Michael Steele Hits Dems: 'Put Up Or Shut Up'

[jack sommerset]

RNC Chairman Michael Steele jousted across networks with DNC Chairman Tim Kaine Friday morning, telling Democrats pushing a recent report on conservative groups allegedly funneling foreign contributions into campaign efforts to "put up or shut up." Democrats have not provided concrete proof of illegal foreign contributions, and the chairman demanded that they either produce hard evidence or drop the issue.

"That is the most craziest thing I've ever heard," Steele told Fox News. "And you know what, I'm tired of Democrats making these accusations. Put the proof on the table. You're running your mouth, you're talking trash for three weeks of an election...Put up or shut up!"

Steele also described the massive expenditures by conservative third party groups like Karl Rove's American Crossroads as "long overdue."

Democrats, including the president, have chosen to make the charges that conservative third-party groups draw large amounts of funds from unknown foreign donors into a campaign issue. DNC Chairman Tim Kaine said Thursday that the alleged scandal could be the biggest since Watergate.

On Friday, Kaine also appeared on ABC News's "Good Morning America" to brace his earlier claims.

"Watergate was a scandal that involved a number of things including campaign financing that was being done with dollar bills in sacks handed over to the Committee to Reelect the President," Kaine said. "Because of that the reforms were put in place after Watergate to require the disclosure of donors to financial campaign. This is one of the single best things that's happened in American politics in the last 30 years and the Republicans have made, I believe, a concerted effort to divert as much campaign funding in to non-reporting entities."

[boutons_deux]

If the CoC and its Repug beneficiaires have nothing to hide and want to expose the Dem claims as slander and "trash" talking (the Repug token Negro speaks his street patois), why won't the CoC open their books?

The Repugs have indicted themselves as corrupt by blocking the DISCLOSE act.

[Wild Cobra]

Slander is unethical and illegal in most circumstances. Keeping an organizations papers and effects private are not.

Don't you believe in the 4th amendment?

[boutons_deux]

Exclusive: Foreign-Funded ‘U.S.’ Chamber Of Commerce Running Partisan Attack Ads

The largest attack campaign against Democrats this fall is being waged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a trade association organized as a 501(c)(6) that can raise and spend unlimited funds without ever disclosing any of its donors.

These foreign members of the Chamber send money either directly to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, or the foreign members fund their local Chamber, which in turn, transfers dues payments back to the Chamber’s H Street office in Washington DC. These funds are commingled to the Chamber’s 501(c)(6) account which is the vehicle for the attack ads:

– The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has created a large presence in the small, oil-rich country of Bahrain. In 2006, the Chamber created an internal fundraising department called the “U.S.-Bahrain Business Council” (USBBC), an organization to help businesses in Bahrain take advantage of the Chamber’s “network of government and business relationships in the US and worldwide.” As the USBBC’s bylaws state, it is not an actual separate entity, rather it is simply an office of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 501(c)(6) trade association. Many of the USBBC’s board members are Bahrainian, including Aluminum Bahrain, Gulf Air, Midal Cables, the Nass Group, Bahrain Maritime & Mercantile International, the Bahrain Petroleum Company (state-owned), Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, and First Leasing Bank. With each of these foreign board members to the USBBC contributing at least $10,000 annually, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce raises well over $100,000 a year in money from foreign businesses through its operation in Bahrain. Notably, the membership form provided by the USBBC directs applicants to send or wire their money directly to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The membership form also explicitly states that the foreign-owned firms are welcomed.

– Like the Chamber’s involvement in Bahrain, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce operates in India through a fundraising department called te “U.S.-India Business Council” (USIBC), which has offices around the world but is headquartered in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Dozens of Indian businesses, including some of India’s largest corporations like the State Bank of India (state-run) and ICICI Bank, are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce through the USIBC. Annual membership dues range from $7,500 to $15,000 or more, and the money is given directly into the Chamber’s 501(c)(6) bank account. Like the USBBC, the USIBC generates well over $200,000 a year in dues for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from foreign businesses. On the USIBC website, many of the groups lobbying goals advocate changing American policy to help businesses in India. Under the manufacturing policy goal, USIBC boasts that it “can play a helpful role in guiding U.S. companies to India, while supporting various policy initiatives that will enhance India’s reputation as a major manufacturing and investment hub.”

– Unlike Business Councils, which are internal fundraising departments of the Chamber geared towards raising foreign money, many foreign “AmChams” operate outside the direct sphere of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce but nonetheless send dues money back to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. For instance, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt is a separate entity based in Cairo that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars from both Egyptian firms and American businesses. However, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt calls itself “the most active affiliates of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the” Middle East. Another foreign chamber, like the Abu Dhabi AmCham, which includes American firms and Esnaad, a subsidiary of the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, claims that it is a a “dues paying member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and part of the global network of American Chambers of Commerce.” In Russia, the relationship between the American Chamber of Commerce there and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce here is opaque. This might be because many of the dues-paying members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia are Russian state-run companies, like VTB Bank, and controlled by the Russian government. Asked by ThinkProgress if the Russian Chambers pay dues back to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Ksenia Forsheneva, the membership development manager at the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, replied, “Unfortunately the information that you require is closed for the public.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/05/foreign-chamber-commerce

=============

Why would the CoC 100s of $K from shakedown of and influence peddling to foreign firms and countries NOT be used to attack the Dems? Do you think the CoC is "ethical" or law-abiding?

[ChumpDumper]

All Steele and the USCoC have to do is open their books. They can put up or shut up.

[DMX7]

Yes, if they have nothing to hide, then show us the books...

[Wild Cobra]

Yes, if they have nothing to hide, then show us the books...
Knock Knock...

This is the police...

We have no search warrant, but if you have nothing to hide, let us in!

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Knock Knock...

This is the police...

We have no search warrant, but if you have nothing to hide, let us in!

yeah, that's the same thing...

[boutons_deux]

There is clearly probable cause here. With CoC having one account for both buying attack ads against the Dems, and the same account being paid into by foreign entities. Now why would these MBA business experts set up such a shitty accounting system?

I say bust the door down and rip out their computers, freeze their banks accounts, like the Feds due to war dissenters.

[ChumpDumper]

Knock Knock...

This is the police...

We have no search warrant, but if you have nothing to hide, let us in!Who said anything about the police?

[jack sommerset]

yeah, that's the same thing...

No shit. Accusations without any proof. Put or shut up.

[ChumpDumper]

No shit. Accusations without any proof. Put or shut up.The proof would be in their books. They can open their books or shut up.

[jack sommerset]

The proof would be in their books. They can open their books or shut up.

Or they can laugh at Barry like they are doing. Burden of proof is on Barry. If he has any evidence at all he should bring it forward.