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Cindy Bass Violates Campaign Finance Laws. Donna Miller says, me too? (Update: She files, late.)
Submitted by Dan U-A on Tue, 05/08/2007 - 5:48pm.
So, a little 8th District campaign finance law news... Cindy Bass is violating the law, and did not even bother to file a campaign finance report. On the bright side, according to the City, her campaign did call today to ask who else was in violation of the law.
As I just emailed to the Inquirer- if you said this was basically a toss up- doesn't violating campaign finance laws, in this year of all years- maybe give you a pause about an endorsement? (There is something else that may come out too, but, anyway...)
Donna Miller did file. However, she filed two completely different reports with the City and the Dept of Ethics, with different contributors on the different reports.
In her filing, she took in $9,000 a piece from two limited partnerships who are basically the same guy-a developer she was already pinged by the board of ethics once for taking too much money from... the same damn guy. And, they didn't even try to be slick about it. Two $9,000 contributions the same day, with the same PO box, with two LP's that come up as from the same damn developer.
This is seriously ridiculous.
Update: As noted, she has now filed, with timestamps that indicate she did it today, May 9th. Couldn't have anything to do with this post...
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Inky editorial board
Seems that their candidate evaluation get stranger by the year. Remember how they slammed Sestak?
Yeah. They can endorse who
Yeah. They can endorse who they want. My problem with the endorsement was not that they gave it someone else, it is that they printed things that were flat out wrong to try and make their point.
The campaign finance stuff just came out, so, that couldn't be taken into account at the time. But, it sure can now.
"...it is that they printed
I believe the actual quote from the editorial was...
The words "unduly suspicious" to me seem like a value judgment rather than a statement of fact. "Unduly" means excessively. I would think that, to make that a factually incorrect statement, they would have needed to say something like "he is unequivocally opposed to any proposal that would trim Philadelphia's tax burden and red tape."
Whether or not their value judgment is fair, I suppose, would involve listening to the editorial board interview (which is not yet online).
Tell me, though...and this is a serious question...does the candidate have a single day of private sector/for-profit experience?
Tell me, though...and this
Kill me. Please. You know, when something is the norm in our society, do we really need a litmus test to make sure everyone hews to that norm? Or maybe could someone who shows the strength of character to take a career path that is both more difficult and significantly less renumerative than most in the legal profession provide some welcome balance?
I'm not going to speak for Dan, Alex or Irv, but I bet reaching way back there's at least a day. Maybe a paper route! Would that bring the oh-so-underrepresented private sector perspective back into politics?
Jennifer
Kill me. Please.
Right.
Since when is asking a question about a candidate's background a litmus test?
Well it was that or
come the **** on.
I went for melodramatic over inappropriate.
Jennifer
Even more importantly,
Is Irv an "entrepreneur?"
Irv is a co-owner of Weaver's Way
Well, that's what a member of a Co-op is....
Fran:
Maybe you could cover Weavers' Way in one of your entrepreneurship classes or better yet ask Irv to come and speak. Starting a business with so many owners is difficult (and usually impossible) and I don't know if Irv was involved since the beginning but it'd make for an interesting case study. Maybe you could get WW to start a branch in Kensington.
I think your question to Vern about what the city has to do (or not) to clean neighborhoods and the editorial that Ray wrote last week that nothing will change unless people get involved also suggests that you have a lot more in common with the communists than the typical arguments around show. :)
I don't want to know what you really think but if there are a number of things that you and the UAs will agree about: 1) you'd all vote for a cardboard box over Carol Campbell and 2) Donna Reed Miller is terrible. (Don't tell me how much you despise co-ops either if perchance you do.)
Is there a news story about
Is there a news story about the 8th district that points this out? I'm looking for a link so I can read more.
No, because there is not
No, because there is not one.
Alex and I decided to look at the campaign reports. Donna's is messed up, with missing stuff between the City and Ethics Board, and donations that, yet again, look be violating the law...
Cindy's does not exist. Check out the City's website, and see if you can find it. (And this is not just a computer error- Alex actually went down there to pick them up.) She flat out did not file.
Looks like Curtis Jones didn't file his report either
Unless I'm not searching on the site correctly, looks like Curtis Jones, another member of the Fattah organization, didn't file his campaign finance report either. Do I detect a pattern of incompetance or something more devious.......
Most importantly, we might
Most importantly, we might now know what the UA's do for Thanksgiving. They look at campaign finance reports.
---
Check out my blog!
I am currently working for Marc Stier and Ellen Green-Ceisler.
Not Cindy Bass, Defender of Democracy!?!?!
What!?! Do you mean to say that Cindy Bass, who bravely stepped into the breach and challenged Maurice Houston's signatures and Greg Paulmier's Statement of Financial Interests, in an heroic effort to save the Eighth District from candidates who flout the law, has now failed to disclose her own campaign finances?!?! Who, when questioned at a candidate forum about her challenges, quoted another SFI challenger's assertion that "if you can't fill out a form, you're not qualified for the job?"
Surely it's a clerical error on the part of the Commissioners, because I can't imagine that a proud supporter of the laws that shape our democracy would commit such a gross error.
</sarcasm>
--
Thomas Taylor
a volunteer for Irv Ackelsberg's campaign
Have the NW weeklies all gone to bed?
I wonder if the CH Local, Mt Airy Times Express & G'town Courier can get this in their last pre-primary issues. The Local promised an endorsement this week...
Agreed!
I hope they pick this up and start pushing this ASAP!
Ackelsberg Campaign is getting scared
You gotta be kidding me right? Has the Ackelsberg campaign gotten so scared and down in the dumps, that Irv's son and volunteers have to result to lies and deception!!! I mean, come on Dan, we know your dad thought he was getting the Inquirer and Daily News endorsements and didn't count on Cindy Bass getting them, we know he didn't count on Paulmier getting back in the race and we know he really didn't count on the Bass campaign getting all the support and momentum it's gotten during this race. But does that mean you have to lie to your small group of supporters? Check the records just like I did, Cindy Bass did file her reports. Were you trying to find them so quickly to see how many of your dad's supposite supporters, smiled in his face but actually wrote a check to Cindy Bass. I know guys, only 7 days to go and you really don't know how to win this. Here's some advice, instead of lying and using deceptive practices. How about talking about the issues. The issues that voters and residents in the 8th Council district actually care about. You know, quality of life, safety, education and youth. Talk about what you've done and can do to protect these 4 important things. Oh that's right, you can't! Well Cindy Bass has and will continue to serve in her Community. I'm sure you know her background extremely well. I would hope so after you've spent so much time on creating lies. The voters will decide on election day what's true and what isn't. My vote is for Cindy Bass!!!
OK, I checked:
OK, I checked: http://www.phila.gov/Records/CampaignFinance/Campaign_Reports_2007-C2.html
Where is she? I see nothing with her name. As Alex can tell you, the City Dept of Records stated plainly that she is in violation of the law.
She seems like a nice person, and has done some good stuff. But you cannot just ignore the law. If you think that is what desperation is, then OK.
(Ducks)
I did, in fact, find them here:
http://phila-records.com/campaign-finance/web/login.jsp
Just run a search for City Council and "Bass." The datestamp is "Campaign Finance Report (Cover Page) - 05092007" - I do wonder if they weren't filed this morning.
[scurries away]
***
Volunteering for Michael Nutter
Good. And yeah, look at the
Good. And yeah, look at the date they were filed- 5/9/07. As in, today, or maybe filed last night, accepted today.
And, in case anyone thinks this is some wild conspiracy, I have the screen shots to show it.
What an obnoxioux post. This
What an obnoxioux post.
This is their father, for crying out loud! And from everything I've heard and read about Irv Ackelsberg, they have every reason to be proud of him.
This is, after all, a guy who worked at CLS for his entire legal career, though he clearly could have earned more money far more easily someplace else.
And he didn't just muddle by while at CLS: he excelled. Irv is a nationally recognized, award winning expert in his field. And during his years at CLS he rose to the position of managing attorney -- something that's particularly impressive to those familiar with the office's reputation for being fractious.
Taken together, what this means is that Irv Ackelsberg has brains,a social conscience,and people skills. He also has the admiration and support of his
children -- the people best positioned to judge his character. To me, it's hard to imagine a resume that would better qualify a candidate for City Council.
If you're going to post negative comments about this candidate, I think this is the wrong place for it.
Cindy Supporters: Irv supports flouridation!
Since you're obviously a little too dull to use the series of tubes known as the Interwebs, I highly suggest you give the Board of Elections a call. I didn't just look online (where there is no report) I went to the 5th floor down on Delaware and Spring Garden. The exact quote I got from the good folks down there was: "Cindy Bass didn't file. She's currently in violation of the law. Actually, someone from her office called earlier today to check and see if anyone else was in violation."
But, we all know the real culprit here: flouridation! "Do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children's ice cream".
The necessary evil
I consider money in politics a necessary evil, and judging candidates based on their finances is a dicey proposition. But who is more likely to be desperate here, the candidate that had $80K+ on hand at the last filing deadline, out of $165K+ raised (from hundreds of donors), or the candidate that has $4K+ on hand, out of >$25K raised (suggesting that the number of nominal Irv supporters who gave to Cindy instead is minimal, at best)? The candidate who has turned out 150+ volunteers two of the past four weekends to get the word out about his campaign, or the candidate who is virtually invisible in most parts of the district?
Like Dan, I agree that Cindy Bass seems like a nice person, who has done some good work in the community. But Irv is the only candidate who is in a position to beat Donna Reed Miller. Greg and Cindy and their supporters should do a gut check and decide if they want to be responsible for bringing exciting new leadership to the district, or being seen as the reason that DRM gets reelected with less than a majority of her party's support. Again.
All three challengers in this race have admirable records of community service. The accusation that Irv has not run and cannot run an issues-based campaign is beneath contempt. See the Chestnut Hill Local profile, or the endorsement statements from Neighborhood Networks or Philly for Change for third-party views of his professional and personal activism career.
Irv's legal background supporting the dispossessed, his history of working on the issues that matter to our district, like transit, housing, and fighting the casinos, set him apart in this race. Add to that his top-notch campaign organization that is the only one remotely prepared to take on the Miller machine, and I think that voters who want change in the 8th District have a very easy choice.
Something is screwy there
I hear you there buddy. The campaign is going to be everywhere on election day, competing for every single vote in every single neighborhood.
In terms of money, it is stunning the amount of small donors he has got. That said, he can only wish he had that much COH. For whatever reason, his reports show up twice, and double themselves. Anyway, here are the actual numbers:
He has the momentum, and you can feel it all over the district. (And, as that builds, more and more money is coming in, too.) And he is the only candidate- incumbent or not- who will have a district wide, GOTV operation. Knocking off an incumbent is tough, but, I think he is going to do it.
Inky Endorsement, Political Correctness?
I was wondering if maybe the Inky wanted to endorse Irv but felt like it was already endorsing a white guy in the 4th and needed to cover its bases? I mean some of its endorsements of incumbents was just brain dead stuff--that suggested they only wanted to put their cred on the line in a few instances. I don't know but it's food for thought for those of you who like conspiracy theories.
GO IRV!!!