Originally published at: House Representative Jeff Fortenberry charged with lying to the FBI | Boing Boing
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The 2016 election campaign for Jeff Fortenberry, a
GOPlawmaker, received a questionable donation.
Tightening it up for brevity. Anyone reading the headline and who’s been paying attention knew immediately to which party he belonged.
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But… but they are the religious party?!? We know cause they told us that! No real republican would break the 9th commandment! He must be a RINO! /s
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The process has been slow, but oddly enjoyable.
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No sympathy for Fortenberry, he deserves the charge. But I find it really odd that SCOTUS removed all limits on electioneering by multinational corporations while still maintaining that a foreign individual donating to a US campaign is illegal.
How about a simple rule like that a Nebraska rep can only accept donations from humans residing in Nebraska?
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You left out the best part: the money came from a Nigerian-born Billionaire living in Paris.
So apparently at least SOME of those exiled Nigerian Princes looking for American partners to wire money to are more than just internet scams.
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When I saw this last night, I jokingly said to Mrs Peas that if it weren’t for New York, there would be almost no balance in federal prosecutions of parties. We contribute enough crooked Dems to keep the whole thing fair and balanced. You’re welcome!
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Eh, I do welcome any kind of election finance reform, but this seems iffy. Should I not be allowed to help liberal candidates for Congress out of my state? Congress decides things at a federal level. The representative or senator from somewhere else effects me, and the ability of the president to get things done.
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The core issue here is really influence peddling. You contributing $20 to a PAC or campaign is only going to have a cumulative impact as others contribute for the same reasons. An oligarch, corporation or political foundation dumping tens or hundreds of thousands into a campaign or their surrogates (let’s not kid ourselves, that’s exactly what PACS are) is unquestionably a quid pro quo offering and should be outlawed at every level. I don’t see how individuals contributing outside of their electorate is influence peddling.
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No, I don’t think you should. If we want a democracy, then representation should not be tied to financial status. If someone has the means to donate to candidates across the country, the express intent and result of that is to give that individual greater influence on the government. SCOTUS has said resoundly that they don’t think we have a right to equal representation or equal influence in government. I disagree.
If it were really up to me, all elections would be publicly funded* with minimal campaign ads and no one could donate directly to any campaign. But I’d settle for limited donations exclusively from constituents
*access to funds released upon reaching a certain number of signatures from potential constituents
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Right? I automatically lie to law enforcement. (Actually I don’t, I just say I want a lawyer.)
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But I thought that was Chicago’s job?
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The Party of personal responsibility - so watch him deny any responsibility.
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Technically, that’s a lie right there.
Nobody wants a lawyer, but sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you need one.
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Totally agree with this part.
I guess I don’t see the moral distinction between giving to a candidate in my state, vs giving to one in another, as they both affect me and the country I live in. But that’s given we’re in a country where we’re giving money to candidates.
I do see a practical reason to ban it, though, which is that if I have enough to give 50 candidates across the country $1200, then I can only do so because I’m rich, and am buying more influence.
But I don’t see a moral way to say I’m allowed to give to my local candidate a gift but not yours, seeing as the geographical “representation” is only a small part of a congressperson’s job (at least these days), and the rest of it is nation-wide.
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