3546

Not necessarily…

It’s been more than a decade since South Florida Rep. Mark Foley was forced out of Congress for sending sexual text messages to teenage boys.

But Foley tapped his congressional campaign fund to dine on the Palm Beach social circuit four times in early 2017, ending with a $450 luncheon at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches.

Then there’s baseball-star-turned-senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky. He paid his daughter $94,800 from campaign money in the four years after he left office, only stopping when he’d bled his fund dry.

And over the past 17 months, political advisor Dylan Beesley paid his firm more than $100,000 from the campaign account of Hawaii Congressman Mark Takai for “consulting services.”

It’s hard to imagine what Beesley advised. Takai was dead that whole time.

3547

“Some trouble?” I dunno. In stark contrast to our neighboring state to the south, the Wisconsin economy has been humming along during the Walker years, and Walker has always been able to get his base out to vote for him. Commitment is what it’s all about in state-wide Wisconsin races and Walker gets commitment. Plus the Dem candidates, at this point at least, are all a bunch of relative unknowns.

Yesterday’s special elections gave one indication that there will be a Blue Wave in Wisconsin and a couple that there won’t. The Dems took a state senate seat long held by Republicans in NE Wisconsin, but Republicans held on to two seats in the Assembly. The trouble with those results in that they are essentially only beauty contests. The special elections fill those seats only for the remainder of this year’s legislative session, which is nominally year-long, but the legislature has already adjourned for the rest of year. Those same candidates will be facing off again for a full term in this fall’s election, which should have a lot more voters turning out because there will be both the gubernatorial election and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin will be seeking re-election. Baldwin is the Republicans’ No. 1 target in the Senate. So it’s going to be an interesting fall here in Wisconsin.

3548

No, I’m still gonna go with “Oopsie”:

3549

Oh, I’m for sure giving Sanford too much credit. But fundraising plus minimal spending, leaving himself with a $1.5M slush fund, is way smarter than just retiring.

3550

Is your theory that Sanford would have made more than $1.5 million in two years of influence pedaling? Or do you think Sanford is planning to return all that money back to his donors, like the honorable man he is?

3551

I think the theory will be that losing prevents future opportunities for graft, and so by trying to maximize this graft payout, he is losing out on future ones.

3552

I mean, I think Sanford probably has a career ahead of him as a political pundit.

And that may mean more money in the long run.

But my “theory” is based on:

  1. Mark Sanford saying at least late in the game that he was worried and did really want to win, and appearing to genuinely want to win, and
  2. Mark Sanford doing the shitty work of raising money during the last year. Which, it’s easy to just float downstream and not do and ease on out.

Sanford’s an odd cat for a politician. He seems to get to a certain point where he decides “Fuck it…” and then later decides that he’s Gob Bluth and has made a big mistake.

3553

Hmmm… Refuses stimulus funds (which even the SC legislature recognized as cutting off the state’s nose to spite the federal government’s face). Hikes the Appalachian Trail. Seems to fit right in with some set of politicians.

3554

I don’t know if that is true or not, but why are rates rising so fast here if we have so much electricity? I heard someone recently say that solar has created a daytime glut of power, maybe that is what we export. However I am still getting PG&E warnings about possible summer time power outages and potential brown outs.

3555

looks around various threads on the forum

I’m going to go with… cryptomining boomers?

3556

Is this some kind of euphemism?

3557

C’mon, Craig. You can’t tell me you never “hiked the trail” back in your college days!

3558

Yes, yes it is. It’s what his staff told reporters he was doing when he was actually with his mistress.

3559

Ah, thanks.

3560

Hold on, that doesn’t make any sense. As I’m sure you’re aware, Mark Sanford is a member of the Republican party, which represents the very best of family values. I can’t imagine anyone with that affiliation would be capable of such a thing.

3561
3562

Guessing that big map may not include Ohio, either.

3563

Corey Stewart was on Chris Cuomo’s show last night. Definitely worth watching.

3564

“this is bullshit! Why are we talking about me while I’m on your show, and not some other person?”

3565