Complaint filed over NRA support for Tom Cotton

[jpak]

https://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2018/07/17/complaint-filed-over-nra-support-for-tom-cotton

The Campaign Legal Center has complained to the Federal Election Commission that the NRA used a shell company to unlawfully coordinate spending to elect Tom Cotton and others to the Senate in 2014.

The complaint rests on Politico reporting we mentioned earlier. As summarized by the Legal Center:

Politico uncovered that the directors at OnMessage – a powerhouse GOP consulting firm – created a shell corporation called Starboard, located at the same address, and which appears indistinguishable from its parent company. The NRA’s lobbying arm and PAC contracted with Starboard to create ads supporting U.S. Senate candidates Tom Cotton, Cory Gardner, and Thom Tillis in 2014, and Ron Johnson in 2016; those candidates, in turn, hired OnMessage. The NRA, which is effectively Starboard’s only client, consistently listed Starboard’s address as that of OnMessage, and OnMessage has repeatedly taken credit for advertisements that the NRA paid Starboard to produce.

<not much more>

On edit:

See this https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210893663

Cotton wasn't the only one.

And I bet it was Russian money to boot.

[Leghorn21]

1. GOOD.

Thanks, jpak!

[sarcasmo]

2. The R in NRA stands for Ruble.

[riversedge]

7. The NRA sure seems to have lots of money to toss around.

[marble falls]

3. Force the NRA to prove every penny did not come from Russia.

[madamesilverspurs]

4. Also names my senator, Cory Gardner.

Good, hope they nail his greasy ass!


.

[GeorgeGist]

5. String them up!

[leftieNanner]

6. Same Deal for Thom Tillis

This is all so overwhelming.

Robert Mueller must go home and vomit every evening.

[EndGOPPropaganda]

8. FEC has been destroyed by GOP billionaires

Don’t expect action from the FEC.

Protests, Mueller, voting. Those are our options right now.

[Sneederbunk]

9. Did Cotton get to meet the NRA Russian babe?

[oasis]

10. Tom "the Tool" Cotton needs to have his ass primaried. nt

[Anon-C]

11. Well done!

[Amaryllis]

12. Bet the Parkland kids are all over this.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

13. I'm wondering.

Exactly how many elections over the years are now suspect?

[Lonestarblue]

16. Russia has infiltrated our government and Republican political organizations.

I think you’re right that this has been going on for years. Russia has carefully courted Republicans and even evangelicals. Here’s an article from 2017 on how Russia has formed alliances with U.S. evangelicals (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/how-russia-became-a-leader-of-the-worldwide-christian-right-214755), who hold an annual conference in Moscow. There seem to be several evangelical branches with Russian alliances, including the Baptists. This is one reason Trump’s supporters refuse to condemn any actions related to Russia because they have swallowed the Kool Aid that Russia is their friend, and I suspect their ministers reinforce Russia’s support of evangelicals on Sunday mornings. We have a far bigger problem than Trump. Russia seems to have their tentacles in many aspects of our government and our whole political system.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

18. Sure seems that way

Russians seem to keep popping up everywhere as the Mueller probe continues to unfold. I remember that Republicans had seemed to start developing affections for Putin as early as around 2013 when they started comparing (weak) Obama unfavorably to (manly) Putin. I'm sure that Russia/Chechnya's increasingly hostile actions against LGBT persons warmed the hearts of American fundamentalists but I simply had no idea how bad it had gotten. This is getting scary to me.

[Duppers]

14. NRA $ is crack to the GOP.

The R's are addicted.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

19. It would be so sweet

if Trump/Russia also succeeds in taking down the NRA.

[kyburbonkid]

15. Good. I never trusted the NRA for crap...

It sounds like what those corrupt nimrods have been doing for a while now. Bust-em. This kind of slime needs serious prison time.

[Nitram]

17. We're going to get these corrupt, traitorous bastards coming and going.

[Hassler]

20. Tehran Tom is also Comrade Cotton