William "Windy" March knows a heck of a lot. He claimed to have hundreds of websites he regularly checks when investigating the background of politicians and lobbyists.
For example, were you aware that when Senator Mel Martinez retired from the Senate to "be with his family" that he actually mean lobbying monolith DLA Piper, who lobbied his committees 12-20 times a year while he was a legislator? He took a job with the firm immediately after "retiring" who likely quadrupled his salary. A true American hero. Defender of Hispanic Florida. Possibly a candidate for sainthood.
Only so much money can be given to a political candidate. For political money laundering, the seminal case for Windy was Mark Jimenez using his company, Future Tech, to donate thousands to Bill Clinton in the 1990's. Public records broke the case. In fact, we went through the process in class. We looked up the employees of Future Tech and the money they gave to which candidates. In this case, an overwhelming percentage was given to Bill Clinton, and many gave the maximum amount of $1,000.
Further records investigations showed that many of these donators lived in modest homes, drove old cars, and had not registered to vote. Public records got the ball rolling on this fiscal corruption case.
Another anecdote was about Jeb Bush. Apparently, he was famous for having dinners that had two costs: a $500 check for the max state donation and a $25,000 check to the Republican Party. If you gave both checks you got to play golf with George Bush Sr.
So why can all this money be given in a political race? Freedom of speech. For perhaps the first time I find myself reviling the hippy, left-wing First Amendment catch-all. Why is a political donation free speech? It is too bad one of our constitutional rights is not to live under corporate oligarchs.
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