Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Did BofA bail out DNC with illegal campaign loans?

From Habledash:
It's been revealed by an exclusive by Pajamas Media that Bank of America loaned $32 million to Democratic campaign committees without any tangible collateral put up against the loan. The allegation is simple: This could be an illegal campaign contribution that would affect the election outcome.

After Labor Day, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), led by former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine..., took out a $15 million loan after polls suggested the election was going to be a tough battle. A few weeks later, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) followed suit with a $17 million loan, for a total of $32 million lent from Bank of America to Democratic campaign committees.

Without having anything to put up against the loan (their headquarters, an asset valued at $13.7 million, is owned by another entity), the DNC used their private email donor list as collateral. Sneakily, two days prior to the loan being approved, the DNC changed their online privacy policy to meet the requirements for their loan, stating that private information may be shared if it's the result of "an asset sale or in any other situation where personal information may be disclosed or transferred as one of the assets of the DNC."

During the '08 presidential election, John McCain attempted to secure a $3 million loan by using his campaign email list as backing, but the bank denied him. There is no way to put a value on an email list, especially without independent documentation, which wasn't included in this particular loan...
Pajamas Media notes:
The Democrats’ long-time sweetheart relationship with the banking world and with the Bank of America in particular creates the appearance of an insider deal.

BofA was very generous to Barack Obama when he ran for President. Campaign finance records show that in the 2008 election cycle, Senator Barack Obama was the top recipient of Bank of America campaign donations, reaping $421,000.

BofA’s new CEO, [Brian Moynihan], is considered one of the Obama administration’s top Wall Street allies on a whole host of issues, from the creation of a consumer regulatory agency to the defense of the administration’s home mortgage fiascoes...

As of this posting, the DNC has not replied to our inquiries...
Read article in full at PJM

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