Friday, August 05, 2011

One million dollars anonymously to Mitt Romney's campaign - source a foreign government?

This is a very important question. Why, with the Citizens United decision in place is this level of secrecy required?

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The organization, W. Spann, LLC was created and six weeks later contributed $1 million to the Romney campaign. No one knows where the money came from. Eleven weeks later the organization was dissolved. It operated from an address (590 Madison Ave, NY, NY) which is also the address of Mitt Romney's investment company, Bain Capital.

Since the Citizen's United decision makes it legal for corporations to donate unlimited amounts to candidates, what is the reason for the secrecy? My bet is that his is money donated from a foreign government trying to influence the American Presidential election. If this is not the North Korean government or some similar government contributing (with the knowledge of Romney - the address proves that) then the Romney campaign better tell us where the money came from


Addendum 8/7/11 12:02 CDT
The individual who donated the $1 million has come forward and Benjy Sarlin at TPM has reported on it.
Ed Conrad, a former executive at Bain Capital, which Romney co-founded, told Politico on Friday that he had funneled the money to Super PAC Restore Our Future on the advice of his lawyers.

"I am the individual who formed and funded W Spann LLC," he said in a statement. "I authorized W Spann LLC's contribution to Restore Our Future PAC.I did so after consulting prominent legal counsel regarding the transaction, and based on my understanding that the contribution would comply with applicable laws. To address questions raised by the media concerning the contribution, I will request that Restore Our Future PAC amend its public reports to disclose me as the donor associated with this contribution."

I'd like to see more on this, especially where Ed Conrad claims HE got the money. This is a man who was a close associate of Mitt Romney and who could easily be expected to fall on his sword to cover up something illegal or immoral like transmitting a contribution from a foreign government.

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