Kelly Loeffler- GA Senate Race
Following Mitch’s Money. Presentation by Doug Price on 11/30/2020
Welcome to another edition of Following Mitch’s Money!
As everyone knows MMRC was unsuccessful in our quest to Ditch Mitch, but there is another way to at least remove him as Majority Leader and that involves January elections in Georgia.
Tonight, I will talk about Kelly Loeffler, who is running against the Democrat — Raphael Warnock.
Kelly Loeffler is 50 years old and married 65-year-old Jeffrey Sprecher in 2004. Apparently, they met when she worked for him at a subsidiary he owned. She co-owns the Atlanta Dream of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Her husband is CEO of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. ICE owns the New York Stock Exchange. They have a net worth of $355-$530 million and she is probably the richest member of Congress.
They reside in Tuxedo Park, Atlanta in a $10,500,000, 15,000 square foot estate named Descante. Also, they own a $5,000,000 condo.
https://americanindependent.com/kelly-loeffler-loan-senate-campaign-interest-georgia-senate-gop/
Ms. Loeffler pledged to self-fund her campaign and so far, has contributed $23 million to her campaign. There is a caveat to this: she loaned the money to her campaign and, on at least a portion of the money is charging interest on the loan. If you have not figured it out — she loans her campaign money, solicits contributions in hopes of paying herself back while earning interest on the loans to her campaign. All perfectly legal. We know who makes the laws — funny how that works!
Loeffler is positioning herself as a hard right, Trump-aligned candidate. In September, she ran an ad where she declared she is “more conservative than Attila the Hun,” and which featured a photograph of her with Trump.
Attila the Hun is remembered for saying of his powerful reign, “There, where I have passed, the grass will never grow again.”
What do you think? Isn’t that a weird comparison? What does being more conservative than Attila the Hun mean?
Within the last 6 months, she has been accused of buying/selling stocks based on private Congressional briefings and may be the subject of an FBI investigation into insider trading. The Senate Ethics Committee ruled that she had not violated ethics rules and the DOJ dropped an investigation into her affairs.
Kelly Loeffler solicited campaign donations in the halls of Congress during a November 18th Fox News appearance, in an apparent violation of both Senate ethics rules and federal law.
“Look, we know that hundreds of millions of dark, liberal money is pouring into our state,” Loeffler told America’s Newsroom host Sandra Smith in the interview. “That’s why it’s so important that everyone across the country get involved. They can visit Kelly for Senate.com to chip in five or 10 bucks and get involved, volunteer.”
Loeffler also posted a separate clip from the same interview, conducted in the Senate building, to her personal candidate Twitter page. That video links out to a campaign donation form.
Senate ethics rules bar lawmakers from asking for campaign contributions on federal property, and federal statutes make doing so a crime. From 18 U.S. Code § 607:
It shall be unlawful for an individual who is an officer or employee of the Federal Government, including the President, Vice President and Members of Congress, to solicit or receive a donation of money or other thing of value, in connection with a Federal, State or local election, while in any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties by an officer or employee of the United States, from any person.
I think it appropriate to mention that Trump violates this law pretty much every day!
Violators, the law says, “shall be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned not more than three years or both.”
Citing that criminal statute, the Rules and Standards of Conduct maintained by the Senate Ethics Office say, “members and staff may not receive or solicit campaign contributions in any federal building.”
Does the old phrase “where there is smoke, there is fire apply to this situation?”
Of course, I cannot vote in this election, but if I could, my vote would go to Raphael Warnock.
Doug Price is a member/treasurer of the MMRC and a regular participant on the #MoscowMitchMonday live stream, discussing Mitch and Money. Doug is an advocate of governmental change on the State/Federal level and has periodically worked on Democratic campaigns dating back to the 80s. Follow Doug on Twitter @ PriceDoug