FEC fines McCain $80K for campaign finance violations

The latest news is that John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign committee has been fined $80,000 by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for accepting contributions that exceeded federal limits.

The hometown fish wrap known as the Arizona Republic doesn’t regard this important enough for the front page or even back placement in the front section.  Nope.  McCain’s admitted violations of the law rate page three in the Valley and State B section.

His campaign acknowledged incorrectly reporting the dates the contributions were received. Additionally, the required 48-hour disclosure notices for 169 contributions totaling $240,700 that it received prior to the general election was ignored by the McCain-Palin Compliance Fund Inc. and John Schmuckler, the treasurer of both.

In this conciliation agreement with the FEC, McCain’s campaign admitted violating the law by accepting $377,657 in contributions that exceeded legal limits; failed to report correctly the original dates on which $22,257,684 in contributions were received by its joint fundraising representatives; and failed to correctly report re-designations made to the compliance fund.

Were he less reprehensible, it might be tempting to cut the guy some slack. After all, his memory has failed him often, as embarrassingly evidenced here and here. When asked during his presidential race McCain couldn’t even remember how many homes his beer heiress wife, Cindy, owns — and he gets to live in. He hesitatingly told a reporter, “I think….I’ll have my staff get back to you.”

AZ Republic’s one-way romance with bipartisanship

Under the guise of extolling “bi-partisanship,“ the Periódico de la República de Arizona (Arizona Republic) runs a single editorial titled, The Perversion of Politics.

The sole purpose of the wordy endeavor is to proclaim the wonders of Republicans linking arms with Democrats — most often in furtherance of the Democrat agenda. That concept is right up the alley of the far-left disseminator of propaganda posing as news.

The editorial was ostensibly about flak U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-CD-4) has received for co-hosting a town hall with U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-CD-1). The newspaper heaps abundant praise on the duo for “breaking though ideological barriers” — “putting people…first.”

Once again hypocrisy is the ultimate victor in the editorial board room. It was just months ago the daily was relentlessly promoting a ballot initiative known as “Top Two,” which sought to eliminate political parties in favor of the top two primary election victors facing off against one another — regardless of party affiliation.

Of course the party they hoped to eviscerate was the Republican Party, especially the conservative base. That is the key reason the Arizona Republic is enamored with the state’s senior senator, John McCain. His “mavericky” ways, which consist of routinely kicking Republicans in the teeth as he repeatedly sides with the most liberal Democrats and meets regularly with Barack Obama and his top advisors, have endeared him to the left.

The fact is, the two parties exist based on philosophies that are well defined in their respective party platforms. The Republican Platform can be read here. The Democrat Platform is here. Their positions are vastly different on the myriad issues each addresses.

Possibly the best example of the differences can be seen here at the Democrat 2012 Convention, where pandemonium broke out as the party leadership rammed through the revised platform, which incorporated updated language, including the mention of God and identifying Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel, against the clear wishes of the majority of those voting at the convention who jeered and booed.

In a public relations nightmare, Democrat party establishment showed itself to be at odds with a large segment of it’s own voting base, and willing to lie about the results of three floor votes to amend the platform after Obama ordered the changes. Listen to the voice votes — all three of them – and decide whether the motion passed by a two-thirds majority.  (To view video, click on the words YouTube in bottom right corner of screen.)

But that debacle was of little consequence to the Arizona Republic. Its theme is bringing together Republicans and Democrats, to do the work of the DNC.  That’s bipartisanship the newspaper can believe in. Yet its silence regarding seeking bipartisan efforts from liberal Democrat U.S. Reps. Ron Barber (CD-2), Raul Grijalva (CD 3), Ed Pastor (CD-7), and Kyrsten Sinema (CD-9) — is deafening.

Colin Powell declares, “There is no voter fraud”

Requiring ID to vote is punishment inflicted on minorities

During a speech Thursday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell ridiculed North Carolina’s new voter ID law, claiming voter fraud does not exist. He must have missed reports of blatant examples, such as this (video exposé included in link) and this, which includes the disturbing findings contained in a Pew Research report detailing widespread evidence of voter fraud.

“You can say what you like, but there is no voter fraud,” Powell flatly declared. “How can it be widespread and undetected?”

Powell is known as a Republican of convenience and no convictions, who admitted supporting radical leftist Barack Obama. During his address at the annual CEO Forum in Raleigh, he mocked the state’s law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, puts an end to same-day registration and shortens the span of early voting days. 

 “It immediately turns off a voting block the Republican Party needs,” Powell said. “These kinds of actions do not build on the base. It just turns people away.”  Gov. Pat McCrory, who signed the state’s voter ID bill into law last week, was in attendance during Powell’s speech.

As reported in the News & Observer, Powell also described North Carolina’s voter ID law using this convoluted logic: “What it really says to the minority voters is… We really are sort-of punishing you.”

McCrory’s office released a statement respectfully disagreeing with Powell’s assessment. “The Governor appreciates the warm compliments Secretary Powell made today regarding many of the Governor’s initiatives and on voter ID we respectively disagree,” the statement read.

Are you with OBrewerCare or an extreme fringe group?

In a deceptive email rife with half truths and outright fabrication, Restoring Arizona, cites a recent poll declaring “68% of all Arizonans probably or definitely” support Medicaid expansion — which they deviously refer to as “Restoration.” The group declares “fringe groups” which it refers to as “extreme,” “comprise the opposition which continues to dismiss the will of the voters.”

Those “extreme fringe groups” would be Arizona’s taxpaying citizens who are attempting to collect enough petition signatures to qualify the issue for ballot placement.

In a classic case of bait and switch, Restoring Arizona claims not only to be protecting our health care future, but rural hospitals and veterans.  No mention that Gov. Jan Brewer has actually authorized imposing a bed tax on hospital patients to fund the unsustainable Medicaid expansion — a hallmark of Barack Obama’s administration.

The poll was commissioned by the lobbying /consulting firm of HighGround owned by none other than ad hoc governor Chuck Coughlin, a top strategist and longtime advisor to Jan Brewer, who has been at her side as she caved to Barack Obama and began mightily pushing his ObamaCare agenda.  

According to the Arizona Capitol Times polling has consistently shown public support for Medicaid expansion. But support, they write, has never been as high as it was in the HighGround poll.

 What a surprise! We have a population that has been led to believe the pie-in-the-sky entity known as “government” owes them a variety of goodies, most notably health care. They don’t care that their grandchildren will be born deeply in debt, funding this monstrosity.  

Arizona’s Republican governor, who once shook her finger in the face of Obama, now warmly welcomes him to the state as he gives an upbeat speech about home ownership that was smoke ‘n mirrors at its best. Home ownership has actually plunged to an 18-year low.

 Expanding Medicaid is essential to Obama’s strategy. Those who oppose this governmental overreach are neither fringe nor extreme.  They are conservatives who are tired of the deceit — regardless of where it originates, including the office of Arizona Gov. Brewer, her strategists, state legislators who run as Republicans and vote with Democrats, or Barack Obama himself.

Rubio discovers perils of McAssociation

It was a lesson most of us learned in our youth: Choose your friends carefully; you’ll be judged by the company you keep.

The Hill reports that the ambitious Marco Rubio has discovered — perhaps too late — that his association with John McCain carries a high price. 

Watching helplessly as his 2016 presidential aspirations evaporate, Rubio who initially played a key role as McCain’s Gang of Eight amnesty pusher, is now lying low, after plummeting from first to sixth place among potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates. Though working to convince Republican senators to vote for the contentious amnesty bill, he no longer wants to take part in putting pressure on House members after receiving a stinging rebuke from conservatives.

In a bow to political expediency, Rubio has dramatically switched gears, downplaying amnesty during his meetings with constituents.  He has switched his focus instead on the effort to defund ObamaCare, another popular topic among Republican activists and Florida’s seniors rightly concerned over restricted health care options.

A good student, Rubio has learned something from his mentor McCain — the fine art of hypocrisy.

Just as McCain transformed from mocking to imitating Sen. Rand Paul’s stance opposing the U.S. sending $ billions in aid to Egypt, Rubio is emulating another senator McCain ridiculed — Sen. Ted Cruz — whose political stature is on the upswing. It was Sen. Cruz who initially spoke about defunding ObamaCare.

Read Alexander Bolton’s “Rubio takes low profile on immigration,” detailing the Florida Senator’s descent in the polls and his desperation-based strategy to right his toppling campaign.

Alert issued for Lindsey: In company of “creepy old man”

Sunday’s Seeing Red AZ post calling for “empty chair town hall meetings” generated an extraordinarily large number of hits — although we suspect they were dwarfed in comparison to the response Carolina Conservatives United received.  The group’s formal request asking South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to issue a statewide “Silver Alert” in the hopes of finding missing Sen. Lindsey Graham made the pages of Breitbart.

Graham, whose photo Carolina Conservatives United has affixed on a milk carton, was last reportedly seen “in Egypt, and Washington DC in the company of a creepy old man.” The milk carton bulletin is being circulated throughout South Carolina.

“Lindsey Graham has not been seen in the state of South Carolina for most of the last two years,” said Bruce Carroll, Chairman of CCU. ”In addition, Graham isn’t holding any town hall meetings during the August recess. Finally, his behavior on television has been disturbing, erratic and devoid of any consistent conservative principles. We are truly concerned that he may be in need of help.”

“It is imperative that we find Lindsey Graham and bring him home. He is suffering from Potomac Fever and has definitely lost his way,” said Breeanne Howe, CCU board member.

The group includes a page on its website titled, “Why Graham must go.”

Nancy Mace, a conservative with tea party backing, is mounting a challenge to Lindsey Graham in the upcoming South Carolina GOP Senate primary. Read her impressive bio.  Support her candidacy here.

Doug Ducey and the company he keeps

Jon Kyl heads Ducey’s exploratory committee policy group

Arizona State Treasurer Doug Ducey revealed today that former Sen. Jon Kyl has agreed to lead a group of policy advisers for his recently-announced exploratory committee for the 2014 governor’s race.

The Monday morning press release includes a hearty exchange of compliments between Doug Ducey and Jon Kyl and then cuts to the bios of those he selected to be instrumental in setting policy for his gubernatorial campaign. Kyl will be leading a policy group for Ducey 2014 that includes:

Cathi Herrod, highly respected lawyer and Arizona’s leading advocate for the foundational values of life, traditional marriage and family, and religious liberty.

The Honorable Robert Fannin, former U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, former Chair of the Arizona Republican Party, and a highly respected leader in business and law.

The Honorable Bill Montgomery, Maricopa County Attorney. A West Point Graduate who received the Bronze Star for his service in the Gulf War. He then graduated Magna Cum Laude from the ASU College of Law receiving the Order of the Coif.

Lea Marquez Peterson, an entrepreneur and advocate for the Southern Arizona business community. Lea runs the largest Latino business organization in the State of Arizona.

Randy Kendrick, lawyer, founder and past president of the Virginia Women Attorneys Association, health care policy expert, and philanthropist.

Ducey says, “I’m fortunate to have such policy grounded leaders advising me, and I’m grateful to each of them for giving time and energy to my exploratory committee for governor.”

McCain’s latest reversal on Egypt

Appearing Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” John McCain declared it was time for the United States to cut off its $1.5 billion yearly aid to Egypt while the military regime violently assaults and slaughters its own citizens on the streets of Cairo. (Full transcript here.)

McCain told host Candy Crowley that the U.S. has “no credibility” in the region after failing to follow its own law that requires suspending aid to states overtaken by a military coup.

Whoa! Let’s back up. If those words sound familiar, it’s because they are.

Those were the words spoken by Sen. Rand Paul. The same words that McCain recently castigated the Kentucky Republican for speaking when McCain was on the other side of the issue.

Sen. Paul offered this amendment to suspend aid to Egypt until the country holds free and fair elections. That measure was rejected by a vote of 86 -13 as Republicans inexplicably sided with Democrats and only 12 stood with Paul. McCain was then a fierce foe of the policy revision stating, “It would be a terrific mistake for the United States to send a message to Egypt: you’re on your own.” I urge my colleagues to vote to table the Paul amendment.”

It was Sen. Rand Paul, the object of McCain’s wrath, who initially noted the Foreign Assistance Act, first enacted in 1961, requires a suspension of foreign aid to any country that undergoes a coup. “How do we lead by example when we’re not going to obey our own laws?” asked Paul. “When the president refuses to acknowledge that it’s a coup. Americans should be outraged and insulted by such blatant shirking of the law. Either we’re a nation of laws or we’re not.”  Paul’s statement can be read here.

The vacillating McCain finally managed to get up to speed in time for yesterday’s program. Tomorrow he could well have another opinion.

And the “Religion of Peace?” It’s adherents have been busying themselves burning and looting 47 churches and monasteries in a new wave of violence against Christians in Egypt.

Are your GOP U.S. Reps holding town halls?

Although it seems much longer ago, it was just last August when Clint Eastwood gave this memorable speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention. He addressed an empty chair — which represented Barack Obama.

Now we hear that high paid political strategists are advising their clients — the members of congress we elected — against holding town hall meetings with us — their constituents, many of whom want their voices heard in advance of a House amnesty vote.

To address those who are still “looking for an appropriate venue,” haven’t finalized their schedule “yet” or have one planned after the vote, we offer this suggestion:  How about holding “empty chair” town halls?

The name and picture of the U.S. Representative who is too busy to meet with us during the 5-week congressional recess we so generously provide for them, could be affixed to an empty chair.  Questions from the audience would then be read to the MIA member of congress.  Video tape the events and post them to YouTube. 

Then re-invite the absent representatives. They might decide to show up. If they don’t, we will be there on Election Day, and hopefully elect someone who honestly responds to our very valid concerns, minus the practiced talking points about securing the border “first.”

Here’s what the AZ Republicans each have posted on their websites:

CD 4 U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar refers to “Immigration and Homeland Security” on a page called “foreign affairs.”

CD 5 U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon has a “Defense and National Security” page that skirts the issue.

CD 6 U.S. Rep. David Schweikert calls his page “Immigration.”

CD 8 U.S. Rep. Trent Franks has an “Immigration” page.

If you see any of these folks, it would be good to remind them that “immigration” is a legal act. Illegal entry is not. Our system is not “broken.” However, the abysmal lack of resolve to meaningfully address the invasion of our nation exemplifies an utter absence of will to tackle the tough issues they assured us they would handle if we sent them to D. C.

They are there.

We recommend reading conservative commentator Ann Coulter’s fact-filled column, “Hispanicked GOP elite: They’ll respect us in the morning.” It will provide the basis for excellent questions to direct to the empty chairs you encounter.

Weekend reading guaranteed to make you smarter…about amnesty

Michael Snyder of Right Side News provides the informative “19 Very Disturbing Facts on Illegal Immigration Every American Should Know.”

This is compelling information worthy of a handout at political meetings, weekend barbecues and other gatherings. Get the facts in advance of the town hall get-togethers you hope your member of congress will schedule in your home district during their lengthy 5-week vacation.

 Knowledge is power.