Thursday, July 31, 2008
Ted Stevens indictment a windfall for charities
As his fellow Republicans run in fear of his taint, they are giving up the thousands of dollars Ted was nice enough to have given them when he was respected.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the Republican Conference, led the way, with each disclosing that he'd relinquish $10,000 in campaign donations from Stevens' Northern Lights PAC.But they are only giving up the fresh donations, all the well aged stuff from years past will stay where it is.
Minnesota freshman Sen. Norm Coleman, who's fighting to win reelection against comedian-turned-politician Al Franken, decided to give away $20,000 that his campaign and his own leadership PAC got from Stevens' PAC.
North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole acted quickly on Tuesday, announcing that she'd give $10,000 from Stevens' PAC to a campaign to fight hunger, as did Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts.
Freshman Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire made a similar decision on Wednesday as his Democratic rival, former governor Jeanne Shaheen, issued a press release charging that his reelection campaign was funded by $45,000 in "tainted" cash from Stevens and another $65,000 that the Alaska senator raised on his behalf.
Meantime, the Republican Party of Alaska Wednesday disclosed that it's donated $34,500 it received from VECO executives to a half dozen Alaska-based charities. The party received more than $56,000 in donations from the company between 1997 and 2004, but spokesman McHugh Pierre said that more than $20,000 of those funds had been spent when the corruption scandal became public in 2006.
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