Green tries sleight of hand with Abramoff contributions; DPW calls him out

[sybylla]

from the PDF press release http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/Jan06/Jan12/0112dpwgreendelay.pdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 12, 2006
CONTACT: Jessica Erickson, Communications Director, 608-260-2406
[e-mail]

Much To Do About Nothing
Green Puts Dirty DeLay Money In Separate Campaign Account to Spend Later;
Democrats Call on Green to Stop Playing Games, Get Rid of Cash Once and For All

MADISON – The Democratic Party of Wisconsin called on Congressman Mark Green today to drop his
ridiculous false claims that he got rid of more than $30,000 in campaign contributions from the indicted
former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and clean his campaign of the dirty cash by immediately
donating it to a nonpartisan voter registration campaign.

Yesterday, in a grandiose press conference, Green tried to fool the public into believing he is getting rid of
the tainted DeLay money. The fact remains that Green’s campaign has simply transferred the money
from one campaign account to another, where it can be spent later during his campaign for governor.

“Once again, Mark Green is trying to say one thing and do another,” said Joe Wineke, Chair of the
Democratic Party of Wisconsin. “In typical Washington fashion, Green is trying to make us believe he’s
gotten rid of the dirty DeLay cash, when he is really hanging on to it. If he wanted to do the right thing, he
would donate the money today.”

Green’s new excuse about why he won’t get rid of the DeLay cash: Wisconsin law prevents him from
getting rid of the money. But the truth is Wisconsin law allows him to divest his campaign of the money
immediately. Green’s campaign could donate the money today to a nonpartisan campaign to increase
voter registration or participation – like the League of Women Voters, for example – according to
Wisconsin State Statutes 11.25(2)(a)(b).

“Mark Green is trying to fool the public with fancy accounting tricks,” Wineke said. “The fact is this money
is not leaving Green’s campaign, and he can spend it at any time he thinks the public has stopped caring
about his ties to Tom Delay and the culture of corruption emanating from Washington. It’s time for Mark
Green to come clean, drop the complicated excuses, and get rid of this money once and for all by giving it
to a non-partisan voter registration campaign.”

Wineke also called on Congressman Paul Ryan, who has taken more than $25,000 from DeLay, to
immediately return the money. Ryan has flat-out refused to return the money, and tried to claim it would
be illegal, although the Federal Elections Commission has said he could legally return the money.
Several of Green’s and Ryan’s Republican colleagues in the House have already donated or returned
campaign money they received from DeLay. And last week, fellow Republican and Green’s challenger in
the GOP primary for governor Scott Walker even said money from DeLay should be returned.

“With the biggest corruption scandal hitting Washington since Watergate, you would think both Mark
Green and Paul Ryan would want to distance themselves from these indicted Republican leaders,”
Wineke said. “Yet both Green and Ryan continue to refuse to do the right thing and get rid of this
questionable cash from Tom DeLay.”

DeLay has been indicted on money laundering charges in a campaign finance scheme in Texas and is a
close associate of indicted Washington, D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Abramoff pleaded guilty last week
to three felony charges including conspiracy to bribe public officials, and has agreed to cooperate in a
wide-ranging corruption probe that could involve up to 20 members of Congress and aides, including
DeLay.
- 30 -

Way to keep his feet to the fire, Joe!

If only the press paid attention. I hadn't heard about this anywhere in the media. :shrug: Anyone else see it?


on edit: I'd nominate him for top ten conservative idiocy but I imagine there will be at least a dozen or more just like him in the next few weeks.

[rodeodance]

1. thanks for the post. WI is losing its progressiveness with slimeballs

like Green.

[rodeodance]

2. KICKYPOO

[sybylla]

3. Link to companion post in GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x128787

[RevCheesehead]

5. Thanks for cross-posting so i could nominate it.

Great find! :thumbsup:

[sybylla]

6. Thank you for the nomination

Made it to the Greatest Page thanks to you. Woohoo! My first greatest page thread.

[ewagner]

4. kickety-kick-kick n/t

[gizmo1979]

7. I think Green is toast.

One down one to go.

[rodeodance]

8. Green TOAST--that should be a slogan

[Bellyboy]

9. This is the best we can do

Joe Wineke looks pathetic with this slam against Mark Green. He has moved the money to a seperate account and says it will not be spent. There apparently are laws that need to be changed for him to donate the money the way he wants to.

I think the Dems should be able to check that account every month to make sure every dollar is in there, and when the law changes the Dems should make sure it's donated. But it just looks so petty to be slamming him for this. We look like a bunch of whiners.

Please grow up Joe.

[sybylla]

10. Thanks for playing

If you actually take a moment to read the press release, you will see it explains that Mark "Avaricious" Green could donate the money now. But he refuses. Could it be that he can't bring himself to give it away?

And, surely you must find it appalling, though typically puke, that he calls a press conference to announce that he has dealt with the contributions as if they have been made to disappear, when in fact they lie in waiting at his beck and call in a "separate account." And just what do you think will happen to those funds, should a few months pass and the press start looking the other way? Thank FSM we have the DPW and Joe Wineke to keep an eye on sleazy politicians like Mark Green.

Methinks thee doth protest too much, Bellyboy. The truly pathetic truth is that Green is playing games with tainted money he's too greedy to cough up when decorum dictates it. Seems most every puke who took money from Abramoff is shucking it as fast as they can, yet Green plays games. And of course we Dems are thrilled that he will soon be hoisted by his own avaricious petard.

One puke gubernatorial candidate down, one to go.

[Bellyboy]

11. He hasn't done anything wrong...yet

First of all Mark Green did not take any money from Abramoff. Doyle is the candidate who has money connections to Doyle. Just another reason I wish someone would run against him on the Dem ticket. Secondly, at this point Mark Green has put the money into a seperate account. That's fine for now. I'm sure bloggers will watch that account closely. If it goes down then you attack Green. Until then I move on.

There are liberal bloggers in Wisconsin who have looked absolutely foolish with the "Green - Abramoff" connection. This whiney crap we play always hurts us. When there is something that is more concrete then go after him, but this press release from Joe makes us look childish.

Bellyboy

[sybylla]

12. While disembling at a press conference may not be illegal

it is certainly wrong. While keeping tainted contributions is not illegal, it is most definitely wrong, an opinion clearly supported by a wagonload of GOPpies in their rush to divest themselves of tainted Abramoff money. And while standing by a campaign manager who is on record for receiving Abramoff goodies and has yet to clearly explain how that happened and to what purpose may not be illegal, one certainly does have to wonder what kind of scruples your poor, abused REPUBLICAN candidate for governor has.

Avaricious Green clearly seems to think he is above clear determinations of right and wrong. There seem to be no scruples but his scruples for Gang Green.

I can't help but wonder why you agree with him. :think:

[Bellyboy]

13. Try to be fair

I try to be fair. Unlike many who look at these situations with an obvious slant. If Mark Green spends any of the $29,000 he put in the seperate account then I will slam him. I think he has done the right thing. Would I have done the exact same thing. No, but that doesn't mean what he is doing now is wrong.

Mark Graul went to one bucks basketball game with a person associated with Abramoff. There is no other evidence that he went to any other games or events. Even the people who initially made the accusations have backed off saying they have no proof that any more tickets were used. Mark Green received no money from Abramoff. Not one penny. Where are all the posts about Doyle and Feingold taking money from his people.

I guarantee you that Doyle's people won't touch the Abramoff-Graul situation with a 10 ft. pole because they will be embarrassed.

Remember, GOPpiers in other states can give back contributions differently than we can in Wisconsin. Green is going to return the funds back from where they came. My understanding is that in Wisconsin he would not be able to return the entire amount until laws change. If the law changes and he doesn't do it then we should slam him. Until then it's a dumb argument.

Keep up with these type of attacks and I can guarantee you Doyle will be out. Mark my words.

Bellyboy

[sybylla]

14. Nothing should be fair about unethical politics, Bellyboy

You see, in the arena of public office, our officials must be held to a higher standard than guilt. There must not be even an appearance of political wrongdoing, a hint of stink, if the public trust is to be maintained. This has been, until recently at any rate, a common political philosophy.

And while I certainly believe there must be more than partisan fingerpointing to suggest an appearance of wrongdoing, that is definitely not the case in Green's situation. And yet Green offers only denials, stalling, sleight of hand and a few minor curosry to appear to shuck the stink.

And still there are those who cannot smell it, or perhaps refuse to smell it, blame it on the dog, walk away as if it didn't exist, quite adamantly and determinedly blame it on others who had nothing to do with it, say that everyone does it, point fingers at those who will be in even more trouble should they take great pains to point it out, and, failing all that cry that it is all much ado about nothing and that we should all try to be fair.

Obfuscation, Bellyboy. You're swimming in it.

[Bellyboy]

15. Keep it up and lose

Well, you and Joe can keep up these silly attacks on Mark Green. Watch him pull closer and closer to Doyle and the next thing you know Green will be moving his stuff into the mansion. Dems just don't know how to run campaigns. We are so pathetic at it. And press releases with comments like those from Joe Wineke prove it. Just look at how many liberal bloggers have backed off this story.

Bellyboy

[sybylla]

16. Then you need to join the party so you can teach us how!

You can find a membership form at http://www.wisdems.org We need busybodies like yourself to fix all our woes and win us some elections.

I have confidence, as I'm sure many other Dems in Wisconsin do, that Doyle's success in this election will be based entirely on his own record. Anything Joe Wineke says will be completely forgotten by, say, yesterday. That's the way of party chairs. They only serve the purpose to stir up the media, to call attention to problems with the platform, issues, and conduct of the oppostion - kind of like cheerleaders do. And though we may look at the cheerleaders occasionally when they provoke us to do so, it's the players on the field that get all the attention.

Being the big politico you are, I'm surprised you don't know that already.

Which leads me to wonder if you could name three liberal bloggers in Wisconsin.

[Bellyboy]

17. We disagree

Tell that to the Dems who have tried to distance themselves from Howard Dean over the last 6-9 months. National party chairs and state party chairs usually don't hurt elections but they can.

Liberal Blogs:

Brewtown politico
eye on wisconsin
What's Left
The Xoff files

Some of them are still throwing out jabs about Green but have little strength behind their punches. Again, the Dems can do what they want. Just prepare to lose this battle. There are other issues to go after. Continue with this line of attacks and Green will be Governor (or possibly Walker). This is not helping Doyle.

Bellyboy

[Dinger]

18. Thanks For The Heads Up

Green is a punk. There's a teacher at my school (elementary) who invites him every year. She is a total repug freak!
I think I'll give that little fucker a piece of my mind if, no I mean when, he comes this year.

[RevCheesehead]

19. you go, girl!

I've got your back. :bounce:

Total lame-ass, money-grubbing, blivet-parroting piece of shit. :grr: