Ah was not really going to take. Just wanted to see who's picture was on it
Still wondering when McCain going to talk about the issues instead of relating to Sen.Obama as the Moses or the chosen one. If he can't speak on the issues than I think he will have lots of time to discuss who the chosen one was after the election and it will not be him.
Right on the heels of Monday's revelations from TPM about maxed-out, five-digit donations to John McCain from low-level energy company employees, comes news this morning of another nest of suspiciously generous working class donors, this one in Southern California, according to the Washington Post:
The bundle of $2,300 and $4,600 checks that poured into Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign on March 12 came from an unlikely group of California donors: a mechanic from D&D Auto Repair in Whittier, the manager of Rite Aid Pharmacy No. 5727, the 30-something owners of the Twilight Hookah Lounge in Fullerton....
Some of the most prolific givers in Sargeant's network live in modest homes in Southern California's Inland Empire. Most had never given a political contribution before being contacted by Sargeant or his associates. Most said they have never voiced much interest in politics. And in several instances, they had never registered to vote. And yet, records show, some families have ponied up as much as $18,400 for various candidates between December and March.....
Donors reached by phone or interviewed in person declined to explain who asked them to make the contributions.
Ibrahim Marabeh, who is listed in public records as a Rite Aid manager, at first denied that he wrote any political checks. He then said he was asked by "a local person. But I would like not to talk about it anymore." Neither he nor his wife is registered to vote, but the two donated $4,600 to Clinton and $4,600 to Giuliani in December.
Funny how McCain's donors seem as confused about their campaign contributions as their candidate is on ... well, just about everything else. This is going to be fun to watch unfold
**********************************************************************************
Who Are These Maxed-Out McCain Donors, Exactly?
Matthew Mosk has a real eyebrow-raising article in the Washington Post today, looking into the activities of Harry Sargeant III, a Florida businessman whose oil-trading firm is being investigated for allegedly overcharging the U.S. military for fuel deliveries to Iraq--a contract that it somehow managed to obtain despite not having submitted the lowest bid for it. Sargeant also happens to be a McCain bundler who seems to have a knack for soliciting a whole bunch of $2,300 campaign contributions from random people who apparently have no knowledge of, or interest in, politics. The article makes no mention of any evidence of actual wrongdoing on the campaign-finance front--it would be illegal if the donors were reimbursed or compensated for their contributions--but there are some really strange and implausible-sounding explanations for how the money was raised:
Some of the most prolific givers in Sargeant's network live in modest homes in Southern California's Inland Empire. Most had never given a political contribution before being contacted by Sargeant or his associates. Most said they have never voiced much interest in politics. And in several instances, they had never registered to vote. And yet, records show, some families have ponied up as much as $18,400 for various candidates between December and March.
Both Sargeant and the donors were vague when asked to explain how Sargeant persuaded them to give away so much money.
"I have a lot of Arab business partners. I do a lot of business in the Middle East. I've got a lot of friends," Sargeant said in a telephone interview yesterday. "I ask my friends to support candidates that I think are worthy of supporting. They usually come through for me." ...
Ibrahim Marabeh, who is listed in public records as a Rite Aid manager, at first denied that he wrote any political checks. He then said he was asked by "a local person. But I would like not to talk about it anymore." Neither he nor his wife is registered to vote, but the two donated $4,600 to Clinton and $4,600 to Giuliani in December.
At the Twilight Hookah Lounge, owned by Nadia and Shawn Abdalla, patrons smoke tobacco flavored with honey and fruit from a menu that includes the strawberry-flavored Sex on the Beach and the strong, orange-flavored Fuzzy Navel.
The Abdallas, who are not registered to vote, said in an interview that they recalled writing a check to an organization in Miami, because a person with that organization was a friend of their mother's. They said they could not remember his name. ...
Abdullah Abdullah, a supervisor at several Taco Bell restaurants in the Riverside area, and his wife have donated $9,200 to McCain.
Reached at work, Abdullah said he knows little about the campaign. "I have no idea. I'll be honest with you," he said. "I'm involved in the restaurant business. My brother Faisal recommended John McCain. Whenever he makes a recommendation, we do it."
Faisal Abdullah, 49, said he helped organize all of the contributions from members of his family. When he was asked who solicited the contributions from him, he said: "Why does it matter who? I'm telling you we made the contribution. We funneled it through the channel in Florida because that's the contact we had. I was responsible for collecting it."
For all I know this sort of thing is relatively common in the world of bundling, but it sure sounds weird to me. These people all happened to have several thousand dollars of disposable income lying around to give to candidates they could care less about, because a friend asked them to as a favor?
************************************************************************************* Correction to This Article
The first name of McCain donor Faisal Abdullah was misspelled in some versions of this story, including in the print edition of The Washington Post. Also, the article incorrectly identified a Rite Aide manager and two Twilight Hookah Lounge owners as being among the donors Sargeant solicited on behalf of McCain. Those donors - Rite Aid manager Ibrahim Marabeh, and the lounge owners, Nadia and Shawn Abdalla - wrote checks to Giuliani and Clinton, not McCain.
Bundler Collects From Unlikely Donors
By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 6, 2008; A01
The bundle of $2,300 and $4,600 checks that poured into Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign on March 12 came from an unlikely group of California donors: a mechanic from D&D Auto Repair in Whittier, the manager of Rite Aid Pharmacy No. 5727, the 30-something owners of the Twilight Hookah Lounge in Fullerton.
But the man who gathered checks from them is no stranger to McCain -- he shuttled the Republican on his private plane and held a fundraising event for the candidate at his house in Delray Beach, Fla.
Harry Sargeant III, a former naval officer and the owner of an oil-trading company that recently inked defense contracts potentially worth more than $1 billion, is the archetype of a modern presidential money man.
The law forbids high-level supporters from writing huge checks, but with help from friends in the Middle East and the former chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit -- who now serves as a consultant to his company -
- Sargeant has raised more than $100,000 for three presidential candidates from a collection of ordinary people, several of whom professed little interest in the outcome of the election.
After initially helping to raise money for former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican, and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Sargeant, 50, has emerged as a major player in Florida fundraising for McCain.
He has also become a conduit between McCain and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R), who was Sargeant's college fraternity brother and remains a close friend.
Crist, a beneficiary of Sargeant's fundraising network, said he saw nothing unusual in its breadth. "I was not surprised, but I certainly was grateful for his and his family's efforts," he said, adding that he anticipates Sargeant assisting McCain not only with fundraising but also with advice on military affairs and the economy. "He's been enormously helpful . . . already," Crist said.
The 2008 presidential campaign, which could see each side spend close to $500 million, has heightened the importance of "bundlers" such as Sargeant, who not only write checks themselves but also recruit scores of other donors to give the legal limit of $2,300. Questions about such donor networks have repeatedly emerged as points of stress for the campaigns.
In January, Norman Hsu, a top Clinton bundler, was indicted in part on charges of circumventing legal giving limits by routing contributions though "straw donors."
Earlier this week, McCain drew questions about more than $60,000 in donations that were made this year to the Republican National Committee and his campaign by an office manager with the Hess oil company and her husband, an Amtrak track foreman. In that case, the couple said they used their own money.
Some of the most prolific givers in Sargeant's network live in modest homes in Southern California's Inland Empire. Most had never given a political contribution before being contacted by Sargeant or his associates.
Most said they have never voiced much interest in politics. And in several instances, they had never registered to vote. And yet, records show, some families have ponied up as much as $18,400 for various candidates between December and March.
Both Sargeant and the donors were vague when asked to explain how Sargeant persuaded them to give away so much money.
"I have a lot of Arab business partners. I do a lot of business in the Middle East. I've got a lot of friends," Sargeant said in a telephone interview yesterday. "I ask my friends to support candidates that I think are worthy of supporting. They usually come through for me."
My comment Here:
Now one would have to ask yourself why Arab business partners would care in the first place or why worthy of supporting unless there was something to be gained
Maybe this might explain.
Sargeant's business relationships, and the work they perform together, occur away from the public eye. His firm, International Oil Trading Co. (IOTC), holds several lucrative contracts with the Defense Department to carry fuel to the U.S. military in Iraq.
You might remember this issue was in question in the news of late as to why they recieved the contract with the defense department to carry fuel to the U.S military in Iraq.
"It is very difficult and is a very logistically intensive business that we have been able to specialize in," Sargeant said. "We do difficult logistical things that don't necessarily suit a major oil company. It's a niche we've been able to occupy."
The work has not been without controversy. Last month, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) initiated a review of IOTC's contract to determine whether it was overcharging the military for jet fuel, and to learn how the company, which did not submit the lowest bid, landed the contract to supply the fuel. The Pentagon has said that IOTC won the contract because it was the only company with a "letter of authorization" from the Jordanian government to move the fuel across its territory to Iraq.
Sargeant said he has met with Waxman. "We plan to cooperate fully," he said. "Everything we have done on this contract has been in the best interest of the military and the U.S. taxpayers."
Sargeant said the same people who have helped him build relationships around the world also helped him create a vast network. In recruiting some donors, he confirmed he had help from a business associate who formerly was a top counterterrorism official in the CIA.
A review of state and federal campaign finance records found that this collection of donors has been activated four times. Their names -- confirmed by Sargeant -- first appeared in finance records on June 19, 2006, when about 50 of them each donated $500 to Crist's gubernatorial campaign. Sargeant helped lead fundraising for Crist that year.
Thirteen of the donors resurfaced on Dec. 13, 2007, sending a combined $29,200 to Giuliani's campaign at a time when Sargeant was heading up fundraising efforts in Florida for the former mayor. Seventeen of them sent the maximum allowed, $2,300, to Clinton's presidential campaign on Dec. 24. And a dozen of them returned in March to write checks to McCain totaling $50,600.
Brian Rogers, a McCain campaign spokesman, said: "We strictly follow campaign finance law, and where flags are raised, we'll certainly look into it."
Donors reached by phone or interviewed in person declined to explain who asked them to make the contributions.
Ibrahim Marabeh, who is listed in public records as a Rite Aid manager, at first denied that he wrote any political checks. He then said he was asked by "a local person. But I would like not to talk about it anymore." Neither he nor his wife is registered to vote, but the two donated $4,600 to Clinton and $4,600 to Giuliani in December.
At the Twilight Hookah Lounge, owned by Nadia and Shawn Abdalla, patrons smoke tobacco flavored with honey and fruit from a menu that includes the strawberry-flavored Sex on the Beach and the strong, orange-flavored Fuzzy Navel.
The Abdallas, who are not registered to vote, said in an interview that they recalled writing a check to an organization in Miami, because a person with that organization was a friend of their mother's. They said they could not remember his name.
Nader, 39, and Sahar Alhawash, 28, of Colton, Calif, who at one point ran the Avon Village Liquor store, donated a total of $18,400 to Giuliani, Clinton and McCain between December and March. About 80 people in the country made such large contributions to all three, and most were wealthy business executives, such as Donald Trump. The Alhawashes declined to comment about the donations. Abdullah Abdullah, a supervisor at several Taco Bell restaurants in the Riverside area, and his wife have donated $9,200 to McCain.
Reached at work, Abdullah said he knows little about the campaign. "I have no idea. I'll be honest with you," he said. "I'm involved in the restaurant business. My brother Faisal recommended John McCain. Whenever he makes a recommendation, we do it."
Faisal Abdullah, 49, said he helped organize all of the contributions from members of his family. When he was asked who solicited the contributions from him, he said: "Why does it matter who? I'm telling you we made the contribution. We funneled it through the channel in Florida because that's the contact we had. I was responsible for collecting it."
McCain to return (some) donations
WASHINGTON — John McCain's campaign said Thursday it is returning $50,000 in contributions solicited by a foreign citizen. The move follows the disclosure that the money was being raised by a Jordanian man who is a business partner of prominent Florida Republican Harry Sargeant III, who has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for McCain.
The New York Times reported Thursday that Sargeant allowed a longtime business partner, Mustafa Abu Naba'a, to bring in some $50,000 in donations in March from members of a single extended family in California, the Abdullahs, along with several of their friends.
The Abdullahs and other Arab-Americans in California also contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republicans Rudolph Giuliani and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a longtime friend of Sargeant.
According to the Times, Abu Naba'a is a dual citizen of Jordan and the Dominican Republic.
It is illegal for foreigners to contribute their own money to U.S. political campaigns, and McCain's campaign said Abu Naba'a did not do so.
But McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said some of the people solicited by Abu Naba'a had no intention of supporting McCain for president.
Rogers said "that just didn't sound right to us" so the money is being returned. He estimated the total at less than $50,000, saying "we think we have a pretty good estimate of how much Abu Naba'a solicited."
At the same time, the campaign sent a letter to everyone whose donations went through Sargeant, reminding them that federal law bars campaigns from accepting contributions from foreign nationals and that all donations must come from their own funds, without reimbursement.
Eight months ago, a top fundraiser for Clinton, Norman Hsu, was indicted for making contributions to various political candidates in the names of others.
Arizona Sen. McCain is co-sponsor of the campaign finance reform law that bears his name and the move is an effort to resolve any questions involving Sargeant before it turns into a major political problem for the candidate.
Sargeant, who does extensive business with the federal government, is facing problems on Capitol Hill.
A House committee chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is looking into Sargeant's defense work shipping fuel to U.S. bases in Iraq as part of a probe into whether contractors are overcharging the Pentagon.
Sargeant and Abu Naba'a are being sued in Florida by a former partner, the husband of a half-sister of the King of Jordan. The lawsuit alleges that Sargeant and Abu Naba'a swindled the business partner out of his share of the profits from valuable contracts with the U.S. government.
The plaintiff, Mohammad Anwar Farid Al-Saleh, says he obtained authorization from Jordan to permit Sargeant's company to ship oil across Jordanian territory to U.S. bases in Iraq.
A 2004 advisory opinion by the Federal Election Commission says a foreign national may lawfully solicit political contributions, but the issue is more complicated than that.
Federal election law does not address whether it is legal for foreigners to solicit donations. At the same time, federal regulations say a foreign national may not participate in a person's decision-making regarding contributions.
One might see where the contributors did not want to say any thing.
"Donors reached by phone or interviewed in person declined to explain who asked them to make the contributions"
"The 2004 opinion is very clear, but throwing the regulation into the mix muddies the water. The FEC could revisit the issue," said Paul S. Ryan, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group.
**********************************************************************************
The political interests of the Floridian McCain fundraiser who bundled money from a strange cast of characters extends far deeper into the federal government than previously known.
Harry Sargeant, who has raised more than $500,000 for the McCain from a host of unlikely donors, owns a refinery and fuel supply company that has spent large sums of money lobbying the government since 2000.
Moreover, in 2006 the company, Trigeant Petroleum, brought on board a lobbyist with strong connections to McCain in an effort to win congressional support in its fight over a terminated contract with the Department of Defense.
It could not be immediately determined whether McCain or any other member of Congress intervened on Trigeant's behalf. The Arizona Republican's office did not return request for comment. The company ultimately succeeded in settling its suit with DoD for several million dollars.
But the widening extent of Sargeant's business interests adds another layer of intrigue to concerns that he was bundling cash for the presumptive Republican nominee in hopes of future political favors.
"This bundler certainly is someone who wants to have a president on his side," said David Donnelly of Campaign Money Watch. "He has a significant contract with the Department of Defense and the Pentagon and needs elected officials to listen to him. That's why he hires lobbyists and raises money for politicians like John McCain."
Started by Sargeant in 1985, Trigeant Petroleum quickly became a player in the energy supply industry. In April 2004, the company was contracted by the Department of Defense to provide diesel and motor fuel to the Iraqi populace after a Jordanian company failed in the task. The deal was worth $76,956,988 over the course of a year. Several months into the contract, however, the Iraqi government asked for the arrangement to be terminated.
"The war was over and it was time for Iraq to start running its own business," said Ron Uscher, who represented Trigeant for the firm Peckar & Abramson. "They said we don't need the aid. And so the decision came that the Iraqis were now going to assume sovereignty and this contract was no longer needed."
When the Department of Defense acquiesced to the Iraqi government's wishes, Trigeant was left with fuel literally in transit. Not willing to simply take the hit, the company filed a suit saying that as part of their contract, the U.S. government had to cover the costs of the material they had already lifted.
In 2006, Trigeant hired Otto Reich Associates at $60,000-a-year to build congressional support for the firm's claim that it should be compensated for losses. The choice of lobbyists seemed logical. The firm touts its capacity to deal with international economics:
"Often, a company has all the elements required to succeed in a foreign market but lacks the ability to open the political doors to make its case, or the institutional knowledge to close the deal. We provide that missing element to our clients."
But Reich Associates also advertised another asset: proximity to power. On the firm's website, in the "About Us" section, is a picture of the founder Ambassador Otto J. Reich shaking hands with none other than John McCain. Below is a quote from the Senator praising the lobbyist:
Ambassador Reich has served America with distinction by representing our fundamental values of freedom and democracy around the world, and I am grateful for his support."
In addition to exchanging rhetorical pleasantries, Reich has been a prominent endorser of the presumptive Republican nominee, is reportedly advising McCain on Latin American affairs, and has donated $30,000 to committees supporting the Senator.
According to forms filed with Congress, Reich wrote that he was paid to "inform members of Congress and other senior government officials of the existence of Trigeant, Ltd.'s claim against the Defense Industry Support Center of the Defense Logistics Agency, of the Department of Defense, and to seek their support for a favorable resolution of the dispute."
Which members Reich met with and what type of advocacy he did on behalf of Trigeant is difficult to quantify. The lobbying firm did not return requests for comment.
But around that time, Trigeant's suit with the Department of Defense was finally settled, with the company awarded $3.25 million for the costs it incurred at the end of its contract.
McCain's Senate office did not return a request for comment as to whether or not he was contacted about the case. Uscher, while respecting the need to ask the question, said it was insulting to suggest that Congress could, or would be persuaded to, influence a process that was steeped in contractual law, procurement offices and legal processes.
"[Sargeant] had nothing to do with John McCain until he started making these campaign contributions," he said. "I'm not sure [he] even knew who John McCain was at the time."
Indeed, a review of campaign contribution records shows that Sargeant's support of McCain did indeed start only during this election cycle. Prior to bundling for the Arizona Republican, he raised cash on behalf of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as well as Hillary Clinton.
Once the primary ended, Sargeant came fully on board. Moreover his brother Dan, who serves as vice president of Trigeant, also raised cash on behalf of the presumptive Republican nominee, donating $4,600 in late January. On March 5, 2008, both Sargeants served as an "Event Chairman" for a "
Floridians For McCain reception," an event that
raised an estimated $400,000 plus for McCain. McCain is now
reviewingdonations brought in by Sargeant.
Up Date:
More mysterious donations are being uncovered from John McCain's big-time bundler Harry Sergeant, this time for Charlie Crist in Florida:
Jihan Nassar, a homemaker in Corona, Calif., is listed as a $500 donor to the campaign of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. But she insists she never gave a dime.
''I can't make any donations, financially,'' Nassar said Friday. "We never made any donations, sir. I have no idea what you are talking about.''
Nassar and her husband, Waleed, are among more than three dozen California donors listed as giving to Crist's campaign on June 19, 2006 -- donations bundled by a controversial Delray Beach defense contractor now under scrutiny for contributions to GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
On Thursday, the McCain campaign said it would return $50,000 in donations tied to businessman Harry Sargeant III, finance chairman of the Florida Republican Party and a college buddy of Crist's. Sargeant has said the California donors were solicited by a business partner, Mustafa Abu Naba'a, a Jordanian with an apartment in Miami-Dade, records show.
Last week, if you recall,
TPM got hot on the trail of Sergeant hustling up contributions for McCain in the same Inland Empire region in California.
Funny how Crist and McCain are being talked up as a ticket, and they share the same shady bundler. And let us not waste an opportunity to re-remind the media to answer the very interesting question Marc Ambinder posed last week:
If there were a group of questionable donations all with the name Abdullah that were funneled through a guy in Jordan who is a Jordanian national who is under investigation for war profiteering and it were Barack Obama instead of John McCain would this be a bigger deal?
More mysterious donations are being uncovered from John McCain's big-time bundler Harry Sergeant, this time for Charlie Crist in Florida:
Jihan Nassar, a homemaker in Corona, Calif., is listed as a $500 donor to the campaign of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
But she insists she never gave a dime.
''I can't make any donations, financially,'' Nassar said Friday. "We never made any donations, sir. I have no idea what you are talking about.''
Nassar and her husband, Waleed, are among more than three dozen California donors listed as giving to Crist's campaign on June 19, 2006 -- donations bundled by a controversial Delray Beach defense contractor now under scrutiny for contributions to GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
On Thursday, the McCain campaign said it would return $50,000 in donations tied to businessman Harry Sargeant III, finance chairman of the Florida Republican Party and a college buddy of Crist's. Sargeant has said the California donors were solicited by a business partner, Mustafa Abu Naba'a, a Jordanian with an apartment in Miami-Dade, records show.
Last week, if you recall, TPM got hot on the trail of Sergeant hustling up contributions for McCain in the same Inland Empire region in California.
Funny how Crist and McCain are being talked up as a ticket, and they share the same shady bundler.
I've not heard of Crist returning his Donations he recevied .
''I can't make any donations, financially,'' Nassar said Friday. "We never made any donations, sir. I have no idea what you are talking about.''
Rogers said "that just didn't sound right to us" so the money is being returned. He estimated the total at less than $50,000, saying "we think we have a pretty good estimate of how much Abu Naba'a solicited."
Funny that just don't sound right to any one else either. As to the comment we think we have a pretty good estimate of how much was solicited I don't think so.
And let us not waste an opportunity to re-remind the media to answer the very interesting question Marc Ambinder posed last week:
If there were a group of questionable donations all with the name Abdullah that were funneled through a guy in Jordan who is a Jordanian national who is under investigation for war profiteering and it were Barack Obama instead of John McCain would this be a bigger deal?
In a related event:
Nervous Job Interviews-for Fla. High Court
Crist will appoint two justices in the coming months from up to 12 candidates selected by the commission. Two more justices are expected to retire next year, giving Crist an unprecedented opportunity to appoint a majority of the seven-member high court.
In seeing relationships of events this is interesting.
Abramoff scandal figure raises McCain money
Wed., Aug. 13, 2008
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WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. - A political strategist tied to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal is helping raise money for John McCain, urging his fellow Georgia Republicans to attend a fundraiser for the presidential candidate in Atlanta.
Ralph Reed, former director of the Christian Coalition, touted himself as a member of McCain's "Victory 2008 Team" in an e-mail that solicited donations on McCain's behalf.
The Republican National Committee is hosting the fundraiser set for an Atlanta hotel on Aug. 18.
A House investigative committee in 2006 found that Reed interceded with the Bush White House to help some of Abramoff's clients.
Reed's public relations firm also received $4.2 million from Abramoff to mobilize Christian voters to fight the opening of casinos that could compete with Abramoff's Indian tribe clients.
Reed later said he regretted the actions, which contributed to his 2006 Republican primary loss in a bid to be Georgia's lieutenant governor.
Abramoff went to prison for conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion.
McCain led a Senate investigation into Abramoff's dealings with Indian tribes, which included information about his ties to Reed.
"I led in the Abramoff hearings in the, in the obscure Indian Affairs Committee, for which people are still testifying and going to jail."
On Wednesday, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean criticized what he called "McCain's decision to cozy up to one of the central figures in the Republican culture of corruption."
Up Date:
Donations for McCain and Crist bundled far from Florida
Ibrahim A. Marabeh has never been to Florida and has "absolutely" no interest in Florida politics.
But the district manager for Rite Aid in the Temecula area of California was among three dozen in a California Muslim community who contributed $500 each to Gov. Charlie Crist's 2006 gubernatorial campaign.
Marabeh's contribution was among some $20,000 raised on June 19, 2006, by a business relation of Harry Sargeant III, an oil company executive, a formal naval officer and longtime friend and fundraiser for Crist.
Some of these same donors were at the heart of questions raised earlier this month about Sargeant's bundling work for GOP presidential candidate John McCain. No one alleges the donors were reimbursed, which would be illegal, but some wondered why a group of modest-income Californians who aren't avid voters would contribute the maximum to McCain's campaign.
That question becomes even sharper when you consider that those same people contributed to Crist in his 2006 campaign for governor of Florida.
"A friend of ours came to us and suggested we make a contribution and we did," Marabeh said. "We're trying to be political contributors."
The Sargeant example demonstrates the power and perils of fundraiser bundling, where a single person exhausts his or her network of friends and business associates to arrange a multitude of donations.
On the one hand, big money is raised in a hurry; on the other, the campaign is getting money second-, third- or fourth-hand. They don't know the contributors, and the contributors may not know them.
Crist sidestepped questions about the contributions bundled by Sargeant but said, generally, he's grateful when anyone contributes to his campaign, "whether it's a check or a vote."
"People give because they want to give, or they like the person who maybe asked them to," Crist said. "It's up to their heart and mind to make that decision as an individual."
Bundling has always been a mainstay of Florida political campaigns, veteran fundraisers say.
"The challenge is: How do you find millions of millions of dollars?
How do you find the resources to compete?" asked Tallahassee lobbyist Brian Ballard, who raised money and advised Crist during the election.
"You've got to find more and more people to get involved in the process and aggressively seek out new givers. It's no fun for anybody."
Bundled money helped Crist raise a record-breaking $19-million in direct contributions. Among the others:
• At least 30 companies owned by Ken Underwood of Ponte Vedra Beach gave the maximum $500 to Crist, for a total of $15,000, and half of the checks were written within days of the firms' creation. Underwood holds a state contract to publish driver safety handbooks.
•Crist received some $6,500 from Miami companies owned by Sergio Pino, a prominent builder and developer and supporter of Republican candidates
. Pino was the subject of a federal public corruption investigation along with Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose "Pepe" Diaz.
Massie Ritsch of the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group that monitors campaign contributions, said candidates can't raise "astronomical sums" without bundlers.
Often the public learns very little about bundlers, he added.
"We know much more about people who donate $250 than we do about those who raise $250,000," Ritsch said.
Coincidentally, over two days that overlapped with Sargeant's bundling, Crist's campaign also received $4,000 from companies and executives who worked for what was then the nation's largest subprime lender, Ameriquest Mortgage Co.
In 2006, Ameriquest contributed to a number of different state elections with an eye toward changing state lending laws. The company had also just settled a multistate lawsuit, agreeing to pay $325-million after complaints the company cheated customers by inflating appraisals, falsifying income statements and charging unjustified fees.
As Florida's attorney general, Crist had trumpeted the "landmark agreement." Ameriquest no longer lends money and has since been purchased by Citigroup.
"Gov. Crist received support from individuals who worked for national corporations with operations in many states, including Florida, and from others because he was seen as a leader in national policy and an up-and-coming political figure," said Sacramento, Calif., lobbyist Jeff Miller, a former Ameriquest lobbyist who collected such checks.
Tallahassee consultant George LeMieux, Crist's former chief of staff and campaign manager, said there's nothing wrong with bundling contributions, even when it sweeps in donations from troubled businesses or the money of out-of-staters with no apparent interest in the election.
He sees no problems with either the Ameriquest contributions or the ones collected by Sargeant's business associate Jordanian Mustafa Abu Naba.
Both LeMieux and Ballard suggested that had the Sargeant-related contributions come from people with names like "Smith" or "Jones," rather than through a Sargeant associate named Mustafa Abu Naba the media wouldn't be as interested.
Crist said he didn't know about Sargeant's associate. When asked about Naba's connection to his 2006 campaign, Crist said: "Whatever it was, I don't know."
Times researcher Connie Humburg contributed to this report.
The 10 Most Brazen War Profiteers
