Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Hogsett Raises More Than $916,000 From The Usual Suspects For Mayoral Campaign

It's little wonder Joe Hogsett dumped every major public corruption investigation handed to him by the FBI in the waste basket during his tenure as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana just like his useless, political hack predecessors. All of the usual suspects engaged in operating the City of Indianapolis as their personal profit centers lined up to contribute more than $916,000 to the campaign committee he just formed months ago to launch his bid to become Indianapolis' next mayor. With expenditures of fewer than $50,000, Hogsett will begin the year with a cash-on-hand balance of at least $871,000. [Note: This only includes reporting through the end of November.]

Two of the Simon daughters were among his largest campaign contributors. Cindy Skjodt and Deborah Simon each kicked in $100,000. Barnes & Thornburg's Jeffery Mallamad, kicked in $110,000. If you weren't among the dozens of city contractors, consultants, engineers, attorneys and lobbyists who kicked in a minimum buy-in of at least $5,000, you hardly register as a big supporter. Developer Joe Whitsett forked over $11,400, while developer Michael Browning gave up $5,000. Lobbyists Doug Brown, Kenny Cragen, Greg Hahn, Lacy Johnson and Sam Odle each spared $10,000 to the cause. Hogsett's law firm, Bose McKinney & Evans, chipped in $10,000. Engineer James Schellinger dropped $10,000. There were a couple of labor unions who mistakenly contributed $10,000 of their members' money under the false perception the candidate sides with workers and not big business in the Evan Bayh tradition.

You can check out Hogsett's campaign finance disclosure report here to confirm why the views of average folks aren't represented by government.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

This doesn't appear to be Hogsett's year end report. It looks like the finance report that was filed when he switched from an exploratory to a regular committee. So he had more than $900k in mid-November. I can't imagine he stopped raising money at that point.

Gary R. Welsh said...

You're right. It appears to include reporting through the end of November. He filed this report right before Christmas.

Anonymous said...

A really clever FBI agent would investigate how big law firms accept payments from clients which are used exclusively for the purpose of contributing to politicians to which they wish to curry favor. The payments are deducted as legal fees in violation of IRS rules, federal money laundering laws are violated and campaign finance laws against using another person as a conduit for making contributions is invoked. This illegal practice has become common among big law firms.

Anonymous said...

"Corruption is as corruption does."

-The Democrat Machine

Gary R. Welsh said...

You're going to have to come up with something new. That phrase is tired and worn out, anon. 4:34.

Anonymous said...

Gary @4:43: I thought that comment was a classic, timeless piece that is the main premise of The Democrat Party???

Flogger said...

Wow, I am impressed so many people interested in Good Government in Marion County that do not even live in Marion County. A real big hat's off to all of you out of state types. Some of you local yokels are going to have to dig a lot deeper.

It would be nice if not only the occupation was reported but also the employer. I can see some of Smoking Joe's flashy glossy ads: A smiling Joe surrounded by African-Americans, Hispanics and White People. The message trailer Joe Hogsett for all people.
Perhaps another Ad with Joe in his designer jeans, surrounded by some rustic looking folks. A few Union types in Hard Hats. - Trailer Joe Hogsett a friend of the Workers.

Gary R. Welsh said...

No doubt filmed in Working Man's Friend where all of those big donors hang out, NOT!

Anonymous said...

All he really needs is the "Simon"
contributions to fund his campaign.
The rest just runs the well dry for council Democratic candidates to possibly try to tap into.

Anonymous said...

It appears, to some degree, the same ting is happening in Northwest Indiana.

Actions of some Lake County Politicians are ignored, given card blanche for continued criminal behavior.

The Department of Justice should look into this, but they won't.

Sad commentary on democracy.