College Boat Donation

Wikimedia is currently taking donations in a drive to raise what looks like $1 Million. I think it is a great cause, but want to be sure my money won’t go to buying someone a boat, or toga party.

From CNN.COM today:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush named Republican fundraiser Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday, using a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress where Democrats had derailed Fox’s nomination.

Democrats had denounced Fox for his 2004 donation to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group’s TV ads, which claimed that Sen. John Kerry exaggerated his military record in Vietnam, were viewed as a major factor in the Massachusetts Democrat’s losing the election.

Recognizing Fox did not have the votes to obtain Senate confirmation, Bush withdrew the nomination last month. On Wednesday, with Congress out of town for a spring break, the president used his power to make recess appointments to put Fox in the job without Senate confirmation.

This means Fox can remain ambassador until the end of the next session of Congress, effectively through the end of the Bush presidency.

To convince you to pay off my car? I’d be eternally grateful. I am going to be finished with school in May and will have a “boat load” of student loans to pay for. I was thinking it might be easier if I didn’t have a car payment. I’m open to suggestions. It’s about $15k right now. Anyone know where I could set up a “Help Me Pay Off My Car” donation site on the internet? Thanks!

I have a friend/hero who enjoyed hell so much, she’s taking a second trip! cafepress dot com fwd slash helpshellyan

Anyhow, I’m doing the great friend thing and I’ve reserved a nice big boat, with fabulous food and entertainment, we’ve got items autographed from all over the sports world to auction off and we’re setting sail in late October for the night of her LIFE!

I even have a guy at the newspaper to write an article to help us sell these tix. The print vendor is in line and EVERYBODY is donating their efforts!

Then it hit me,.will the feds haunt us in April? Can the already taxed out of pocket donations be subject to additional tax for a dinner auction fundraiser?

I read briefly about Non-Profit Orgs and whatnot but this seems like a ridiculous expectation if I’m doing this as a one night help a friend gesture.

But, I’d never forgive myself if we raised 40k that night and every penny got spent on her meds and the feds came knocking on her door for 10k in April?

Home > Congress > Soros-linked group hit with huge fine
Soros-linked group hit with huge fine

By: Kenneth P. Vogel
Aug 29, 2007 02:19 PM EST
Updated: August 29, 2007 02:17 PM EST

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The Federal Election Commission has fined one of the last cycle’s biggest liberal political action committees $775,000 for using unregulated soft money to boost John Kerry and other Democratic candidates during the 2004 elections.

America Coming Together (ACT) raised $137 million for its get-out-the-vote effort in 2004, but the FEC found most of that cash came through contributions that violated federal limits.

The group’s big donors included George Soros, Progressive Corp. chairman Peter Lewis and the Service Employees International Union.

The settlement, which the FEC approved unanimously, is the third largest enforcement penalty in the commission’s 33-year history.

ACT, which ceased operations in 2005, was formed in late 2003 and rapidly deployed an enormous organization to do the retail-level grunt work of politics.

It opened more than 90 offices in 17 states from which it mobilized an army of more than 25,000 paid canvassers and volunteers to knock on doors, stuff envelopes and make phone calls urging voters to defeat President Bush and support Democratic or “progressive” candidates including Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate.

The FEC dismissed allegations that that Kerry’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee violated campaign laws by coordinating with ACT or accepting excessive contributions from the group.

ACT was among a new breed of political committee, known as 527 groups, that stretched campaign finance rules on their way to shaping the 2004 elections.

Operatives used the 527s, named for the section of the IRS code under which they were registered, to spend money on politics outside the FEC’s purview.

But the groups have largely faded from the political landscape as the FEC has sought to rein them in. Late last year, commissioners handed down a total of $630,000 in penalties to three top 527s: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, MoveOn.org and the League of Conservation Voters, and there are more complaints pending.

But the heads of two of the non-profit campaign finance reform groups behind many of the complaints, including the one that led to the ACT penalty, say it’s all too little, too late.

“This action comes more than three years after our FEC complaints were filed and nearly three years after the 2004 presidential election was held,” read a statement from Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, and Gerry Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center.

Plus, they argued, the fine “represents only a tiny fraction” of the amount ACT spent illegally on the 2004 elections.

Wertheimer also is involved in a lawsuit to compel the FEC to pass a set of comprehensive rules regulating 527s, without which he said the groups are likely to reemerge in the 2008 campaign.
Elli.
You are wrong on all counts. The swft boats were willing to debate and Kerry who by the way served him self in Nam would not as he is the lier.

Ask why if it were not true have they not been sued. Because if they are sued the swift boats will win and you know this also.

One more thing you wish to shut others up and but not your own lies.
Great for the Fed. Elec. Comm. Also Hillary is next with the S.F. case.