It has always been taken for granted that presidents appoint wealthy donors to commissions, ambassadorships, and other honors. But we have never before seen evidence of the way the transactions are carried out. However, thanks to Wikileaks, we have an actual spreadsheet listing donors and possible purchases of office being circulated among DNC officials.
Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller has the story.
The spreadsheet - which was accompanied by emails sent between officials with the DNC's finance team - contains 23 names of little-known corporate executives and professional fundraisers who have donated to the committee and various Democratic political action committees.
(snip)
The donor spreadsheet is included in an email chain in which Jordan Kaplan, DNC's national finance director, asks other officials to provide names of donors they want to propose for federal commissions.
"Last call for boards and commissions," Kaplan wrote on April 20.
"If you have someone, send to [DNC finance chief of staff Scott] Comer – full name, city, state, email and phone number. Send as many as you want, just don't know how many people will get to."
The email confused at least one official involved in the exchange.
"Boards and commissions? Sorry, I'm lost," wrote Jordan Vaughn, the national finance director for the DNC's African American Leadership Council.
Comer explained: "Any folks who you'd like to be considered to be on the board of (for example) USPS, NEA, NEH. Basically anyone who has a niche interest and might like to serve on the board of one of these orgs."
"I should say, though, that the likelihood of landing a spot on ones as prestigious as NEA/USPS is unlikely," Comer added, referring to the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Postal Service.
"It's much more likely they'll get something like 'President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History.' (no shade to women) But when you submit your names, we don't need specific designations," he continued. (snip)
one tip-off that the document is detailing a quid pro quo is an entry next to the name of David Shapira, the executive chairman of grocery store chain Giant Eagle, Inc.
"USPS" - a likely reference to the U.S. Postal Service - is entered on the spreadsheet.
President Obama nominated Shapira for a position on the USPS' board of governors last year but the retail executive did not take the position because congressional Republicans held up his nomination.
Shapira and his wife Cynthia have donated heavily to Clinton, the DNC and other Democratic and liberal political action committees.
It might be illegal, but everyone knows the Justice Department would never pursue an indictment against Democrats, so getting to the bottom of this scandal requires the election of Donald Trump, the appointment of a aggressive attorney general (Chris Christie, please!), and a thorough housecleaning at he Justice Department, following broad civil service reform legislation. Hey, a guy can dream.
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