Ready for Hillary!: In Plea Bargain, Democratic Fundraiser Says Hillary Advisor Asked Him to Illegally Fund Hillary's 2008 "Shadow Campaign"

The Washington Post has the full story.

Here's the flowchart, so you understand who is making this allegation:

Washington businessman Jeffrey E. Thompson, who pleaded guilty Monday to federal conspiracy charges in a case that has focused largely on D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s (D) 2010 campaign...

It is Thompson making these allegations to federal prosecutors, in his plea bargain. He implicates a Hillary advisor, who is not named in the government documents, but whose identity is known.

Thompson...

... told federal prosecutors that Clinton aide Minyon Moore asked him to fund pro-Clinton efforts in four states and Puerto Rico costing $608,750 during the hard-fought 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign, the documents show.

So Thompson makes these claims against Clinton aide Minyon Moore.

Moore denies this (through a spokeswoman), and says he didn't know what Thompson was up to. He's claiming that he asked Thompson to do legal things, not illegal ones.

But Thompson, in his discussions with authorities, depicted Moore as playing a far more intimate role in the off-the-books campaign than was previously indicated — securing the money and helping guide the strategy by feeding internal campaign documents and receiving messages about the media coverage.

...

Moore’s alleged participation in the scheme could have violated federal campaign finance laws, which prohibit officers or agents of a campaign from soliciting or arranging for illegal contributions. Election lawyers said pursuing charges against Moore could be difficult, however, because the five-year statute of limitations has expired.

The scheme involved funding "street teams," I guess to get out the vote.

The new court filings, submitted as part of Thompson’s guilty plea, lay out internal e-mails and other details portraying Moore as a central player who asked Thompson to finance the operation and then provided him and White with internal campaign strategy.

...

The documents say that Moore, who was a senior adviser to the Clinton campaign responsible for minority outreach, asked Thompson to fund the operation. The effort aimed to drive up voter turnout for Clinton in a string of key primary states as she was battling Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.

There is, it is said, no evidence that Hillary knew of these matters.

Hot Air highlights an important part of the story:

The effort included people from League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), even though the organization supposedly refrains from endorsements. It’s a 501(c)4, according to its website, although it takes a little digging to find the reference. That makes it the same as those conservative groups attacked by the IRS — a category which is designed for groups that are primarily oriented to “social welfare,” and which cannot endorse or work for candidates. The “street teams” provided by LULAC and funded through off-the-books cash distributed campaign materials for Hillary, the papers allege, among other activities.

The Free Beacon has more on LULAC, including their own statement:

The money was routed through Troy White, a marketing director who pleaded guilty to insurance violations last September, and through a group identified in the plea agreement as “Civic Organization A.”

The unnamed group is LULAC, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

A LULAC spokesperson would not immediately confirm whether it was “Civic Organization A” when contacted by the Washington Free Beacon. However, she said the group was cooperating with federal investigators on the case.

“We are cooperating with the investigation, but we can’t comment on any specific matters,” said LULAC spokesperson Paloma Zuleta.

She referred further questions to LULAC counsel Manuel Escobar who did not return a request for comment.

I just got an email from Lois Lerner, saying that she was "going to look into these serious allegations" and "finally bring the Tea Party to justice."

Um, that's a joke, in case anyone's not sure.

posted by Ace at 04:05 PM

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