U.S. campaign fundraisers linked to graft
Key fundraisers for both U.S. presidential hopefuls were involved in corruption cases tied to lobbying for government contracts, the campaigns acknowledged.
Neither executive hired to solicit contributions for the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain was charged with a crime, USA Today reported.
But they were hired by candidates who have made government ethics a centerpiece of their campaigns and have sought to distance themselves from Washington's influence business, the newspaper said.
Chicago investment banker James Reynolds, a member of Obama's national finance committee, was recorded on FBI wiretaps in 2003 arranging what prosecutors said was a sham
consulting contract with the paramour
of a Philadelphia mayoral adviser.
His firm later won $300,000 worth of city contracts.
McCain fundraising committee co-chairman Fred Malek was censured by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004 for not disclosing payments to a friend of former Connecticut Treasurer Paul Silvester.
Silvester, who pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in 1999, admitted he persuaded Malek and his Thayer Capital Partners LP private-equity firm to pay the friend a finder's fee
on a state investment. The friend didn't do any work.
Malek and Thayer settled the case without admitting or denying wrongdoing by paying the SEC $250,000.
The Obama campaign said Reynolds admitted he made mistakes, but he has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
The McCain campaign declined to comment on Malek.
Copyright 2008 by United Press InternationalUPI-1-20081016-10482100-bc-us-politics-fundraisers.xml
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