No wonder Saxby voted "no" on SCHIP. He's deep in the pocket of the tobacco industry- perhaps a little too deep-and the FEC has asked for an explanation.
According the an FEC review of Chambliss' own filings, the Georgia Senator appears to have received a total of $9,500 from Swisher PAC, a tobacco product political action committee, including a contribution of $5,000 on September 13, 2007-squarely in the middle of the SCHIP fight. Coincidental, I'm sure. You will recall that the funding mechanism for the SCHIP bill was a tax on tobacco products.
(H.R. 976: Chambliss voted 'no' as the Senate passed the bill on August 2, 2007 and on September 27, 2007, he also voted 'no' twice more on related motions in the run up to the House attempt to override the President's veto. Click here for the full history of the bill.)
Chambliss has until December 17th to respond. His campaign denies receiving excess contributions.
According to Tom Crawford of Capitol Impact's Georgia Report, the excess contribution by Swisher is just one of eighteen contributions flagged by the FEC in Chambliss's 9/30/2007 disclosure report. The Chambliss campaign denies wrong doing, and told the Telegraph:
The Chambliss campaign says that's not the case, that it's a
routine matter of different people with the same names giving donations, and
donations needing to be "reattributed" to the general or primary election.
I'd like to know how may different people are named Swisher PAC, Pork PAC, and Employees of Northrop Grumman PAC. From Crawford, here's a summary of some of alleged excess contributions:
Gingrey for Congress: $4,000
Sen. Orrin Hatch election committee: $4,000
State Sen. Ross Tolleson: $3,000
Northrop Grumman PAC: $9,000
National Pork Producers Council, Pork PAC: $5,500
Swisher PAC (tobacco products company): $9,500
Paul Amos, AFLAC insurance executive: $4,600
You can read the FEC full letter to Sen. Chambliss' treasurer here. (PDF alert: click on the link, and then click "continue" on the page that appears. The seven page letter will load.) Sphere: Related Content
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3 comments:
That's very informative,Amy.Thanks for posting.
I'd like to see everyh contribution Swisher made in the middle of the SCHIP fight. But, I do have real job....
A, you're on fire and hitting home runs. While we were all furious about SCHIP, it always goes back to following the money. It always about following the money.
And wow, David Scott got $30k?
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