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Subscribe to RSSIn a legal complaint filed today, a public watchdog group charged that Herman Cain's top campaign aide illegally used corporate funds to pay for iPads and charter flights for Cain's fledgling presidential campaign.
The charges are based on documents -- first disclosed this week by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- showing that funds from a non-profit founded by Cain campaign Chief of Staff Mark Block (called Prosperity USA) were used to pay early expenses for Cain's presidential campaign.
Non-profit groups are barred by law from contributing to political campaigns.
The Cain campaign has said it has retained an outside counsel to investigate the allegations. Cain's campaign lawyer told NBC this week, "We take these allegations very seriously," but declined further comment or to identify the outside counsel.
The complaint alleging election law violations was filed with the Federal Election Commission by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) in Washington. Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director, said:
"As hard as Mr. Cain is trying to prove himself a different kind of candidate, he still has to play by the same rules as everyone else. It is not sufficient for the Cain campaign to investigate itself. Rather, the FEC-- the federal agency charged with enforcing campaign finance laws -- must look into the matter."
Non-profit groups like Prosperity USA are not required to disclose their donors. But Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group for whom Block once worked, said Thursday it is reviewing "financial dealings" it had with Prosperity USA.
Americans for Prosperity -- at whose annual meeting Cain is speaking today -- also does not disclose its donors. It was founded by David and Charles Koch, of Koch Industries, and it's closely affiliated with the Tea Party.
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The hits just keep on rolling for the Cain Train!
Is that the same Mark Block who was run out of WI on multiple charges of voter suppression?
The same Mark Block who has been arrested twice on DUI charges?
Mark Block the guy who's home is in foreclosure?
What a class act! lol
Hermie sure knows how to surround himself with 'winners'...
Feisty -
This begins to read like a play I saw before - in the primary season of 2008.
The lead character then was named John Edwards.
He sure can sing though!!!
or like donald trump,,,michele bachman,,,,rick perry and now herman cain not in 2008 but the last three months the gop is way better at screwing stuff up now....practice i guess....
oh boy.......this is trouble of many colors and Cain made it.
Cain's campaign issued the following statement. "Money is the root of all evil. Send me some more."
Also, Herman wants less coverage of his campaign, please, it's cutting into his book sales.
JohnA----at least John Edwards pretended to care about the least of us. Herman Cain blames their troubles on......well, them.
Looks like Herman has more skeletons in his closet than Jeffery Dahmer.
I might have voted for Edwards at one time, but I am glad he is being held responsible for his crap. And will be happy when KochCain is held responsible for all of his.
I don't see how they could claim that they didn't know using funds from the non-profit was against the law. That's pretty basic. If they knew enough to form a non-profit, they knew enough to know why it was a non-profit.
It will be interesting to see how the right wing commentors will try to deflect this one. Herman Cain is not capable of handling a campaign how then can anyone believe that he can lead the most powerful Nation in the World?
What is it going to take for a Republican Candidate to make it to Primary Season? They are exploding like (choose one)
1. Humpback whales in a minefield.
2. Bachmann's brain aneurysm after a six pack of Mountain Dew and 4 hours of partying with Lindsay Lohan (who has her own Yankee Candle scent now-- it smells like Marlboros and Vodka)
3.Newt Gingrich at an all-you-can-eat buffet-- he likes those because they are self-serving...
4. Ron Paul at a Star Trek convention--he finally gets to meet Spock!
5. Herman Cain at a Hooters..... nuff said.
or
6. Mitt Romney at a combination see-saw and weather vane convention, while wearing flip flops and straddling a comfortable fence made of money.
Kevin Belake Johnson -
Lordy, you sure made me laugh. Thanks!
Hermann told me those girls at hooters have some awesome fabrications, actually he told the waitress I just overheard him, oops he said he would pick up the lunch tab if I did not talk about that ever again.
hey Kevin Belake,
Sounds like you are spending too much time at the OWS protests. lol
The drugs aren't good for your health.
Simple, the establishment republicans are taking them, down within one at a time, they will leave Romney and take him down before the general election. Continue to block Obama domestically and let him do his republican foreign policy, and blame him for the continuation of the recession=guarantee takeover in 2016. Its what the democrats did to Kerry in 2004, sacrificial lamb to the cause, they have no one decent to take over.
Laugh out loud funny and deadly accurate. Great post.
Kevin Blake Johnson,
Great image!!! I won't be able to get it out of my mind during the next GOP candidates debates.
Herman Cain should make a bid to run Hooters-it's a natural for him.
And from the folks on the right.............*crickets*
I really think tea party backers are just using Cain to force Romney in line.
I really think tea party backers are just using Cain to force Romney in line.
This is so good.....
Cain, with his paltry amounts of money "broke campaign finance laws"......LOL
All the while Obama gets close to a billion from lobbyists, using other names, not to mention money from crooks like Corzine ( who stole it from his own clients).
What do we hear from Msnbc on Obama's campaign money??????
CRICKETS.
Leona I did not know the FBI had completed their investigation, gone to trial and been sentenced to jail. Wow that was quick. Glad you were watching.
OK, so if all of the Democrats in the world break the law, then, under your logic, its ok for Republicans to break it too, right ?
As to Mr. Cain, bye, bye, your 15 minutes are up.
I repeat....
Cain, with his paltry amounts of money "broke campaign finance laws"......LOL
All the while Obama gets close to a billion from lobbyists, using other names, not to mention money from crooks like Corzine ( who stole it from his own clients).
Where's the article?
Crickets.
le oo na
do u an merli perli
work for brite-fart?
roger,
I know the truth su#$%, BUT it's STILL THE TRUTH.
It shall set you free ( only IF you stop drinking the kool aid, it's bad for your health).
I will keep my sweet koolaid and you can keeping drinking your poisoned tea of stupidity.
Leona, Apparently the kool-aid you speak of comes in many flavors. Here is the link to the article from MSNBC about Corzine - Obama campaign contributions.
Oddly enough I could not find an article on Fox news about Herman Cains illegal contributions or the complaint filed by CREW. By the way, you have about 40 comments on this story alone. Don't you have a job or family to attend to? Perhaps you are paid by the Koch brothers to protect their 'Brother from Another Mother'.
Hey melissa ,
Nice link, LOL
Perhaps YOU are paid by the state run left wing media outlet?? Now, that's more believable.
I know you would like me to shut up but I won't.
Not that it's any of your business, but, since you asked, I do have a job.
There's a sick perverse thing that the liberal media does...... They figure if they LIE enough on web sites like this, people will begin to believe them.
I can do my best here by TELLING the TRUTH and hope some of the kool aid drinkers are lucid enough to hear it.
The truth will set you free.
BTW, don't you "have a family to attend to", or maybe a real job??
@leona- You are such a delightful person to have a political conversation with! Here is that link again (actually a different one, MSNBC has run several articles on the subject). I know that you think that you are telling the truth and in fact you seem to think that you are some type of hero or martyr for doing so but you are really just a partisan who will believe what they want to believe no matter what reality says to the contrary. This link was easy to find, you could have found it if you had tried even a little. Here is is again:
This is not a hyperlink, you will need to cut and paste into your browser. Thanks Leona, you really add to the conversation.
Melissa,
What link?? LOL, you are so deceptive.
BTW, You're calling me a "partisan" ?? Does that mean you are one too? Why else do care so much about what I have to say here unless you are paid for your rebuttals to people like me??
Probably nothing.
And it will be well over a billion from lobbyists. Hell, wouldn't surprise me if he got a blank check to do whatever he needs to run for President.
But at this juncture of the pre-primary season, he could club baby seals on the White House lawn with his junk on live TV and still appear more sane than Michelle Bachmann, more sincere than Mitt Romney, more stable than Ron Paul, and more relevant than Newt Gingrich. What I'm SAYIN is that ya'll runnin a bunch of village idiots for the highest office in the world outside of the Vatican.
I mean, and this is just an honest question, would you let Herman Cain date your daughter?
To be sure, somewhere out there, there is a communications grad who is working for the Republican Party. Someone with a 4 year degree of telling people to shut up before they get sued or indicted. Maybe they are all working for the Democrats. Hell, Clinton went through them like a hooker buffet.....
This is a nothing story--meaning that Herman Cain was an also-ran before he even got poll numbers. He was not even gonna be a footnote, but now he gets his turn in the 24 hour news grinder. Hopefully, after his wife divorces him, his book sells well. Otherwise, he is gonna end up like the inventor of Ho'Cakes in the movie Hollywood Shuffle--just sitting on a sidewalk talking about how even ho's eat cake....
Well, well, well....it seems that despite the general consensus here that Cain is considered somewhere between imbecile and buffoon, he has obviously been taken seriously enough for somebody to go poking around looking for campaign fraud. And as the debates heat up, regarding Corzine....well, we can't have the Cheater in Chief being scrutinized without throwing a similar amount of mud all around. Distractions, distractions, distractions....once again, nothing substantive.
Sue,
You are right. You'll hear about Cain's paltry campaign finances which no one in the liberal media cares about because it's "chump change."
....BUT the liberal media wants to write 50 stories about Herman Cain to deflect,deflect,deflect......
They keep the lemmings in tow with stories about Cain, go figure....
Uncle Tom Cain received 1.5 million since Sunday
29 Nov 2011
hey Roger,
I guess you didn't you have a mother who taught you that the race baiting comments just breed hate.
Sad.
Heh, the debates haven't heated up just yet, Sue. Ya'll are still trying to figure out which whuppin' boy to send up. And the Republican cupboard is as barren as Michelle Bachmann.
Hell, Cain didn't even last 2 weeks as a candidate frontrunner before he got bimbonailed. Didn't ya'll learn anything from Clinton? You GOTTA BURY THAT STUFF REAL DEEP, or it pops up just when you ain't looking for it. That wasn't even a serious vetting if Politico stumbled on it--I mean,its POLITICO, the hotbed of investigative journalism beyond reproach who prolly makes up more unsubstantiated stuff than the Weekly World News. Hillary probably has real actual bodies buried in New York, but you will never find them. That's because we Dems know how to bury stuff, and you guys just Bundy out when it comes to your little twitches.
Kevin,
You are right about Dems "burying" the bad stuff that may hurt them. The Dems must have burned all of Obama's college papers written on themes like......the benefits of Socialism, Communism, The New Black Panthers, "spread the wealth", ACORN, etc. etc.
Ironic, Leona, that you accuse others of deflecting. You do know what that word means, don't you?
So burying the Corzine story is being buried deep? So Clinton buried the bimbos deep? Wow! Such diggers the main stream media and Politco must be. Backhoes or shovels don't matter when politicians are doing wrong they should be exposed. Koch brothers and Cain have been exposed. One more GOPer down and a few to go.
Dems are good at "burying" the bad stuff that may hurt them. There's heaps of it! Just ask A.Weiner who got away with his criminal behavior for years. Bill Clinton even presided over his wedding. LOL
The Dems must have burned all of Obama's college papers written on themes like......the benefits of Socialism, Communism, The New Black Panthers, "spread the wealth", ACORN, etc. etc.
Wouldn't those Obama papers be fun to read???????????????
Leona the dems aren't doing anything at the moment, they are letting the establishment republicans take the tea party and their animal trainers-the Koch brothers down within. They are praising Obama in foreign affairs, vocally criticizing tea party candidates and mean while tea party morons still think its the liberal media doing it all. They are just using the leaked information to them, that is their jobs.
Oh really, Jan ????????
Then count the stories here on Cain vs. the stories about all the other news of the world.
Take your head out of the kool aid punch bowl.
So, who is your pick for the Republican candidate? And don't be going all shy, you can pick one!
Any Repub will do.
What will Obama say when questions like this are asked?
Mr.President, why was it OK to send half a billion to Solyndra after you were told that was a bad bet for the tax payers??
Short answer is Green technology is the future and we are already years behind China in this area because our last president and his handlers are addicted to Oil. We need to take chances on companies like Solyandra. Sometimes these risks pay off and sometimes they don't. The last thing we need however is to quit taking these chances.
Melissa,
First of all, with all due respect, Obama was told ahead of time, the company was a bad risk. He spent the tax payers money anyway.
Second, how is destroying jobs , in the name of "green", going to help all the Americans who don't have jobs, can't pay the bills and don't believe they'll ever be able to afford SOLAR PANELS or an ELECTRIC CAR ?????????????
JOBS JOBS JOBS....... Vote GOP.
The teabagging elephants are all imploding!! there is a god
That's because they keep dropping massive amounts of poop without taking in any substance....
At least pick a candidate that has the potential of seeming intelligent. Good grief, these republicans seem like a joke on Americans. Could it be that donors like the Kock brothers and Karl Rove want a stupid indecisive person in the Presidential office in order to pull the strings more easily?
We had that already. The president who was in office from January 2001 to January 2009 fits the stupid category nicely. They don't like Obama because he has a brain and they can't control him like they did the other guy.
You are right baldeagle! It must be sweet for Rove and Kock brothers to think they are close to sealing a deal.
It always amazes me that people have to use the argument that someone else is wrong too...if Cain broke the law not once but twice it seems to be, Then he should own it.Â
I do not think we need to throw unsubstantiated rumors and or just ideas popping around in your own minds to make up an argument for the person being looked at for what ever transgressions are out there...Silly
BTW Cain is not running for President! He is doing a book tour...he is also out there to distract from real issues in our country...
When are people going to examine the Koch Bros and all their flunkies um I mean Governors? That is where the focus should be...
And just how much of that money that Corzine stole from his clients wound up in Obama campaign coffers? Or was used to fund Obama leaning PACs or operations like ACORN or OWS? Will we be seeing some hard hitting investigative journalism on that coming out of MSNBC?
HAHA.
Crickets.
Because one wrong makes two wrongs okay. Hmm, if Obama did knowingly break laws then it is a problem but the laws Cain broke could not possibly have been unknown.
Jan,
You miss the point. Put down the kool aid, you're drunk enough.
The point is .... you'd never hear a word about it if Obama did the same thing. YOU will only hear negative stuff about Repubs.
Leona
We havent asked to see Cains birth certificate yet!
The best thing for Mr. Cain to do is get to the bottom of this right away and correct it if there was any wrong doing.
RUT RHO
I guess the voters are getting another dose of duplicity from Obama. On the one hand he claims to be running the most transparent administration ever. But on the other, he is delaying and screaming about having to respond to request from Congress for documentation/information so Congress can determine what caused tax payers to suffer a half a billion in losses. What is he hiding? And why would any President not want to allow Congress to determine what happened to cause tax payers to lose money? I thought Mr. Obama told us he was going to get rid of the waste and corruption in Washington. If anything, he should be gladly assisting Congress in getting to the bottom of this so tax payers are protected going forward. Me thinks he doth protest too loudly!!!
BTW, isn't it one of the Presidents constitutional duties to make sure that the laws are adhered to, not broken, and to watch over the public's interest in making sure their tax dollars are not being spent unwisely or in a crooked fashion.? Last time I looked vacationing and golfing were not listed as Constitutional duties of the President. So I guess he will have to set those aside for a bit in order to see that Congress is not impeded in their efforts to protect tax payer monies.
Were you complaining when "W" set the record for the most vacation days EVER taken by a President?
Kind of like when the Bush administration issued orders to key advisors not to respond to subpoenas by congress as the executive branch does not answer to the legistlative. Your party used it too, hypocrit.
Did Bush go around saying that he was running the most transparent administration ever? And in your mind do two wrongs make it right? Fact is, Obama has no excuse for delaying and preventing Congressional inquiries into how tax payer money is being spent. If anything, he should be assisting them in doing so, not stalling and hiding.
What really baffles me is how hard the tea party is holding onto Cain versus Perry, Cains mistakes have been so much bigger, the ignorant comments more dangerous and breaking laws yet they still hold on. Is it that you just want an ignorant criminal in the white house? Wait that is what you call Obama, why don't you just vote for him if you want that? Because he isn't, he is a harvard educated, law professor who wins in foreign affairs and has been stone walled in domestic. You have no proof of any allegations but their is proof of Cains criminal activities on record and his ignorance, keep voting for him, I am sure 70% of the country will end up voting for Obama.
Jan,
It's simple.
Cain is the NON politician and people are sick of politicians, Obama included, whether they are repub or democrat.
when cain said that all blacks were brainwashed by being democrates well mr cain the tea party is getting ready to show you that you too are black you were on a book signing tour and not a presidental campaganin
Hey Jean, I am just curious....
Why is Mr.Cain always called "Black" by you liberals?
Why can't he just be a wealthy man, a Republican, a Christian, a guy running for President??
Liberals love the labels but as soon as someone uses a label to describe the LEFT, we are called JUDGEMENTAL, to say the least !
I’m most concerned about Cain’s ties to the Federal Reserve, his praise of Alan Greenspan and Henry Kissinger, his vehement and angry support for the TARP bailouts (and how he now tries to whitewash that issue), his lack of real economic knowledge, his proposed 999 plan, which will make most people pay more taxes (!), his support for Romney in 08, and his ignorance and offensive views on foreign policy, wars, trade, liberty, and diplomacy. The guy is really a total hack, and if he somehow gets the nomination, it will be a sad day for the GOP.
Ron Paul is the only one being honest to the American people about the growing debt and the dangers of the warfare/welfare state. Time to wake up.
I don't give a rat's *** what color Cain's skin is. He is not qualified to be president. He is typical CORPORATE America running for President! He is arrogant & condenscending. (Come on out grammar police!)
Don't forget he's the one who said if you don't have a job it's your fault! If he is elected president I swear there is no hope for America. I dislike Obama intensely but I will vote for him over Cain in a second!