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New Ron Paul TV ad: Rick Perry was “Al Gore’s Texas cheerleader” — a reference to then-Democrat Perry’s support for Gore’s 1988 run for President.
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A California accountant who has served as treasurer for dozens of major Democratic campaigns in that state and nationally has been charged with violating federal mail fraud laws, apparently for her work involving a campaign for state assembly.
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We just got a hold of the FBI complaint against Kinde Durkee, the California accountant who has been a campaign treasurer for hundreds of Democratic campaigns. The feds charged her late last week with mail fraud for allegedly taking campaign funds from accounts she controlled and using them to pay personal and business expenses as well as cover for shortfalls in the accounts of other campaigns.
The victim in this case is alleged to be the campaign of state Assemblyman Joe Solorio, from whose accounts Durkee allegedly misappropriated more than $600,000, some of which ended up in the campaign accounts of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA). (There is no suggestion in the complaint that the the Sanchez campaign knew of these deposits.)
But the key takeaway from the FBI complaint may be that Durkee admitted, according to the feds, that she has been “misappropriating her clients’ money for years.” So who knows how many other victims there and the amounts of money involved.
Here’s a copy of the complaint. Read More
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The Los Angeles County Democratic Party tells TPM that it is not sure it will be able to make payroll this month after its treasurer was rung up on federal mail fraud charges for allegedly misappropriating the campaign funds of her clients.
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