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Dem Convention Found to Have Used Corporate Donations Despite Pledges Not To

Oct. 18, 2012 2:30pm Becket Adams

First Lady Michelle Obama (AP)

RALEIGH,N.C. (TheBlaze/AP) — The Democratic National Convention relied on at least $5 million in corporate donations, despite repeated pledges by top party officials only to use money raised from individuals.

Reports filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission show the convention’s host committee, Charlotte in 2012, raised $24 million, well short of its $36.7 million fundraising goal.

To help make up for the shortfall, committee officials spent $5 million raised directly from corporations to rent the cavernous basketball arena used as the convention hall. They spent nearly $8 million more from a line of credit provided by Charlotte-based Duke Energy, the nation’s largest electricity provider.

Top Democrats, including Democratic Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had pledged prior to the 2012 convention not to raise money from special interests and to cap individual donations at $100,000.

“This convention will be different,” Wasserman Schultz said last year at the convention kickoff event in Charlotte. “We will make this the first convention in history that does not accept any funds from lobbyists, corporations or political action committees. This will be the first modern political convention funded by the grassroots, funded by the people.”

In addition to spending cash from corporate sponsors on direct convention expenses, records show much off the $24 million billed as being raised from individual donors came from special interest groups that employ lobbyists, corporate-funded foundations and the very wealthy.

Oh, okay, so “special interest groups” now qualify as “individuals.”

Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Melanie Roussell said Wednesday it is not illegal for convention host committees to raise unlimited corporate money and that the party had placed the fundraising restrictions on itself.

However, nobody said it was illegal. People are just pointing out a broken pledge.

Republicans, for example, made no secret of raising unlimited corporate money for their convention in Tampa, Fla., which took in a reported $55.8 million.

The core convention events in the Time Warner Cable Arena and Bank of America Stadium (which Dems absolutely refused to call by its name) were overseen by the Democratic National Convention Committee Inc.

The DNCC’s operations were funded with $18 million provided by American taxpayers who check the $3 political donation box on their federal tax returns. Security for the convention was funded by a $50-million grant from the Homeland Security Department. The Republican convention received identical government grants (a point which Texas Republican congressman Ron Paul has taken both parties to task for).

To raise money for costs beyond what taxpayers provided, the DNCC contracted with Charlotte in 2012, a North Carolina-based nonprofit corporation.

The $5 million used to rent Time Warner Arena for the convention was raised from corporate donors by New American City, a separate nonprofit corporation set up by top officials at Charlotte in 2012. The rest of the $18.8 million in corporate money raised by the entity was used to support functions organizers considered to not be in direct support of the convention, such as the salaries of the 41 full-time host committee employees and their health insurance.

As for the money raised directly by Charlotte in 2012, the Democrat’s contract with the city’s host committee exempted millions in donations from unions and such in-kind corporate donations as office space, computers, and furniture from the self-imposed limits.

President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka (AP)

Still, many of the donors listed as giving to the Democratic host committee could hardly be classified as hailing from the grassroots.

All told, more than $7.2 million came from individual donors giving $100,000 or more, according to an Associated Press analysis of the disclosure report.

According to the disclosure report, Thomas Steyer, the president of the San Francisco-based hedge fund Farallon Capital Management, gave $500,000 — five times the committee’s professed limit on contributions.

Constance Milstein, principal and co-founder of Ogden CAP Properties, gave $300,000, according to the report. Ogden’s website describes Milstein’s firm as “New York City’s premier residential real estate owners.”

Paul Egerman, CEO and co-founder of medical software company eScription, gave $200,000, according to the report.

Roussell said the reported donations in excess of $100,000 were reporting errors and that the money came from the personal foundations of the listed individuals. Donations from charitable groups were not subject to the $100,000 cap, she said.

“There are several errors in the report and we are working with the host committee to clarify and fix them,” Roussell said.

Donations were also accepted from foundations supported by corporations. For example, Xerox Foundation, which shares the same Connecticut address as the headquarters of the Fortune 500 copier maker, is listed as giving $100,000.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians gave $100,000, as did the Chickasaw Nation, the Muckleshoot tribe and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. All four tribes operate large casinos.

Also not subject to the Democrats’ ban on corporate donations were law firms, such as the $100,000 donated by McGuire Woods LLP. In addition to being one of the South’s largest law firms, McGuire’s consulting subsidiary employs dozens of registered state and federal lobbyists.

More modest checks came from the American Financial Services Association, which represents credit card and financial companies, and the senior group AARP. Both are registered as entities that lobby the federal government.

As for the $7.9 million borrowed from the line of credit guaranteed by Duke Energy, the company’s agreement with the host committee calls for that money to be repaid by Feb. 28.

Duke spokesman Tom Williams said the company also provided a total of $5.7 million in cash and in-kind contributions to Charlotte in 2012 and New American City, including providing the joint offices occupied by both entities. He said the company will work with committee organizers to help retire the $7.9 million debt by the deadline.

Roussell ruled out that the debt would be paid by the DNC or Obama campaign. She touted the roughly 32,000 donors listed in Charlotte host committee’s disclosure report, up from just 450 donors for the Democrats’ 2008 soirée in Denver.

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Comments (47)

summ1
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 4:52pm
So how does this jive with the ‘Obo crowd’s” end to personhood of the corporation? Do as I say but not as I do. I’m sure the thousands of Democrat litigators had the final say…

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- bobdiamond
  Posted on October 19, 2012 at 5:55am
  Pledges mean nothing to Liberals. Remember in the 08 campiagn when Obama promised to use public funding, which would have limited how much he could spend. He broke that promise as soon as he saw the hundreds of millions of dollars coming into his campaign coffers. Read political commentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com/
  
  Report this comment
I-have-black-immunity
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 4:21pm
Another Oweblamer flip / flop. Is anyone really surprised?

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- ComradeAdam
  Posted on October 19, 2012 at 1:32am
  I disagree. Obama’s stance on this has not changed from day one. His position is blame success, corporations and big business in public, but in private, accept their donations and give them tax-payer funded kickbacks and tax exemptions. And use his office and influence to punish anybody and any company that speaks out against him or donates to his opponents. How has his stance changed?
  
  Report this comment
COFemale
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 4:12pm
They had to break their promise because individuals were not donating like the good little communist they should have been. It does not surprise me one bit, they are the party of “do as I say, not as I do.”

The few good Democrats out there have no clue their whole party has been co-opted by evil people. They have either become spineless because of them or they are clueless and can’t see.

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floridareader
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 3:52pm
Another broken promise.

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RJJinGadsden
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 3:31pm
Is there anybody here who is really surprised?

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- Sy Kosys
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 4:01pm
  Not here.
  
  Thought they blew the budget on DWS’s Vogue makeover….how could they possibly afford BOTH of these?!?
  
  Report this comment
- 7VIRTUES
  Posted on October 19, 2012 at 12:50pm
  Thinking about it… I’d be more surprised if this was actually verified to be from donations.
  
  Report this comment
BLACKDIAMONDSKIER
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 3:16pm
I’m pretty sure at one time the Democratic party had honor somewhere within it. Now it’s hard to find anyone with honor who is among them. In the end……truth will win. Those who have been deceiving the American people will be buried under the incredible weight that it brings on those who try to use it as a tool to mislead.

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HKS
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 3:11pm
Oh no, Obama lied again?

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- oldguy49
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 3:25pm
  let me show you my shocked face……..
  
  Report this comment
elosogrande
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 3:07pm
What a surprise! Well…since Schultz, Obama, Biden, Reid, Schumer, pelosi, etc. are all lying weasels, it’s not at all surprising, unless you’re talking to those stupid, whiny, liberal voters with their heads up their collective asses.

What else would you expect? They lied! They lied! They lied!

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Cavallo
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 3:05pm
Will the MSM report this? How about the Gay President’s cayman island accounts?

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- Lothmar
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 3:23pm
  Is M.Obama showing the people at the convention how to sign the islamic symbol for power?
  
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doomytram
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:56pm
The Obama’s have spent a cool billion and half just flying around eating, drinking, lying, and stealing. The entire British royal family get’s by on a cool 58 million. Dem’s are the incredible shrinking party. No that’s not a another Obozo party. The Obozo’s have just run amok on flying around golfing and traveling.That’s all…..corruption….. bring in 7 dollars and spend 11… seven come eleven… Moochelle needs another pair of shoes.

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marine249
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:55pm
so what is new?

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Chromo200
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:51pm
This is all Bush’s fault .. He made them do it. He cooked their books so that they had to get help from outside.

Is this article saying that the DNC and Debbie lied? I don’t believe it Debbie is such a honest and straight forward person.

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EtchASketch
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:48pm
Billy Graham’s “organization” just announced that it removed Mormonism from its list of cults yesterday.

LOL

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EtchASketch
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:48pm
FYI,

The-Monk is a paid troll…

Don’t bother replying to it because that’s what it wants.

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- scuba13
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:53pm
  FYI Etchy is an idiot. Please feel free to tell him at every opportunity.
  
  Report this comment
- Ben__Franklin
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 3:38pm
  Does Etchy fall into the Lying Liar category or the Crap Weasels?
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 3:45pm
  Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa….
  The poor widdle paid troll doesn’t like me… LMAO@U
  
  Report this comment
pap pap
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:46pm
What do you expect ? Another way to spell liberal or democrat is L-I-A-R.

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Al J Zira
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:46pm
My God, where do we start?

They spent nearly $8 million more from a line of credit provided by Charlotte-based Duke Energy, the nation’s largest electricity provider.

The dems are used to lines of credit, look at the 6 trillion in national debt they ran up over the last four years.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Security for the convention was funded by a $50-million grant from the Homeland Security Department.

This is wrong no matter which party is taking the “grant”. This is nothing more than renaming our tax dollars a grant or money laundering.
_________________________________________________________________________________

“There are several errors in the report and we are working with the host committee to clarify and fix them,” Roussell said.

Errors? What, do you think we were born yesterday? How about you haven’t had time to cook the books?
______________________________________________________________________________

Roussell ruled out that the debt would be paid by the DNC or Obama campaign.

Another words, it will be paid for by our tax dollars. Who are you trying to kid?

Feel free to add any additional comments.

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2MINUTESTOMIDNIGHT
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:44pm
What words describe the people in the pictures in this article?

Mooches
Liars
Drunks
Potheads
Thugs
Perverts

What a glorious and uplifting bunch of people in this party.

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- progressiveslayer
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:54pm
  Marxist maggot munching mulatto POS fraud heathen.
  
  Idiotic drunk
  
  Perjurer to a federal judge.
  
  Worthless union pig
  
  Report this comment
coyote1hell
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:44pm
Duke Energy..hmmm. thought Buh’rack was against all these companies…unless he can get some cash…lying…turd…

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GoodStuff
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:43pm
It’s not enough to win the White House. We have GOT to win the Senate. That means defeating commie Sherrod Brown in Ohio.

His challenger is Josh Mandel. Polls are close. If you can throw a few bucks Mandel’s way, it will help:

http://joshmandel.com/

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pluqqer
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:42pm
Wow, can you imagine someone saying what looks good, and then when it comes time to stand by there declaration. Boom Goes the dynamite!

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2MINUTESTOMIDNIGHT
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:41pm
And in other news, the sun came up this morning.

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Spankster
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:41pm
Hey,Like that baby boy in the commercial…wait,this is my shocked face…Whaaaat.

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coyote1hell
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:40pm
Half White Liar…truth comes out a little at a time…Half White Liar..words roll off your tounge, like turpentine…

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progressiveslayer
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:40pm
This is shocking indeed,you mean politicians lied about where their donations would come from? This is outrageous and another outrage is the stimulus package was nothing more than a slush fund to re elect the Marxist mulatto POS fraud.

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gyro
Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:35pm
So feb 28 they go off the cliff ?
Bail out needed !

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- scuba13
  Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:45pm
  What are you talking about? Feb. 28th?
  
  Report this comment

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