Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: IL guardasigilli USA non ha nulla da invidiare al nostro

Perlomeno hanno una cosa in comune:   La mancanza di mani pulite.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6339-2003Dec16.html
FEC Fines Ashcroft's Senate Bid For Breach 
By Thomas B. Edsall and Walter Pincus
 Washington Post Staff Writers
 Wednesday, December 17, 2003; Page A01 
The Federal Election Commission has determined that Attorney General
John D. Ashcroft's unsuccessful 2000 Senate reelection campaign
violated election laws by accepting $110,000 in illegal contributions
from a committee Ashcroft had established to explore running for
president.
In documents released yesterday by the FEC, Garrett M. Lott, treasurer
for the two Ashcroft committees, the Spirit of America PAC and
Ashcroft 2000, agreed to pay a $37,000 fine for at least four
violations of federal campaign law. Lott agreed "not to contest" the
charges.
"Spirit of America PAC and Ashcroft 2000, respectively, violated the
[law] by making and receiving this excessive contribution.
Additionally, Spirit of America PAC and Ashcroft 2000, respectively,
violated the [law] by failing to disclose the making or receipt of the
excessive contribution," the FEC declared in a news release.
Under the law, the Spirit of America PAC was allowed to give the
Ashcroft 2000 committee only $5,000 for the primary and $5,000 for the
general election, which it did. The commission found that the Spirit
of America PAC far exceeded these limits by illegally transferring to
the Ashcroft 2000 committee $110,000 derived from the rental of its
donors list.
The FEC vote to fine the Ashcroft committee was 5 to 1, and the one
dissenter sought harsher penalties and tougher findings.
The three Republican members of the commission joined two of the
Democrats in voting for the penalties. But two Republican members,
David M. Mason and Michael E. Toner, played down the significance of
the findings. "This matter was a garden variety complaint regarding a
series of mailing list transactions between two political committees,
which was blown far out of proportion, apparently due to the
involvement of the sitting attorney general, who is a favored target
of political attacks by opponents of the current administration," they
said in a statement.
The one dissenter, Ellen L. Weintraub, the Democratic commission
chairman, said the agreement "ignores the heart of the complaint, the
wholesale transfer of a mailing list, developed at a cost of $1.7
million" to Ashcroft 2000. "The [$37,000] penalty . . . is so low that
I do not believe it adequately reflects the severity of the conduct at
issue."
A spokesman for the Department of Justice declined to comment. Lott,
contacted by phone at his St. Louis law offices, also declined to
comment.
After serving one term in the Senate from Missouri, Ashcroft, a former
governor and a favorite of conservatives, considered running for the
Republican presidential nomination in 2000. But with then-Texas Gov.
George W. Bush the overwhelming favorite to win the nomination,
Ashcroft decided to run for reelection instead. But his Democratic
opponent, Mel Carnahan, who had been killed in a plane crash during
the campaign, received more votes. His wife, Jean Carnahan, was then
appointed to take his place, and Ashcroft joined the Bush
administration.
An 11-page "conciliation agreement" signed by Lott and the FEC legal
staff outlines the complex financial arrangements between Ashcroft's
presidential exploratory committee and his Senate reelection
committee.
While Ashcroft was considering a presidential bid, he formed the
Spirit of America PAC, which invested at least $1.7 million in 3.9
million "prospecting" letters to build a valuable list of donors,
according to the agreement. Starting in May 1998, the Spirit PAC began
to rent out its contributor list, collecting fees from other groups
and candidates seeking lists of conservative donors.
On Jan. 5, 1999, Ashcroft announced that he was abandoning his
presidential bid. Throughout 1999 and early 2000, the Spirit PAC
continued to rent out its donor list. On Dec. 10, 1999, Lott wrote to
the list management firm, Omega List Co., that is it "the intention of
Mr. Ashcroft that all list rental revenue . . . be attributed to
Ashcroft 2000."
On Dec. 30, 1999, Omega issued a check for $66,662.22 to Ashcroft
2000, which described the money on campaign finance reports as "mail
receipts." On March 31, 2000, another list firm, PMI, paid Ashcroft
2000 $46,299.83 for "Assignment of Accounts Receivable."
The conciliation agreement declares: "The list rental income in the
form of the re-issued checks, and the proceeds from the sale of
accounts receivable by Ashcroft 2000, which totaled over $110,000,
constituted an excessive contribution from the PAC to Ashcroft 2000 in
violation" of two sections of campaign law.
In a formal statement accompanying the conciliation agreement,
Weintraub cited a number of letters and other documents signed by
Ashcroft to demonstrate his active participation in what the
commission found to be illegal campaign contributions.
On a 3 to 3 split vote, the FEC rejected the recommendation of its
general counsel, Lawrence H. Norton, to find that the violations
involved illegal contributions of $254,000. The three Democrats backed
the counsel and the three Republicans opposed him.
The issue of the Ashcroft campaign's use of the Spirit for America's
donor list was first raised by The Washington Post in February 2001,
and the next month the National Voting Rights Institute, Common Cause,
the Alliance for Democracy and two Missouri voters filed a complaint
with the FEC. In March 2002, the National Voting Rights Institute
representing the two voters and the Alliance for Democracy filed suit
charging that the FEC had failed to investigate the apparent illegal
contribution.
Ashcroft's Senate campaign committee initially tried to get the
lawsuit dropped. In October 2002, the plaintiffs asked Ashcroft to
release records of the FEC investigation. The attorney general refused
and another suit was filed, this one seeking a court order to have the
records released or have the FEC make a finding.
The National Voting Rights Institute yesterday charged that the
$37,000 fine was inadequate, amounting to a "tax" on illegal
activities.
"The Federal Election Commission's action in this case is a farce,"
said Bonnie Tenneriello, an attorney with the institute. "John
Ashcroft's political committees, and possibly John Ashcroft himself,
engaged in serious violations of federal campaign finance law during
the 2000 election. The FEC's fine is merely a slap on the wrist."

"Spirit of America PAC and Ashcroft 2000, respectively,
Non vedo il nome del guardasigilli USA :)
Ma comunque l'importate e' fare disinformazione :)
*LOL*
-Stefano

 Eppure c'era scritto:
Altrove.  Non nella parte indicata.
-Stefano