Pile It On

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Stuff is, as they say, happenin’. Matthew Mosk writes in today’s Washington Post:

The three Democrats on the Federal Election Commission revealed yesterday that they strongly believe President Bush exceeded legal spending limits during the 2004 presidential contest and that his campaign owes the government $40 million.

Their concerns spilled out during a vote to approve an audit of the Bush campaign’s finances, which is conducted to make sure the campaign adhered to spending rules after accepting $74.6 million in public money for the 2004 general election.

Republican commissioners defended the way the Bush campaign billed the cost of more than $80 million in television ads, which were the source of the dispute.

Of course they did. Let’s take a peek back into the Maha archives — from December 31, 2005 — “Federal Election Commission Stacked With Bush Cronies.” The stacking occurred after the 2004 election, but the stackees are the guys who are claiming Bush didn’t do anything wrong.

This story caused me to search The Maha Archives for this post from December 31, 2005: Federal Election Commission Stacked With Bush Cronies.

The FEC normally has six members, three Republicans and three Democrats. One of the Republican, Michael Toner, just resigned, but not before voting on this issue. Toner is a former attorney for Bush ‘s election campaign staff and the Republican National Committee. The two other Republicans who voted are David Mason, a former Heritage Foundation fellow and a Clinton appointee; and Hans von Spakovsk, who became a commissioner by recess appointment in December 2005. A New York Times editorial of December 31, 2005 said of von Spakovsky,

The most objectionable nominee is Hans von Spakovsky, a former Republican county chairman in Georgia and a political appointee at the Justice Department. He is reported to have been involved in the maneuvering to overrule the career specialists at Justice who warned that the Texas gerrymandering orchestrated by Representative Tom DeLay violated minority voting rights. Senators need the opportunity to delve into that, as well as reports of Mr. von Spakovsky’s involvement in such voting rights abuses as the purging of voter rolls in Florida in the 2000 elections.

Let’s go back to the Washington Post:

The dispute centered on the use of what the commissioners called “hybrid” ads, which were intended to promote both the president and Republican members of Congress. The Bush campaign argued that it should not bear the full cost of these ads, so it split the tab with the Republican Party.

As a result, only half of the cost would count toward spending limits imposed on the campaign when it agreed to take public funds. Weintraub said the spending limit is an essential part of the agreement candidates make to accept public financing. “Bush-Cheney 2004 took the $74 million, and then they broke the bargain,” she said.

Commissioner Hans A. von Spakovsky, a Republican, strongly disagreed. “There was no broken bargain,” he said. “There was no violation of the law.”

Of course not, Hans.

4 thoughts on “Pile It On”

  2. Add another pile of shit to the mountain he sits on now. gwbushit does not have the midas touch, he has the mendacious touch. If he spits words from his mouth you can take it as a lie. Anything involving gwbushit goes to shit, is shitty, produces shit, or kills people. If he didn’t have the nuclear button under his shaking pinky I would only laugh at the sadness of himself but that one button makes a little decider into the decider. We all know of his intellectual capacity. Do you trust him with this button? What if he is determined to make the world a big old pile of shit? Hell, he’s done it to most of our country. The repukes party should be outlawed forever and all those supporting this cabal imprisoned. Now. Before the fool destroys what he hasn’t already.

  3. “There was no broken bargain,” he said. “There was no violation of the law.”
    ‘Don’t pay any attention to the man behind the curtain….’

    “emaldinak,” well said.

    Unfortunately, “emaldinak,” this evil, childish boy is ready to push it. He wants to push it. He just needs some reasonable reason to push it. If only to prove to himself that he’s a “real man.”

    Coward’s try to look brave. They preen, they strut. They do anything to show the world that they’re not coward’s. But, being coward’s, they throw the first punch (Iraq) – a “sucker-punch.” Hoping to win without getting hurt. And, when the other side punches back, coward’s pull out a gun and shoot (Iran).

    This is what I fear will happen: This craven coward will continue to try to prove to the world that he has balls. And, being the true sociopath that he is, he doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions. Only that HE shows HE’s a “man of action.” Not the craven coward that he is. Same with Cheney…

    Two coward’s who had “other priorities” when it was their turn to show their courage. Too cowardly to risk exposing their soft, sensitive butts to bullet’s.

    Two cowardly pea’s in the world’s most powerful pod…

    How frightened are you?
    How frightened should you be?
    I’m terrified!!!
    But, I’m doing all that I (legally, btw) can against this evil empire. Please do something, anything, and take action. Blogging just isn’t enough… We all have to do something. Join a peace group near you. Volunteer for a campaign. Write and call your Congress-critters. Contribute time/money to something worthwhile. We’ve all got to do something. If we don’t, we have to accept the consequesnces of our actions, or, of our in-actions…

    We all have to die sometime. I don’t want to go lying down. Neither should you. Let’s do something! Anything…

    And Maha, thanks for what you do: -) You voice your opinion and give a voice to others. Keep up the great work.

  4. That someone with the last name “Bush” should actually go into debt in order to run for office ought to suggest that (a) it costs too much to run for office (b) precisely because of the effect of money in politics.

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