Giuliani's Top Fundraiser Was Sole Backer of Right-Wing Power Grab in California
Posted by Stephanie Taylor on October 1, 2007 at 02:08 PM
A shadowy group of right-wing Republicans recently sponsored a ballot initiative that would have changed the way California distributes its electoral votes. They believed that the change would have allowed them to pick up the equivalent of another Ohio in electoral votes, winning the White House in 2008.
The initiative failed, but now we've learned that Rudy Giuliani's top fundraiser, New York hedge fund billionaire Paul E. Singer, was its sole financial backer--raising new questions about Rudy Giuliani's ties to the effort. From the Los Angeles Times:
A confidant of Republican presidential contender Rudolph W. Giuliani, and one of the candidate's biggest donors, was the source of a mystery $175,000 donation to a stalled initiative proposal seen as an attempt to help the GOP win a portion of California's 55 electoral votes.
...Singer oversees Elliott Associates, a Wall Street investment fund, and is chairman of Giuliani's Northeast fundraising operation. Singer and people who work for Singer-related entities donated at least $182,000 to Giuliani in the first six months of the year, a Times review of Giuliani's campaign finance statements shows. One of his companies leases jets used by the GOP front-runner. Singer also is one of the former New York mayor's advisors and friends.
Singer laundered the money through Giuliani donor Charles A. Hurth III, who was the registered agent for the Missouri-based "Take Initiative America" group and had no connections to California politics. Hurth was also one of the funders behind a right-wing group called "Choices for America," which tried to put Ralph Nader on the ballot in 2004 to help Bush win the presidency.
For more on Paul Singer's past financial dealings, read our research document.
Comments (4) «
Giuliani's campagign is carrying the water for Rove this election cycle? Looks like they didn't do a very good job of it...and they got caught.
This sounds like what Kenneth Blackwell the Republican Secertary of State of my state of Ohio tried to do eariler. I glad he failed to succeed because he has done other things that I am not pleased with. He is the main reason Bush won the presidency of the country. I think Blackwell and his cronies tampered with the voting machines in the state which probably resulted in Bush's victory. For the Record, I voted for John Kerry in 2004 to be President. But this time I hope Hillary wins, because we need someone like her to fix this country and to help the disabled that live in this country.
What's always startling to me is how little money it takes to get people to sell out democracy. I suspect it's because they have a secret contempt for the people who make up our government. And they're not keen on equality either.
There's a large segment that needs to be better than somebody. Perhaps they suffer from an inferiority complex and the need to feel superior is an effort to compensate.
Rudy Giulliani seems to be someone whose need to achieve was fueled by an abusive father.
Making Republicans Don the Full Reagan Mantle
By Nancy Scola on October 2, 2007
The Republican presidential front runners would like nothing better than for American voters to picture them as the second coming of Ronald Reagan. Now, I wasn't even yet a preteen when Reagan retired to his Bel Air mansion. But having just finished Haynes Johnson's "Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years", I'm convinced that if Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and John McCain are so eager to tie themselves to the real political legacy of the Gipper, by all means we should help them do it.
Let's concede that Ronald Reagan was a telegenic politician, quite good on TV. ..... on television with Sonny and Cher. Funny guy. Seems sweet. But choosing a president because they carry themselves well on-air is downright silly. It's about as intelligent as choosing a brain surgeon for his or her excellent golf swing. Yes, it might be indicative of some level of manual dexterity. But it doesn't tell you how well he or she is going to cut your head open, now does it?
We had eight years and a detailed historical record to see how skilled Reagan was at the job of being President of the United States. Let's review.
*** He [Reagan] was said by his own advisors to not understand the basics of what came to be known as Reaganomics.
***He [Reagan] made "the rich get richer" our national economic policy.
***He [Reagan] was disdainful of government and spectacularly uninterested in the mechanics of governing, what one contemporary journalist called "a president with a seven minute attention span."
***He [Reagan] was unaware of AIDS until Rock Hudson died.
***Most importantly, he [Reagan] presided over the selling of weapons to Iran -- a country that had held 52 Americans hostage until the first day of his first term -- and used that money to fund Nicaraguan contras in a direct contradiction of Congress' clear dictates.
Reagan was a strong president, yes. But quite often he was quite strong and quite wrong.
So here's what to look out for ideally in this coming Tuesday nights Republican Debate: Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, and McCain can't be allowed to bask in the glow of Reagan's beatific smile without having to answer for the very many dark corners of his presidency, too.
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