Some Super PAC Donors Have Corporate Bribery Issues

There is a reason this site has changed names to include Republicans because now it is both parties trying to buy the Presidency for their own purposes so they can continue to get even wealthier and regulations go the way of the dinosaur which makes them more money.  Looks like in this election the big money is on Romney to give them more breaks and to allow them to get even wealthier while paying low taxes and shipping jobs overseas.

Watchdogs fear that a future administration, brought to power by these donors, could drop investigations, appoint or hire opponents of FCPA enforcement at the Justice Department and the SEC, or otherwise shift the focus away from FCPA.

"Administrations can set priorities," said Bill Allison, the Sunlight Foundation's editorial director. "They can lower the priority of going after Foreign Corrupt Practices prosecutions. They can spend less on investigations, less on oversight. And they can just send the message that our priorities are this, this and this, and Foreign Corrupt Practices [enforcement] isn't one of them." 

Not shocked to see this article because the rumors have been out there for some time on some of these investigations which are aimed at huge donors of both parties.  Adelson and the Koch Brothers can scream witch hunt all they want but we heard the same from Rupert Murdoch when the story in London broke about News Corp.  First of all agencies don't waste money tracking down unfounded rumors.  IOTW where there is smoke, there is usually fire. 

In this instance the Koch Brothers fired a group of employees overseas which I guess they thought would make the issue of bribes go away.  Since they openly admit they will spent $100,000,000 to put Romney in office you have to wonder how much that has to do with the charges pending against them.  Will Romney reward his big donors with getting these investigations stopped and make any charges disappear just like Obama made sure his donors made out like bandits with the stimulus?  Unfortunately, believe that is exactly what will happen. 

Was disgusted when George Soros tried to buy the election in 2004 by defeating President Bush and electing John Kerry.  He got his President in 2008 with Obama but he didn't get everything he wanted so he is not on board this time.  Like spoiled brats who don't get their way so the take the ball and go home.

Koch Brothers don't believe in unions or the minimum wage.  We are not talking public service unions but regular unions.  What would manufacturing look like without a minimum wage and unions.  We would be back to the days where workers were treated like slaves to do the bidding of the owners.  I am certainly not a big union supporter but the Koch Brothers have gone way too far in what they want for America taking us back in time to where the middle class had a hard time making ends meet while owners of businesses were making huge profits. 

It is obvious the Koch Brothers don't value the middle class as evidenced by their comments and using a multi-millionaire as their candidate to buy this election.  They believe their millions are the answer to everything.  Romney is not a strong individual and would be in their hip pocket to do their bidding.  He would be so afraid that they would turn on him, he would do what they said.  Anyone who flip flops all the time is subject to being a puppet of the wealthy donors. 

We have seen it with the first two years of Obama when he was beholding to big donors.  He decides to step outside the box and go after Wall Street.  What happens?  The the big donors from Wall Street dump Obama and go to their next pigeon Mitt Romney.  The group that caused this financial disaster hasn't made enough money so now they want one of their own, Mitt Romney, to make sure they continue to get even more wealthy.  He is one of them -- no additional teachers, police, fire, and cut government workers along with regulations but no cuts to programs that favor the wealthy.  Those programs are off limits like DoD contracts where billions are made.

Wish I could say it was only the Presidency that was For Sale but it is Congress as well as big donor groups like the Koch Brothers and Crossroads spend millions on ads for Senate seats.  They spin and sometimes lie in the ads to make their candidates look better.  Many of the large donors hide behind groups like Crossroads that do not have to disclose donors. 

It is time for the American people to rise up and demand transparency in all elections -- make everyoine play by the same rules.  It is obvious that donors need rules because after Citizens United the ordinary person has little say in this election except with our vote.  Big donors are keeping the GOP and Romney afloat because of the 600,000 donors to all the GOP campaigns out of those who gave less than $200 only 13% have given to Romney.   Romney has the big donors all lined up to help him buy the Presidency but the 87% of us who gave to other candidates all have votes which far out number his large donor base. 

Republican small donors are speaking with their checkbooks against Romney so now it is time to speak out with our voices against a man who has bought this primary election with irregularities in state after state along with State Conventions.  When you cheat to win and then act like a juvenile with your campaign having your bus driving around an Obama speech site honking, that person is not ready for prime time and certainly not ready for President. 

Now we learn that big donors to Super PACs have bribery issues.  Who would have thought they were not honest?  (sarcasm)

Paul Blumenthal
paulblumenthal@huffingtonpost.com
Sheldon Adelson, Other Super PAC Donors Have Corporate Bribery Issues

Posted: 06/18/2012 3:38 pm Updated: 06/18/2012 4:52 pm

WASHINGTON -- A federal law to prevent U.S. companies from paying bribes to business overseas recently came to the forefront when The New York Times reported that Walmart officials had covered up alleged bribes made by company representatives in Mexico. The retail giant faces federal investigation for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Wealthy individuals connected with Walmart have meanwhile taken advantage of new campaign finance rules that allow for unlimited contributions -- and raise fears of unlimited influence over a future administration.

Jim and Alice Walton, children of the founder of Walmart, have contributed $200,000 each to Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign. Jim Walton sits on the board of Walmart, and both owe their place near the top of the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans to their stake in the company.

The Waltons are not alone among super PAC donors with businesses facing FCPA investigation. At least three other major contributors currently have FCPA worries, and others may be looming. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, another big-money campaign spender, continues its lobbying to loosen enforcement of the anti-corruption law.
Campaign finance watchdogs warn that limitless contributions to super PACs today could influence future priorities at the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, where FCPA investigations originate.

"You've got a whole business community that wants to exercise whatever it takes to maximize their profits," said Craig Holman, Public Citizen's government affairs director. "These are the types of people who want to weaken oversight that would govern fair business practices."

The most notable of the super PAC donors with FCPA concerns is Sheldon Adelson, international casino magnate and eighth richest person in the United States.

Adelson and his family have already contributed $21.5 million to a super PAC that supported Newt Gingrich's presidential bid, $10 million to the pro-Romney super PAC and $5 million to a super PAC with close ties to House Republican leadership. A recent Huffington Post report found that he had given or promised to give $71 million to both super PACs and nonprofits spending money in the 2012 election.

The billionaire's business, Las Vegas Sands Inc., faces three FCPA investigations into casino operations in Macau, China.

Those investigations center on allegations made by the former Sands China chief executive officer, Steve Jacobs, that payments were made by company representatives in Macau to government officials and deals cut with members of the Chinese mafia known as the Triads.

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Oil tycoons Charles and David Koch, who have promised to spend no less than $100 million to defeat President Barack Obama and place Romney in the White House, have similar legal concerns. Their company, Koch Industries, is under investigation for potential FCPA violations. The company has already fired a host of employees from the European subsidiary involved in the alleged payments to officials in Africa, India and the Middle East.

The computing company Hewlett-Packard is under investigation for alleged payments made by former employees to help a German subsidiary expand into Russia. CEO Meg Whitman and her husband combined to give $200,000 to the pro-Romney super PAC.

Romney supporters are not the only big-money donors with FCPA troubles. While it is not a full-blown investigation, the SEC has opened an inquiry into whether Hollywood studios could be involved in making payments to gain access to the lucrative Chinese movie market, according to CNN Money. One of those studios is DreamWorks, whose CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has contributed $2 million to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC backing President Barack Obama's reelection, and has raised at least $500,000 for the president's campaign committee.
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Excerpt:  Read More at Huffington Post and view more of the large donors trying to buy this election