I don't have $500 Big Ones, since I had to pay all those taxes levied on the small businessman."
Her: "Oh I sooo understand ...blah blah more PR on Tom Reynolds banter...Can you do $300.00? We take all major credit cards...what no cards? We can take a check over the phone.... just read me the bottom line of your check..."
Me (now their just baiting me): "Sure...but you DO know that I run Adult Websites?"
Her: "Oh no problem...That's why it is important to have your voice on this Business Council. The congressman wants a variety of voices."
Me: "But they are HARDCORE Adult websites. (I lied, so sue me.) Wouldn't the congressman have a slight problem with being associated with such filth?" (Obviously not considering the whole Jeff Gannon/GOP relationship)
Her: "No... we need a variety of voices on the Panel. Can I count you in on the $300.00?"
Me: "You do know that I am a DEMOCRAT?"
Her: "That's OK you'd be surprised how many Democrats support us." (DLC probably, shivers run down my spine.) "So how about that $300.00?"
At this point I decide to chew up a lot of her time with questions about Reynolds: What's his background? What committees does he sit on? What were his last five votes? (she didn't know.)
Finally exhausted by her tenacity to acquire my money to obviously fund this clown through some kind of soft money scheme, i tell her:
"I sorry but why would I align myself with a party who has spent the last twenty years destroying the American way? Plus I being a defender of Free Speech I couldn't possibly give money to the Republicans - who are out to destroy free speech!"
Her: "OK then, let me just mark this down...So you're a member of the Democratic Party?"
Me: "Yeh...sure..."
Her: "You have a nice day. on behalf of the NRCCC and Congressman Tom Reyno..."
I hang up.
So did I lose my chance to become a mole into the NRCC? Didi I miss my chance to create economic chaos, by being on a board with a bunch of Republican corporate types and then there's me and my phoney baloney corporation and Commie Ideals? Did I miss a chance to heckle GW at a black tie dinner?
what gets me the most is did I miss a chance to own a cool mallet with a shiny plaque?
Now here's the real rub. The more I thought about this plus when I went to the NRCC's Business Advisory Council website(see http://www.businessadvisorycouncil.org/), I realized this was definitely a soft money scam!
Because of the following:
A) Near as I can tell from their website, The Business Advisory Council doesn't actually exist yet, nor is there a full prospectus posted as to what the group's full agenda will be (other than a bunch of vague statements)
B) The text of what will be in the supposed Wall Street Journal ad is posted nowhere on the site, except in a fuzzy jpeg image.
C) My being chosen for chairmanship was based solely on a financial contribution and not qualifications. (No big surprise on that one)
D) On their website, they state that they will spend in excess of 3.6 million recruiting people and 2.5 million in advertising (6.1 million total) to accomplish "support that can finally lead to a breakthrough on health care reform, debt reduction, social security, tax and education reform, and sound economic policy that keeps this economy growing!"
These are pretty broad issues that require billions of dollars to properly address, yet they think 6 million measles dollars will solve them all. Obviously this gives rise to the question: Is the as yet fictitious BAC
a total sham just to collect money to fund the NRCC?
I think the answer is a resounding yes. Especially when you see that on the website, when one tries to enroll into the program, you are instead routed to the contribution page of the NRCC (https://donations.nrcc.org/Default.aspx?tc=2005WEB)--and NO mention of the Business Advisory Council is made on the contribution form. Looks like bait and switch to me.
I have since formally filed a compliant with the GAO on these guys. Let's see if anything happens.