5 Unseemly Examples of Access, Assistance & Favors for Campaign Contributors

With the anniversary of Citizens United coming up, I wanted to share some of the more interesting, unusual, or egregious examples of contributions buying access, assistance or favors that I’ve come across.  These examples demonstrate the corruption, poor policy decisions, and erosion of confidence in our elected officials that accompanies big spending in politics.  In all of these stories, even if nothing nefarious is going on by the elected official, it looks pretty bad and it would be better to avoid the appearance of corruption altogether.

Hopefully these will be useful to convince undecideds, inspire someone to join one of the many Citizens United protests on Wednesday or just be good conversational fodder.

I’ve left out any reference to name or party in the hope that everyone will evaluate the example without pre-judging or partisanship.

I’m cross-posting this at my blog, Red State and DailyKos.

Jury: State Senator Interfered in Child Abuse Investigation, Custody Hearing to Help Contributor

In a particularly disgusting example, a former Louisiana state Senator and mayor was found guilty of calling a police officer charged with investigating claims of child abuse and attempting to get him to change his testimony at an upcoming child custody hearing.  The father contributed $1,000 to the senator’s campaign in July 2006.  In December 2006, the mother was arrested and accused of simple assault when the boyfriend attempted to take custody of the child.  A child abuse investigation into the mother ensued and the senator personally called the police officer handling the investigation and, according to testimony, asked the officer to help the father at the hearing.  The mother later sued the Senator, the city, and the police department, winning a $400,000 verdict.

US Senator, Lobbying Firm Enable Contributor to Get nearly $20M in Research Contracts for Ebola, other Diseases; Contributor Defrauds Govt of $3.9M, Likely Delays Vaccine

This story centers around a company called GenPhar, its president and CEO Jian-Yun “John” Dong, his wife Dahner Wang and an unnamed US Senator.  Dong, Wang, their daughter and GenPhar employees contributed over $50,000 to this Senator and his PAC even as the Senator helped direct over $19.6 million in earmarks and grants towards the company, many of which the Senator specifically requested.  GenPhar hired American Defense International (ADI), spending $280,000 to help the company get grants from the US military and National Institute for Health to research vaccines for the dengue fever, Marburg virus and the Ebola virus. Dong and Genphar were later accused of misusing or stealing $3.6 million of the funds intended for Ebola and Marburg research, using it, among other things, for travel and to pay at least some of ADI’s expenses.  The jury deadlocked on Dong, but convicted the company.  Genphar did conduct some research, but as of November 2014 the fate and usefulness of the Ebola research was unknown.

Dong was convicted of making illegal contributions for using at least $31,000 he received from a foreign business partner to make contributions to federal candidates in other people’s names, including many of the contributions identified above.  The Senator has not been accused of any wrongdoing or illegal activity in this investigation.  It’s important to remember that, while the source of the contributions was illegal, the same outcome (the Senator helps Genphar with grants and Genphar proceeds to defraud the government) likely would have happened if Genphar had been able to generate the contributions legally.

Mayor Pushed $1 Lease for George Lucas Museum in Controversial Location, Campaign Took nearly $50K from Related Parties

In agreeing to bring the Lucas Museum for Narrative Arts to their city, the mayor agreed to and strongly supports an agreement to lease property located on a protected waterfront for $1 a year.  In 2011, the mayor took $50,000 from Lucas’ wife Melody Hobson and executives at the Walt Disney Company, who will benefit from the deal.  Hobson, a native of the city, first reached out to the Mayor about the museum.

Was Your Ambulance Driver Selected because of Union & Corporate Contributions?

A California city recently decided to replace its longtime emergency service provider Gerber Ambulance, with a new provider, McCormick Ambulance for a one-year contract after a fund supporting the mayor took in $35,000 from related interests.   McCormick Ambulance gave $25,000 to the Torrance Voters Political Action Committee to Support [the] Mayor, while the Firefighters Union, which has opposed Gerber in the past, contributed $10,000, both significantly more than other independent expenditures or contributions in the race.  The Fire Department has been a long-time critic of Gerber’s services, partly because, reportedly, the department wants to bring ambulance services under its control.  McCormick, in an email to the selection committee, indicated that it would be willing to work with the Fire Department to transition services.

States, Counties & Cities Regularly Hire Major Contributors as Attorneys, Outsource Work to Them

State attorneys general are increasingly dependent on outside attorneys to take on lawsuits in return for 20% of any financial reward.  Meanwhile, these attorneys make large contributions to the attorney general, often just before or after signing contracts to take on cases.  In one state, attorneys have won $57.5 million in fees while contributing over $395,000 to the AG’s campaigns.  In cities and counties, meanwhile, legal contractors are closely tied to one party and regularly contribute to that party and its candidates, with legal representation changing when a new party takes over.  In one California city, this takes the form of the City Attorney hiring campaign contributors to handle probes into police conduct, sparking a federal investigation into whether these contributions influenced the decision to hire the firms.

Further examples & related articles:

Major City Has Paid over $1M to Top Mayoral Contributor to Manage Pensions, Fees Increased after Mayor Took Office

TX Councilwoman Accepts $6,000 from Taxi PAC while Crafting Favorable Rules

Billionaire Investor Uses Contributions to Spark Federal Investigation into Company to Drive Down Value for His Profit

MO Millionaire Acknowledges Using Contributions to Shape Legislature to Eliminate Income, Corporate Taxes

CREW: 67 Senators Used Campaign Funds to Enrich Family, $1.3M to Relatives, $2.6M to Related Entities

Not Guilty Pleas in Widespread MS Investigation Involving $700,000, Beachfront Property, Private Prison Industry

How Big Box Retailers Use Contributions to Shape Elections, Policies

Study Finds Companies that Contribute More Have Lower Tax Burdens

Contributors to Gov Win $82.8M in State Contracts after Having None

IL Becomes Third State to Call for Constitutional Convention on Money in Politics

Rockriver Times: “On Wednesday, Illinois became the third state in the U.S. to pass a bill calling for a constitutional convention to overhaul campaign finance laws, specifically, those established with the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision.

“The Illinois House of Representatives voted 74-40 (with six not reporting) in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 42 (SJR 42) Dec. 3.”

“With SJR 42’s passage, Illinois joins California and Vermont as states calling for a constitutional convention under Article V of the U.S. Constitution for the purpose of amending the Constitution. Similar measures are also pending in Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Texas.”

IL Mayor Exploits Loophole to Rake in Unlimited Contributions

Chicago Tribune: “The contribution limits were lifted for everyone in the Chicago mayoral race last month after frequent local candidate William J. Kelly filed paperwork in October showing he gave his own campaign $100,000. Under state law, once a candidate in a local race contributes $100,000 to his or her own campaign within one year of an election, the state contribution caps no longer apply.

“But Kelly didn’t file the necessary petition signatures by Monday’s deadline to appear on the ballot. Nonetheless, the lifting of the campaign limits remains in place.”

“The mayor [Rahm Emanuel] reported receiving $100,000 from a construction and laborers PAC and $200,000 from a plumbers and pipe fitters PAC. A third $100,000 contribution came from a retired Texas hedge fund manager.

“In all three cases, the contributors already had given the maximum contribution to Emanuel.” [Brackets added.”

IL Mayor Pushed $1 Lease for George Lucas Musuem, Campaign Took $50K from Related Parties

International Business Times: “You might call it the Dark Side of politics, but in Chicago, is there any other side? Windy City preservationists are suing to block the construction of a so-called “Star Wars” museum after Mayor Rahm Emanuel offered to let George Lucas build the $400 million project on publicly owned lakefront land. The mayor has defended the proposal to lease the prime real estate to the billionaire Lucas for just $1 a year, insisting the project is on “solid legal ground,” the Sun Times reported.

IL Mayor Pushed $1 Lease for George Lucas Musuem, Campaign Took $50K from Related Parties

International Business Times: “You might call it the Dark Side of politics, but in Chicago, is there any other side? Windy City preservationists are suing to block the construction of a so-called “Star Wars” museum after Mayor Rahm Emanuel offered to let George Lucas build the $400 million project on publicly owned lakefront land. The mayor has defended the proposal to lease the prime real estate to the billionaire Lucas for just $1 a year, insisting the project is on “solid legal ground,” the Sun Times reported.

What he hasn’t mentioned is the almost $50,000 worth of campaign donations he has received from those with vested interests in the project.

One of those donors is one of the museum’s key board members, who also happens to be Lucas’ wife. Mellody Hobson, a prominent Chicago businesswoman, is a major Emanuel supporter, contributing $31,500 to his 2011 mayoral race, according to campaign records. In fact, it was Hobson who apparently came up with the idea to build the museum in Chicago. The plan came to fruition after Lucas failed to get the project approved in San Francisco earlier this year.

Chicago Has Paid over $1M to Top Mayoral Contributor to Manage Pensions, Fees Increased after Mayor Took Office

International Business Times: “According to a newly released document from the Chicago pension system, the taxpayer fees paid to the John Buck Co. from one Chicago pension fund increased when Emanuel took office. In the year before he took office, the John Buck Co. was paid $161,141 in fees by the Laborers’ & Retirement Board Employees’ Annuity & Benefit Fund of Chicago (LABF). The next year — when Emanuel assumed office — those fees jumped to $262,500. In 2012 and 2013, the fees increased to $300,000 per year. Public documents from LABF say the decisions to move pension money into the system’s current John Buck investments were initiated in 2006 and 2009.

“Executives at the John Buck Co. are collectively among Emanuel’s top campaign contributors. In all, as reported by IBTimes, they have donated more than $74,000 to Emanuel’s campaigns, and $10,500 more to a political action committee that supports the mayor.”

Illinois Refuses to Release Specific Identities of Companies Managing State Funds that Directly Control Money

International Business Times: “As part of its ongoing investigation of the intersection between financial fees, campaign contributions and public pension systems, International Business Times requested a list of the financial firms receiving Illinois state pension money through fund-of-funds. The objective was to find out if fund-of-funds managers are making political donations to state officials — a practice that a 2011 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule aims to prohibit. IBTimes requested the information from the Illinois State Board of Investment and the Illinois Teachers Retirement System, which collectively oversee more than $50 billion in assets.

“In response, Illinois officials released the names of the firms managing the overall fund of funds. In all, state documents show those firms manage more than $3 billion of Illinois pension money. But state officials would not disclose the identities of the financial companies within the fund-of-funds that ultimately handle that money. That means the public — including the retirees relying on the pension system — cannot know who is managing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and how much those firms are earning in fees from those accounts. The public also cannot tell if firms managing the pension money made prohibited political donations to state officials and candidates for state office.”

Rahm Took $600,000 from Firms that Manage City Pensions

International Business Times: “Executives at investment firms that manage Chicago pension funds have since 2011 poured more than $600,000 in contributions into Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s campaign operation and political action committees (PACs) that support him, according to documents reviewed by International Business Times. These contributions appear to flout federal rules banning companies that manage pension funds from financing the campaigns of officials with authority over pension systems, say legal experts.

“The contributions also potentially conflict with an executive order Emanuel himself signed in 2011 prohibiting city contractors and subcontractors from making campaign donations to city officials.”

“Former prosecutors, corporate compliance attorneys and erstwhile officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission describe the donations as a clear breach of the spirit — and perhaps the letter — of the SEC’s so-called pay-to-play rule, which seeks to prevent pension investments from being doled out as a form of patronage to those who contribute to campaigns.”

Raunder May Have Illegally Accepted Contributions from Financial Firms with State Pension Business

International Business Times: “Illinois Governor-elect Bruce Rauner accepted more than $140,000 worth of campaign donations from executives affiliated with firms in which Illinois pension systems have investments, according to documents reviewed by the International Business Times. The campaign donations flowed to Rauner despite state and federal rules designed to prevent pension investment managers from donating to candidates for public offices that oversee state pension systems. As governor, Rauner will now appoint the trustees who oversee Illinois’ pension investment decisions.”

People Vote to Get Money Out When They Get the Chance

Huffington Post: In Arkansas, “Warwick Sabin, the first-term state representative, said the success of the ballot initiative, which passed by a 52-47 margin, was ‘a surprise to everybody.’ The reforms banned direct corporate and union campaign contributions to candidates; forbid lawmakers from accepting gifts of any kind from lobbyists; and increased the amount of time departing lawmakers must wait before lobbying from one to two years.”

“In Wisconsin, 12 counties, including those heavily populated by conservative voters, passed resolutions calling on their elected officials to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Voters passed similar resolutions in 18 communities in Massachusetts; in Alachua County, Florida; and in Edwardsville, Illinois. In Chagrin Falls and Mentor, Ohio, voters approved similar resolutions that also require elected lawmakers to report back to them on what they are doing to pass an amendment.”

Also discusses public financing in Connecticut, Arizona, Maine and Maryland, which, other than a court-impaired system in Arizona, all have success stories.

Edit changed Arizona to Arkansas in first sentence