McCain Bundler Collects From Unlikely Donors

Washington Post:

The bundle of $2,300 and $4,600 checks that poured into Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign on March 12 came from an unlikely group of California donors: a mechanic from D&D Auto Repair in Whittier, the manager of Rite Aid Pharmacy No. 5727, the 30-something owners of the Twilight Hookah Lounge in Fullerton.

But the man who gathered checks from them is no stranger to McCain -- he shuttled the Republican on his private plane and held a fundraising event for the candidate at his house in Delray Beach, Fla.

Harry Sargeant III, a former naval officer and the owner of an oil-trading company that recently inked defense contracts potentially worth more than $1 billion, is the archetype of a modern presidential money man. The law forbids high-level supporters from writing huge checks, but with help from friends in the Middle East and the former chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit -- who now serves as a consultant to his company -- Sargeant has raised more than $100,000 for three presidential candidates from a collection of ordinary people, several of whom professed little interest in the outcome of the election.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[benwha11]

McCain and the troops need people like Mr. Sargeant. First of all, Mr. Sargeant is a good friend with King Abdullah of Jordan. It is important for the stability of the region to have strong relations with buffer states such as Jordan. Without international businessmen such as Mr. Sargeant where would we be in a region always seemingly on the brink of disaster? Jordan is a buffer state that borders Iraq, Syria and Israel and a strong ally of the U.S. because of people like Mr. Sargeant.


1. At the end of the day, what’s wrong with bundling contributions?

Answer: Nothing – both campaigns are doing it. The Obama Campaign has 37 bundlers that have raised $18 million.

2. What’s wrong with winning a contract when your not the lowest bidder, but you are the only company that meets the specifications of the contract as stipulated by the Department of Defense?

Answer: Nothing. The DoD has continually said that Mr. Sargeant is doing a remarkable job under difficult circumstances and he keeps getting the business because he’s the only one that can perform. Remember, Mr. Sargeant first got the business back in 2004, and that was when Mr. McCain was being courted by Mr. Kerry to be on his ticket as VP. Politics has nothing to do with Mr. Sargeant’s business in Iraq – it is performance – just ask the troops.


This is a lot to do about nothing.

[connorin]

I like how this now discredited article still appears in its original form without update...

WAY TO GO HUFFPO!!!

[fishsandwichesr2good]

Don't let the truth get in the way of a huffnutpost.

[rollingdivision]

The named donors don't check out at opensecrets.org. So does the Wapo do any fact checking?

[zefal]

Correction to This Article
An earlier version of this story about campaign donations that Florida businessman Harry Sargeant III raised for Sen. John McCain, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton incorrectly identified three individuals as being among the donors Sargeant solicited on behalf of McCain. Those donors -- Rite Aid manager Ibrahim Marabeh, and lounge owners Nadia and Shawn Abdalla -- wrote checks to Giuliani and Clinton, not McCain. Also, the first name of Faisal Abdullah, a McCain donor, was misspelled in some versions of the story.

[sonofloud]

In an effort to cast himself as independent of the influence of money on politics, Senator Barack Obama often highlights the campaign contributions of $200 or less that have amounted to fully half of the $340 million he has collected so far.
But records show that one-third of his record-breaking haul has come from donations of $1,000 or more.
Behind those larger donations is a phalanx of more than 500 Obama “bundlers,” fund-raisers who have each collected contributions totaling $50,000 or more. Many of the bundlers come from industries with critical interests in Washington. Nearly three dozen of the bundlers have raised more than $500,000 each, including more than a half-dozen who have passed the $1 million mark and one or two who have exceeded $2 million, according to interviews with fund-raisers.
An analysis of campaign finance records shows that about two-thirds of his bundlers are concentrated in four major industries: law, securities and investments, real estate and entertainment. Lawyers make up the largest group, numbering roughly 130, with many of them working for firms that also have lobbying arms. At least 100 Obama bundlers are top executives or brokers from investment businesses: nearly two dozen work for financial titans like Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs or Citigroup.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/us/politics/06bundlers.html?ref=politics

[cariintexas]

Michael Barnicle, filling in for C. Matthews on MSNBC just called bloggers crazy people. On the money issue, he bellowing about Barack getting donations from some wealthy donors. Not a word about Saint John.

[SouthernYankeeBelle]

Yeah, the problem with Mikey is he has to suck up to Morning Joe (Republican) so he can be on his show. The more he is on Morning Joe the more he sounds like him. I have stopped watching the show because they like to insult liberal bloggers.

[ObamaLover]

Barack Obama's national Muslim outreach coordinator has resigned amid a controversy of over his connections to a man who the Justice Department named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the racketeering trial last year of several alleged Hamas fund-raisers.

[kellygrrrl]

Let's count how many of MkKain's staff, advisors and surrogates have been dismissed ... shall we?

[whiteboyblues]

I like how HuffPo keeps changing the headline on this news story. Is the McCain camp calling and telling you guys what you can and can't say?

[edwarvir]

No wonder Johnny and Charlie are not crying out for this war to end, but this
is something that should be investigated by Congress.

[lvdragonlady]

Damn! Mc is selling us out (Harry Sargeant III, a former naval officer and the owner of an oil-trading company that recently inked defense contracts potentially worth more than $1 billion) and he has not even been elected?
Arrogant - yes
wannabe - yes
old - big yes

more of the same - absolutely

[Grunty1]

Sounds like someone should interview these "strange" givers and actually make sure that they did in fact give the money. I smell money laundering.

[MDinOK]

$1 billion in contracts!!! Harry Sargeant III, is seeing more $$$ signs if McCain is elected. The big oil companies have got to keep the war in Iraq going. We have to keep our men and women over there to protect the oil companies and contractors, right?

[PKSSK]

This article is very interesting and enlightening, as it sheds light on the candidates who were viewed as the pro-war/pr­o-corporat­e profit candidates that were supported by the corp elite status quo. Is it any wonder that the media began the presidential primaries spouting propaganda and polls that focused on the two candidates who supported thier corporates cause, Guilliani and Clinton. Surprise, surprise the people shocked the status quo and chose thier own canidates.

[Biracial1]

Will this be on your local or cable news.... NOT

[southafrica4obama]

American mob just like Mugabe