Let He Who is Without Sin…
My Capitol Watchblog colleague, Mike O’Brien, penned a pretty good post this week on the Democrats’ recent attack on financier Tim Durham and his funding of Republican candidates. Mike, reminds our Democratic friends that before they go too far off on the plantation after Durham, they may want to look in the mirror and see if they see the Indiana State Teacher’s Association staring back at them. Here’s Mike’s post…
Democrats Could Use Some Quiet Time
Fine, you win, I’ll talk about Tim Durham. Today, for reasons that defy rational explanation, the Indiana Democratic Party decided it was in their best interests to wade into the Durham mess. Chairman Dan Parker called on Republicans who have received donations from Durham to give the money back. I don’t know who is running the political strategy over there, but they must be on vacation. Indy Star columnist Matt Tully sat down with Parker and has more:
On Wednesday, I met Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker for coffee. He brought a prop: a list of the hundreds of thousands of dollars Durham has contributed in recent years to state Republicans. That includes multiple five-figure donations to Gov. Mitch Daniels and lesser but still large donations to a laundry list of other GOP candidates and organizations. — Indianapolis Star
Parker really out-kicked his coverage on this one. If the standard for returning political contributions is that the contributor is suspected of fraud, Democrats better start writing checks. This week the Indiana State Teachers Association, Democrats’ largest political benefactor, was accused of securities fraud by Secretary of State Todd Rokita after months of state and federal investigations. On Wednesday, Rokita sought to freeze ISTA’s assets.
Tim Durham may have been a big shot in local political circles but the ISTA has been buying Democrat House seats for decades. In the last cycle alone they dumped $1.1 million into the coffers of House Democrats and they’re not doing it for the cause of good government. The ISTA isn’t just another big dollar contributor, they run the agenda. However long Parker’s prop list might have been, it surely falls far short of the tens of millions of dollars that the ISTA has given to Democrats in exchange for killing anything that resembles education reform.
Democrats aren’t exactly winning any awards for clean livin’, not while former party officials are living behind bars and their biggest political contributor has been sharing office space with the FBI for the past six months. Tully said he was surprised that Democrats had been quiet for this long. Given current events, they might want to stop talking.
December 5th, 2009 at 7:18 am
The same standard of concern about this securities stuff was never applied forethought in the drafting of the Wishard referendum.
December 5th, 2009 at 7:21 am
O'briens attempted deflection will not work Abdul. But keep on trying.
December 5th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Ah, the legacy of the cursed two-party system: The other side is just as bad as mine!
The two real sides are individual freedom vs. government power over the individual.
Both “major” parties are on the side of the latter, with the term “major” being synonymous with “bought and paid for.”
This is no better or different than two 4 year olds pointing fingers of blame at each other. In fact the 4 year olds are better, because they don't cost millions, billions, of taxpayer dollars, unlike the “major” parties.
December 5th, 2009 at 8:33 am
ah, the legacy of the 2-party system in its naked form: the other guy is just as bad as me! So Vote for me!
Throw them all out.
December 5th, 2009 at 8:49 am
There's no deflection here. I'm not defending Durham at all. But if my Democratic friends are going to go down that road to score political points, then everybody better be ready to hold hands and step into the light together. Ironically the big winners in all this are Libertarians because no one gives them money.
December 5th, 2009 at 9:20 am
I wouldn't say that no one gives Libertarians money. The Libertarians don't try to raise money, I don't think. I remember in 1999, Greg Dixon ran for City-County Council in District 22 and raised over $11K while the Democrat raised like $600 and Bob Cockrum raised about $6K. The result? Dixon finished third.
December 5th, 2009 at 9:21 am
WHOOPS. I think it was 2003 upon further thought.
December 5th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Well maybe it just looks like a deflection. And a Libertarian prosecutor is an interesting concept. Neither will work.
December 5th, 2009 at 10:31 am
ISTA is and always has been a conspiracy against the public. They have enough membership to be assessed in order to make up for some of their more recent transgressions.
December 5th, 2009 at 11:10 am
On this issue I am in 100% agreement. No one can look under the curtain of all their donors. This stuff will happen. Just deal with it be honest and move on. Mud throwing needs to go away and I wish Parker would head on down the road but Evan is in charge of that…
December 5th, 2009 at 11:55 am
When the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section shows up, its not going to be business as usual. This thing has tentacles reaching into just about every corner of the Republican Party, and the only question left is where do they (DOJ)stop? Anyone involved with Brizzi's MCPO should be shakin in their boots, and seriously considering resigning. Pictures will begin to surface and names will be named. Who attened fundraisers, who attended dinners, parties, functions of any kind. They push this thing far enough and even the caterers and florists will be swimming in Durham's swill.
Not sure how the DOJ considers tainted dollars, but they turned and churned in many Republican circles. Durham was in charge of GRIFCO, a pool of funds that touched every R in the county, so who knows where it stops.
Durham-gate will be significant for decades to come. Placing all these ill-gotten funds into ESCROW is the only acceptable solution at this point, and yes that even means Mitch “Twinkie the Kid” Daniels.
Order a big bucket of popcorn and watch this thing unfurl, its going to be epic. Ultimately, its a very sad day for all Hoosiers.
December 5th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Good post Abdul. I like it when you call out the cheating frauds in politics. That's why I started listening to your show in the first place.
But the reporting of democrat sin that's gone on for decades to deflect attention away from those rats you call “friends”, is transparent.
Why don't you come clean with how deep your ties go with Brizzi and Tom John? I'm sure you know much more than you tell.
December 5th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Abdul people DO give money to the Libertarians. I am one of those people. I would give more, but I don't defraud the Amish or run fraud schemes using teachers' union money.
December 5th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Kudos to Senator Delph for putting the donations he received aside into an escrow.
December 5th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I'm really sick of “Well, these guys are just as/more corrupt” talking point.
I fully agree it's very hypocritical if corrupt dems call out corrput Republicans. However, it doesn't make it an excuse.
I suppose it's better if someone neutral calls them out.
December 5th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
:crickets:
December 5th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Those that are harmed want justice delivered without regard to party.
Don't care if it is ISTA or Tim Durham and his buddies.
Glad someone is finally looking at white collar and political graft as a crime instead of business as usual.
December 6th, 2009 at 1:28 am
I just heard some info that there are some recordings of Brizzi's conversations in possession of the FEDs. Also, I hear that some of these conversations involve situations that will bring down a lot of people in the GOP. Tom Johns name also came up many times when I was talking to this person.
December 6th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Let's let the chips fall before we start throwing our hands into the air like wild men and women.
A distinction between ISTA and Durham: the ISTA is an entity, run by many people, which includes thousands of hard-working teachers who knew nothing of their organization's sloppy insurance practices. Their PAC is made up of multiple district PACs with leaders elected to make decisions about voluntary political contributions.
Durham was, and allegedly is, a multi-millionaire playboy who gives singly. Almost exclusively to one party 's coffers. Here's where the rubber meets the road, folks:
Durham gave mightily to our county's chief law enforcement officer. His giving pattern also includes more than 15 large to a man who was, at the time, Lawrence Township assessor, and is now mayor.
Why does a measily assessor need that kind of single donation? Why does our chief LEO need those many large contributions? And our governor got a couple hundred thousand from Durham?
WHY THRE HELL DON'T WE HAVE FEDERAL-LIKE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION LAWS IN INDIANA?
The solitary fact that Brizzi pals around with Durham bothers me not. We are free to choose our friends and enemies…only the Palinesque among us try to score political points from those associations. And his lifestyle is his choice, unless he supported it via fraud.
However, if the Durham allegations have legs, they will have long-lasting impact.
Hacked Out Mama–trust me on this one, the mole who talked to you knows nothing. The Feds, especially since 2001, don't have loose lips. Their subpeona power is awesome, and post-9/11, if the word terror even creeps through the same room where subpeona discussions are being held, our civil liberties are long gone. In these situations, the folks who say the most, usually know the least.
Overall, I'm going to wait on the government's investigation. But there sure seems to be a lot of fire.
December 6th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
A lot of people are scared for a lot of different reasons.
If you are one of those people, regardless of party, then maybe you should help the proper authorities get it right and identify the bad apples and their misdeeds.
There is no honor among thieves, just victims.
December 7th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
“…if the word terror even creeps through the same room where subpeona discussions are being held, our civil liberties are long gone.”
Sad, isn't it ??
December 7th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
“…if the word terror even creeps through the same room where subpeona discussions are being held, our civil liberties are long gone.”
Sad, isn't it ??