Romney’s Faces Prosecution for Campaign Finance Violations
…by Gordon Duff, Senior Editor
No other American presidential candidate has ever left the US to garner campaign contributions from foreign citizens. There is a reason for this, one Romney and his staff seem oblivious to and the mainstream media has ignored.
Using foreign contributions in any American election is a felony.
If you go outside the US, if you stay inside the US, if your contributor is living in the US but not a citizen, any money you get can mean years in jail.
For Romney, he went the whole way, outside the US, foreign citizens, and while traveling humiliated himself and his country with his ignorance and his attempts to trade illegal cash for promises of illegal war. One could hardly break more laws if one wanted.
Romney raised millions in foreign cash at fundraisers across Israel. One table alone gave him a million in cash. None was from American citizens. Fewer than 10% of Romney’s contributors in Israel are estimated to be “dual citizens.”
A real question many might ask, why would a presidential candidate travel outside the US to seek campaign money at all? As the Supreme Court points out, in the decision Bluman, et al., v. Federal Elections Commission, no foreign cash, especially collected overseas, can ever be used in an American campaign.Here is what the New York Times reports on recent court decisions that disqualify Romney as a candidate:
January 9, 2012, 3:34 pm
Supreme Court Retains Ban on Foreign Campaign Donations
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN JR. In a terse four words, the Supreme Court on Monday issued an order upholding prohibitions against foreigners making contributions to influence American elections.
The decision clamped shut an opening that some thought the court had created two years ago in its Citizens United decision, when it relaxed campaign-finance limits on corporations and labor unions. On Monday the Supreme Court, upholding a lower court’s decision in Bluman, et al., v. Federal Election Commission, refused to extend its reasoning in Citizens United to cover foreigners living temporarily here.
Foreign nationals, other than lawful permanent residents, are completely banned from donating to candidates or parties, or making independent expenditures in federal, state or local elections.
The Supreme Court’s order did not discuss the merits or suggest that there was any dissent among the justices.
The iconic photo below, from the Washington Post, hands Romney out to dry:
The problem stems with bad legal advice Romney
received from his campaign finance staff. The Romney campaign had been
laundering money through corporations, money moved into the US under the
“Citizen’s United” decision of the US Supreme Court.
Romney figured he could then go anywhere in the world, peddle foreign policy, promise war, play president and collect cash from foreigners though this is specifically prohibited by US law.
In doing so, he is no longer qualified for office and, if challenged by Ron Paul, has no standing at the Republican Convention. With such a clear violation of law, not just blatant but massive, Romney could face years in prison.
The Romney/Bain legal team was not available for comment.
It is now for Romney to prove that not one cent of contributions collected from thousands in Israel was actually collected from Israel. We wish him good luck with that.
A man with some real problems to wail about; “Please g-d, don’t let them catch me…”
Here is what the Washington Post reported on Romney’s illegal fundraising efforts inside Israel:JERUSALEM — Mitt Romney held an intimate breakfast fundraiser here Monday with some of his campaign’s biggest benefactors, telling them about the spiritual impact his trip to Israel had had on him.
Seated around a U-shaped conference table with roughly 40 donors, with Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson immediately to his left, Romney said he was “overwhelmingly impressed with the hand of providence.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was expected to raise more than $1 million from the donors, who each were required to raise or donate $25,000 to $50,000 to attend the event. All of the donors are U.S. citizens, and many of them flew here from the United States to be with Romney during his 36-hour visit to Jerusalem.
Many of those in attendance at the posh King David Hotel are major bundlers for Romney’s campaign, raising tens of thousands of dollars from their business associates and friends. Adelson, for instance, has personally committed to giving tens of millions of dollars to a pro-Romney super PAC.
He sure has a big smile on his face
Romney figured he could then go anywhere in the world, peddle foreign policy, promise war, play president and collect cash from foreigners though this is specifically prohibited by US law.
In doing so, he is no longer qualified for office and, if challenged by Ron Paul, has no standing at the Republican Convention. With such a clear violation of law, not just blatant but massive, Romney could face years in prison.
The Romney/Bain legal team was not available for comment.
It is now for Romney to prove that not one cent of contributions collected from thousands in Israel was actually collected from Israel. We wish him good luck with that.
