Topic: Presidential Campaign 2008
Will McCain Go to Prison for Busting His Spending Cap? McCain has more problems than the potential loss of delegates from states where he used matching funds to gain ballot access. He may be exposed to fines and/or up to 5 years in prison.by Alex Wallenwein
(Conservative)
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Recap: Last year, McCain's campaign was faltering. He applied for matching funds and was certified as eligible to receive them in August 2007. This allowed him to borrow money against his future eligibility for funds which he did, in November, when he borrowed $3 million. In December, he borrowed $1 million from the same bank.
He also used his eligibility for matching funds to circumvent the normal ballot-access requirements of a number of states, thus getting on their ballots automatically.
In February, he tried to withdraw his application for matching funds, but he hit two snags, namely (1) the fact that he did use his eligibility for the funds to obtain a loan, and (2) that the FEC currently has four vacancies on its normally six-member board.
In essence, he cannot withdraw his application unless at least 4 board members (a quorum) are present to vote on the decision whether or not to let him off the hook.
That means his attempt to withdraw is not capable of being effective until after the FEC officially lets him off.
Since he has already blown past the $50 million spending limit in February, he is now in violation of Section 9035. Here is the kicker:
Section 9042 makes such a violation a criminal offense subject to a maximum of a $20,000 fines and/or 5 years in prison!
McCain is currently trying to argue that his "withdrawal" prevents the spending caps and criminal penalties from applying to him, but remember: he is technically incapable of withdrawing until the commission can rule on his application to withdraw.
Forget about all of the currently circulating non-issues discussions of whether he can still claim to be the "champion" of campaign finance reform. The man is actually in big trouble with the law! He could be imprisoned for violating campaign finance limitations.
Ergo: this election isn't over yet.
Far from it!
The big question is now: Is the official Ron Paul campaign going to exploit this or not?
The media naturally avoid this issue like the plague. They want McCain because they know he will lose to any Democrat. Only a few blogs and MediaMatters have reported on it thus far - in some cases as far back as February! A press conference by Ron Paul would go a long way toward bringing this out into the open.
Where is the official campaign? Why are they not all over this?
Hellooo?
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2008 Alex Wallenwein, all rights reserved.
Published: Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Last modified: Tuesday, April 1, 2008
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McCommie is the rich boys' toy. If you think they'll prosecute him for anything you're in never land. The only reason they might is to put a better toy in his place.
http://www.willowtown.com/
This is from the ottom of the petition posted by Heather:
" Be it known, therefore, that although Sen. John McCain may enjoy default immunity from criminal prosecution because of Senate inaction, he must still answer to the People. This petition is not a mere expression of public opinion, but an invitation to action in civil court. The signors are, thus, strongly encouraged to email their contact information to ja.repository@gmail.com for the purpose of class action lawsuit."
The highlighted part is incorrect. Unless the FEC tries to let him go retroactively (which I wouldn't put past them) McCain is still on the hook for criminal action.
Question: What is the lawsuit inteded to accomplish? An injunction enjoining McCain from continuing his campaign? Money damages? Has anybody thought about that, yet?
What about a petition to the official campaign to get on the bus and push this until the press takes notice?
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2008 Alex Wallenwein, all rights reserved.