#campaign contributions

[tomorrowusa]

You can often judge people by their associates.

Santos' major backers include a migrant smuggler, an unlikely Trump donor, the cousin of a sanctioned Russian oligarch and a convicted felon.

A controversial donor, who along with his apparent domestic partner gave a combined $34,500 to Santos, is Andrew Intrater, the CEO of a company which once had ties to a sanctioned Russian oligarch Intrater is the CEO of Sparrow Capital — an investment firm formerly known as Columbus Nova. Prior to the imposition of sanctions on the oligarch in 2018, it was listed in regulatory filings as an affiliate of Viktor Vekselberg's Renova Group, an aluminum, energy and telecom conglomerate.

[ ... ]

Intrater is a prolific donor to Republican candidates and causes — he paid $250,000 to attend former President Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2017. 

So there’s an indirect tie to Putin. That gives Santos something else in common with Trump.

Aren’t foreign nationals prohibited from making campaign donations?

Rocco Oppedisano's family was visibly involved with Santos's campaign. Reportedly an Italian national, the 54-year-old, donated $500 to a victory committee benefiting Santos' campaign in September according to FEC records. That donation to the son of Brazilian immigrants who campaigned as tough on immigration, drew attention after the Daily Beast reported that Oppedisano had pleaded guilty to smuggling undocumented migrants into the U.S. in 2019. A further review of Oppedisano's court records show his criminal record also includes convictions for grand larceny, DWIs, and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. 

It seems that Oppedisano was smuggling migrants to Ron DeSantis’s Florida.

When Oppedisano was arrested on his 63-foot Sunseeker yacht, the INXS FINALLY, in December 2019 off the coast of Miami, the Coast Guard found he was smuggling over a dozen undocumented migrants from the Bahamas to Florida. They also said they found over $200,000 in U.S. and Bahamian currency hidden behind a panel in a closet on board.

Yes, anti-immigrant Republicans are smuggling migrants into the US for cash. So what else is new?

But wait, there’s more!

In his May 2020 campaign disclosure filings, he claimed to have no assets and a $55,000 salary from a previous employer. However, in disclosures filed just weeks before election day for his latest campaign, Santos claimed to have earned $750,000 in annual salary for the period between January 2021 and December 2022, as well as millions in dividends from his company, Devolder Organization LLC.

As they said in the film All the President’s Men, “follow the money”.

[commonsensecommentary]

Let’s hope SBF doesn’t “commit suicide” in jail before we find out whose pockets he filled with stolen money. Given his ties to the Democratic Party, we deserve a full accounting of how his Ponzi scheme magically avoided governmental scrutiny for so long.

[elementalladymallorie]

"To the reunion of old friends." "To not being alright!" "Hey hey. And to Letters." "To Letters." "And Cyrus." "To the friends we will meet again."

-The Bells Hells toast.

[theusviral]

Businesses with big NY interests throw cash at Kathy Hochul in final days of tight NY gov race

Businesses with big NY interests throw cash at Kathy Hochul in final days of tight NY gov race

Individuals and businesses that rely on state contracts and tax breaks have been throwing tens of thousands of dollars at Gov. Kathy Hochul — despite months of accusations about alleged pay-to-play schemes with campaign donors — as her tight race against Republican Lee Zeldin enters its final days. “Kathy Hochul put a giant for sale sign on New York State’s Capitol, so of course special interests…

[bobbyo-1967]

Creepy Ken Buck Got Campaign Cash From Who??

Creepy Ken Buck Got Campaign Cash From Who??

26 October 2022 CEO Jeremy Stoppelman YELP 140 New Montgomery Street 9th Floor San Francisco, CA  94105 Dear CEO Stoppelman: I hope this message finds you well.  I am a regular YELP user.  I find it very helpful. Due to the nature of this year, with Democracy on the ballot, we have been studying who spends what on Republicans.  We immediately noticed that mixed in with many Democrats, you…

[reportwire]

Biden to mark IBM investment with Democrats in tough races

Biden to mark IBM investment with Democrats in tough races

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is ready to celebrate a new $20 billion investment by IBM in New York’s Hudson River Valley with two House Democrats running in competitive races in next month’s critical midterm elections. Biden is taking part in a Thursday afternoon announcement at the IBM facility in Poughkeepsie, New York. He is expected to hold out the company’s plans as part of what the…

[tiredyke]

people talk about traumatized/victimized men like they have a deeper understanding of trauma than women could ever achieve, like they’re just more introspective or capable of emotional depth. they give them the benefit of the doubt and room to talk and grieve that is never afforded to victimized women like have you guys even spoken to a woman and thought “this is an entire human person with complex thought” or are they all just stock characters to you

[tomorrowusa]

Donate Smart. 💵 👩🏻‍🎓

Remember Amy McGrath? She’s a retired Marine fighter pilot who lives in Kentucky.

She ran for US Senate against Mitch McConnell in 2020. Because Democrats everywhere loathe Moscow Mitch, they donated a whopping $94 million to her campaign – even though her chances of defeating McConnell were slim. The word “fundraging” comes to mind.

The Losing Democrats Who Gobbled Up Money  

In the closing days before the November 2020 election, Amy McGrath, a retired Marine fighter pilot challenging the powerful Republican incumbent Senator Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, sent a series of email blasts to her followers. The race was “tightening,” one said, and she needed more money “to hit Mitch harder than ever before.” Another urgent-sounding appeal hinted that a cash crunch might be at hand: “After tonight, we’ll have to make some big choices about the budget.” Yet another warned, “[W]e simply can’t afford to scale back any of our programs in the final days of this election.”

There was little evidence the contest was tightening. McGrath’s internal polls late in the summer gave her campaign team at least a little hope, but by October that was no longer the case. As for money, she already had enough. In fact, she had raised more than enough—tens of millions of dollars more—than what was needed to run a robust campaign in the state of Kentucky. By Election Day, McGrath had brought in a record-obliterating $94 million—$63 million more than had ever been raised for a campaign in Kentucky. McConnell dramatically stepped up his fundraising this time around, but she still outpaced him by $27 million.

That money didn’t help much. McConnell still won convincingly.

Modern political campaigns like McGrath’s are multimillion-dollar pop-ups. The operatives involved in them raise the money, spend it, shut it all down after Election Day, and move on.

When flashy new political personalities burst upon the scene or if candidates are running against incumbents who, outside their states/districts, have high negatives, there is a tendency to treat such people as messiahs.

The problem with that is these long shot phenoms suck money away from candidates in other parts of the country who may be less flashy but who have a far better chance of winning.

There are Trump Republicans in the US House like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Lauren Boebert who are repulsive. But they are certain to get re-elected no matter how much money people throw at their opponents. If verifiable photos emerged of them having an orgy with Vladimir Putin, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several recent mass shooters, it would barely move the needle from Solid Republican to Likely Republican in their districts.

The people running against them and against similar Trumpsters in deep red districts are very nice, but donating to them won’t change things.

In a legislative body, power is in the hands of the majority. Awful people like Boebert and Gaetz are legislatively harmless as long as they remain in a minority.

On the other hand, there are Democrats in tight races where you can make an enormous difference. Keeping the number of House Democrats at 218 or above is the key to power. It’s not necessary for them to be charismatic or sexy.

Here are the 20 tightest US House races according to FiveThirtyEight’s Top 50 list as of early Wednesday.

Giving $5 to each of the Democrats above is a far better investment than dumping $100 on a single race in a way deep red district.

BTW, because of Alaska’s ranked choice system, no names are given in the listing above. But the incumbent Democrat is Mary Peltola, a native Alaskan who won an upset victory in a special election to fill a vacancy last summer.

If I have a personal favorite on that list, it’s Elaine Luria in VA-02. After redistricting in Virginia, Rep. Luria found herself in a district which is a Toss Up rather than Lean Democratic. If you’ve been watching the House January 6th Committee hearings then you’ve seen her at work. Rep. Luria is the committee member whose presentation exposed Sen. Josh Hawley running in fear from the terrorists he helped incite. 😅 Elaine Luria deserves a few bucks just for that. Though she’s an outstanding representative overall.

[singinginthecar]

also 40/40 clean sweep in tn 😭 i'm actually sobbing i love TAMIL NADU!!

[astercontrol]

when I run for office I will be 100% clear, transparent and consistent about whether i have fucked a couch. i will even post video if the american people want it

[coffeenonsense]

Gale is such a perfect representation of a tweedy little academic honestly

"Do you know what's going to happen if we don't get these tadpoles out?"

Yes Gale. I literally watched someone get turned into a mindflayer like, five hours ago. Also Lae'zel will not stop talking about it.

"Ah but did you know the specific TERM for it?"

No, I did not, Gale. Thank you for your contribution.

[cartoonghosts]

not vibing i feel like my depression has been sneaking up on me like I thought I was good for so long and this isn't even sudden and I'm genuinely considering death I don't know what's going in, I'm enjoying life and things are good but fuck I don't want to do this anymore. The trees aren't as beautiful as they used to be. I think it's ending.

[sunnytastic]

no because the gang are actually such great allies because they treat dee with as much misogyny as they would a cis woman and if that isn't queer solidarity, I don't know what it

[popuplee]

man i cant even do a bit abt yosuke losing the tournament bcus people on twitter are genuinely malding about it & its like guys what happened to yosuke being cringefail 💔 why are u acting like the mods killed ur newborn 💔

[variantsofblue]

Help Palestinian Family With Small Donations

Do you want to give to Palestinian fundraisers but you have less than five dollars USD/five euros/five dollars CAD (minimum donation amount in these currencies)? Instead of giving up, please donate what you can to the Haboub family's fundraiser.

This family urgently needs funds to pay for treatment for one member who was injured in a school massacre as well as to pay the high monthly rent they are being charged.

Due to exchange rates, the minimum donation for this fundraiser equates to around 50 cents USD. So if you have less than the minimum amount required for other fundraisers, you can still donate here and help this family survive. Small donations add up!

This fundraiser is vetted by @/90-ghost

Tagging for reach: @appsa @feluka @sar-soor @buttercuparry @transmutationisms @aces-and-angels @opencommunion @schoolhater