DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Understands Politics Better Than Her Critics

If your post is to try and indicate there are bad people on both sides I would have to agree. Some intentional and some out of ignorance. And some, both.

Her not being afraid often ends with sticking her foot in her mouth, but I watched her eviscerate the equifax CEO with simple, punchy questions and I loved it.

AOC’s chief of staff ran $1M slush fund by diverting campaign cash to his own companies

by Alana Goodman


March 04, 2019 03:34 PM



Two political action committees founded by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s top aide funneled over $1 million in political donations into two of his own private companies, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday.

The cash transfers from the PACs — overseen by Saikat Chakrabarti, the freshman socialist Democrat's chief of staff — run counter to her pledges to increase transparency and reduce the influence of "dark money" in politics.

Chakrabarti's companies appear to have been set up for the sole purpose of obscuring how the political donations were used.
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The arrangement skirted reporting requirements and may have violated the $5,000 limit on contributions from federal PACs to candidates, according to the complaint filed by the National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group.

Campaign finance attorneys described the arrangement as “really weird” and an indication "there’s something amiss." They said there was no way of telling where the political donations went — meaning they could have been pocketed or used by the company to pay for off-the-books campaign operations.

PACs are required to disclose how and when funds are spent, including for expenditures such as advertisements, fundraising emails, donations to candidates, and payments for events and to vendors.

The private companies to which Chakrabarti transferred the money from the PACs are not subject to these requirements.

[Also read: Poor people not allowed in AOC's luxury apartment complex]

The complaint names Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti as respondents. It asks the FEC to investigate and audit the two PACs, saying they were engaged in an "an elaborate scheme to avoid proper disclosure of campaign expenditures."

Tom Anderson, director of the National Legal and Policy Center's Government Integrity Project, said: "It appears Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her associates ran an off-the-books operation to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, thus violating the foundation of all campaign finance laws: transparency."

Chakrabarti, 33, is a Harvard graduate and technology entrepreneur who became an organizer for Bernie Sanders during the socialist's 2016 presidential campaign.

He founded a PAC called Brand New Congress in 2016 and another called Justice Democrats in 2017, with the stated goal of helping elect progressive candidates to Congress. One of those candidates was Ocasio-Cortez, who, last November, age 29, became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

According to the Brand New Congress website, the PAC would build a "unified campaign" infrastructure including fundraising, organizing, rallies, and advertising progressive congressional candidates across the country could "plug into," saving the individual campaigns time and money.

"Our idea is really to run a single unified presidential-style campaign that is going to look a lot like the Bernie Sanders campaign,” said Chakrabarti in an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in May 2016. "The campaign infrastructure and fundraising is set aside from the campaigning."

In 2016 and 2017, Chakrabarti’s PACs raised about $3.3 million for the project, primarily from small donors. During this time, the committees transferred over $1 million to two shell companies controlled by Chakrabarti with names similar to one of the PACs, Brand New Campaign LLC and Brand New Congress LLC, according to federal election filings.

[Related: AOC 'living wage' rules allow her staff to dodge financial disclosure laws]

A few weeks after starting the Brand New Congress PAC, Chakrabarti formed one of the companies, Brand New Campaign LLC, in Delaware, using a registered agent service and mailbox-only address.

Over the next seven months, as small-dollar political donations poured into the PAC from progressives across the country, the committee transferred over $200,000, 82 percent of the contributions, to the company Brand New Campaign LLC. The payments were for "strategic consulting," according to federal election filings. They were sent to an apartment address listed for Chakrabarti in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan.

In 2017, Brand New Congress PAC transferred another $240,000 to Brand New Congress LLC, also for "strategic consulting." Another PAC co-founded by Chakrabarti that year, Justice Democrats, transferred an additional $605,000 to Brand New Congress LLC in 2017.

Brand New Congress LLC does not appear to be registered in any state, according to state government records available online. It is unclear where or when it was incorporated.

Adav Noti, the senior director of the Campaign Legal Center and a former FEC lawyer, said the arrangement was highly unusual and seemed intended to obscure the destination of the funds.

"None of that makes any sense," said Noti. "I can't even begin to disentangle that. They're either confused or they're trying to conceal something."

Noti said it would be simpler to set up a consulting company and work directly with campaigns to provide services for a fee rather than creating a federal PAC and sending the money to a company controlled by the same person.

"It does seem like there's something amiss. I can only think of really two likely possibilities for this sort of pattern of disbursements," said Noti. "One is the scam PAC possibility — they're really just paying themselves and they’re concealing it by using the LLC. The other is that there’s actually another recipient, that the money is going to the LLC and then being disbursed in some other way that they want to conceal."

[Also read: Ocasio-Cortez refuses to denounce Maduro, criticizes US interventionism instead]

Bradley A. Smith, a former chairman of the FEC, said he has never seen such an arrangement. "It's a really weird situation," he said. "I see almost no way that you can do that without it being at least a reporting violation, quite likely a violation of the contribution limits. You might say from a campaign finance angle that the LLC was essentially operating as an unregistered committee."

Chakrabarti declined to comment on the FEC complaint or provide details about his companies’ financial activities. Corbin Trent, a spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez, declined to comment.

Zeynab Day, communications director for the Brand New Congress PAC, said Chakrabarti was not currently affiliated with the group and that it recently went through a "transition period." She referred questions about the LLC to Chakrabarti. “I’m unable to answer any questions about the LLC … I am not informed about them. We are not an affiliated group,” she said.

A spokesperson for Justice Democrats said he did not know why the PAC paid so much money to Chakrabarti’s LLCs. When asked what the Justice Democrats PAC does on a daily basis, he said, “It’s very clear what we do,” but declined to elaborate.

Chakrabarti founded Brand New Congress PAC, in April 2016. According to a statement released by Justice Democrats PAC last May, Chakrabarti "was the only controlling member" of the company Brand New Congress LLC and "took no salary." The statement added: "Saikat is lucky to have a small side business that generates him enough income that he is able to do all of this work as a volunteer."

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/polit...s-own-companies

You post this because presumably you think it is significant. And it may be - I am not saying one way or another.

However - there is probable cause, and testimony under oath and multiple convictions to support the allegations that Trump committed some of the same offenses, many worse - both before he ran for POTUS, during his campaign AND while in office ... and yet you choose to be blind to all of that.

I find that odd at best - hypocritical or sycophantic at worst.

I'm not even reading that until she is subpoenaed.

http://time.com/longform/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-profile/


Look who is on Time's cover. My oh my.

Yes the lefty medias darling. They love her because everyday she says something stupid.

We love you for the exact same reason, sweetie.
Only difference: she speaks with better grammar, spelling and punctuation.



AOC: triggering geriatric c0nZ with room temp IQ's by simply breathing.

Hilarious!

I read the other day that Huckabee and others went on to Fox & Friends and called her The Manchurian Candidate. They also question why she's soo prepared with the questions she asks at hearings.

Makes me wonder if they know intelligence isn't limited to a single gender.

j/c

It's pretty funny actually. The right has elected a moron to run this country. Every time he opens his mouth whether it's the truth or a lie, they applaud. The left by contrast gets upset.

The left elected a moron at least in regards to how government actually works and every time she opens her mouth the left applaud and the right gets upset.

It's actually a lot of fun sitting back and watching it all.

She stayed awake in High School and learned to turn in her homework on time.

Sheeesh.
It's as if competence was a foreign concept- oh, wait...

j/c:

Call me crazy but I don't know why Democrats aren't using AOC as a sacrificial lamb, so to speak. To me this is the perfect scenario for Democrats... to correlate Trump's stupid takes with AOC's stupid takes and say, as the Democratic Party, we don't tolerate either person, including someone in our own party...as a "this is not who we want to be as a country." approach. AOC's district will, undoubtedly, elect another Democrat and they still keep a seat.

Unless people think she is a legitimate politician then disregard this, but I can't imagine people are serious about her.

Don't make fun of OCD.

There's some humor there, but the big picture is pretty disgusting. Political discussion has boiled down to nothing but hatred and making fun of the opposition. Just look at this forum, most of the threads are started by people who spend their time looking for "gotcha" moments to slam the other side.

Well that would be presuming there aren't a lot of things worth saying "gotcha" about.

Would you say when a president tells an obvious and blatant lie people souldn't point that out? Or when our nation takes an opposite stand on a topic that both parties have stood behind for decades we shouldn't point that out?

See, a lot of this is about perception. AOC says some pretty stupid things. I don't have an issue with people pointing that out.

Trump is a persistent liar and a disgusting human being. And I don't have a problem with people pointing that out either.

I see it more as a "look at the stupid mistake you made" to voters on both sides when people are pointing out the truth. You see it as a "gotcha" moment.

I could care less what type of person someone is if they do the job well. That goes for president.

It means nothing to me if the person is likable but they do a piss poor job (Obama) versus Trump, who isn't the most likable human being but does a great job with the economy and employment.

Hey if you support a scum bag you are in the right place. Your side used to care. Oh how far the GOP has fallen.

I see people are upset that the Mueller report wasn't what they expected. At this time. From what I have gathered.

So, another year, or 2, or 12 will go by, still investigating something, and they'll find people that cheated on taxes and other things I suppose.

Well let's not forget fraud and being forced to register as a foreign agent. But I mean that's nothing, right?

What side are you on?

In case you've missed it its not just the GOP, its the entire democrat party, congress, and DOJ that behaves like idiots, wastes money, and are more interested in getting elected and taking money from political lobbyists rather than governing for the American people.

I don't trust a single member in government.

Some of you amaze me. Mueller is a Republican who was appointed by a Republican. The Justice department is ran by the Republicans and overseen by the Republicans.

I mean I guess if you think the Republicans have been out to get the Republicans, well....

It seems to this point you don't trust juries wither who convicted Republicans.

We've been told for a couple of years: Just wait for the Mueller report." "Impeach him" "He won't make it 1 year before he's impeached" "collusion", on and on for pretty much 2 1/2 years.

And, it's understandable for haters to not like what we've heard so far.

And, at least to my knowledge, the report was given to Barr, but we the people don't have details on it/about it other than no further charges. If I have that correct.

I don't care what party affiliation someone has. If they're in government, more than likely they have their own agendas they want to carry out, are bought and paid for, and are most likely corrupt. Sure, there are also honest individuals that do a good job but usually they're not the loudest speaking people in the room, and they are few and far between.

If there is probable cause that someone committed a crime and should be investigated then one should pursue. However if that probable cause doesn't exist then I'd actually say that is illegal. If it weren't then that would mean anyone could say I want an investigation right now.

Next president in office after Trump, day one I want an investigation. Doesn't matter if they are a republican or democrat, we better investigate them since we've started down that path. See how that works.

It's too early to say rather she'll be good in the long run or not, she's a freshman rep who used to be a waitress before she unseated the #3 Dem in the house.

BUT I do know she is smarter than most republicans by a long shot present company included.

Why is she smarter than anybody. Is it because she went to college?

Fox news just showed Dems saying Trump better not try to get rid Mueller. Now guys like Pit are saying , Muller was given the job by a Republican.

And Clem hope my grammar is OK because I worry about what crybaby lefties think about me.

Just use spell check, dude.
Your posts make my eyes bleed.

Simple Bro, put me on ignore.

Are you sure its your eyes that are bleeding.

I think a better solution would be for you to return to middle school and actually stay awake in English class this time.

Consider it a 'service to mankind.'

I like reading what you have to say Duty. It's like watching a Manson interview, you're like WTH is this but you can't stop watching.

...or a 10-car pileup on the 80/90.

@ your *EDIT*


Shoulda been quicker with the punch line,

How very Trumpian.

Thanks OCD I feel the same about you. You and Clem should write sweet love letters to each other about how smart AOC is compared to GOPers. I heard on my beloved Fox news that AOC has 3million on face book. She has. been in office 2months. Pelosi has been in office 32 years and has 2 million. Tells you how smart Liberals base has become.

j/c:

Another thread full of personal insults and one-sided thinking from both sides.

I don't know a lot about politics, but I think this young woman has some strengths and weaknesses.

I think she is attractive and intelligent. I think she is an expert on how to use social media. I think she is charismatic and is appealing to many people.

On the negative side, I think her decision on the Amazon deal was completely ignorant. Her quote about the world ending in 12 years was even more ignorant. I think that her stance on Student Loan forgiveness is disgraceful, but it will probably be embraced and praised by certain folks.

Summary: I don't know enough about her to make a clear-cut evaluation, but I get the feeling she is dangerous.

A very large part of her followers are GOPers with hate crushes on her. Y'all made her the phenom that she is so stop crying about her.

I keep wondering how many times she has to make GOPers attacking her look like fools before they wise up and stop talking about her. Y'all creating your own demons, lmao.

She says a lot of stuff that's just waaaay too L for me, but it's important for the party to have those voices along with the moderates. As the party wrestles with its platform and what issues should be given priority, all stuff should be on the table.

The silly, ultra-left stuff may help to move the party's bar, but won't necessarily establish it. That's how it's supposed to work. New ideas (or old ideas with new angles) enter the arena for consideration. Some get tossed. Some get re-wrapped. Some take hold. It's how a party's ideology morphs/evolves over time.

Many are holding her up as the new 'poster child' of Dem politics. She's new, she's sparkly... but she's hardly a poster child. And the press is all over her because she's the latest thing. Eventually, she'll be off the front pages and working in committees/chambers. How she performs then will tell us more about her.

One who impressed me in an interview I heard today was Lauren Underwood. Just as new as AOC, more substance and more centrist (without being GOP Lite) Her chosen profession was Nursing. She got her degree in nursing from the University of Michigan and two master's degrees from Johns Hopkins. She has the seat once held by forme SotH Dennis Hastert. Quite as you might expect, her big thing is health care. Impressive woman, impressive credentials. You should check her out.

I think their are several to keep our eyes on in this freshman class. There are a few I could do without too.

I will. Thanks.

Guess that makes you the GOP darling then.