take19 - TAKEN!!!

Earlier, we noted that Sue Kelly raises more campaign cash from PACs than she does from people, and far more than she does from actual constituents here in the 19th Congressional District. Wouldn’t you just love to know what kind of PACs she takes money from, and how she’s helped their pet causes?

So would we, so it's time to play, Follow The Money, or, Who's Sue's Daddy?"

Here are the rules, and if we all play nice, we can all be winners:

To get you started, let's do one together. (We'll include photos of actual screenshots as we go along. Click on the photos to enlarge).

Let's Play!

First, go to that FEC website. This is what you'll find:



Fill in the information as shown...2005-2006, Kelly, New York, House, 19, Republican, Incumbent. Then click "send query," and you'll be shown the one-line report that tells you about Sue’s net receipts of $893,715 through the end of 2005:



Now, click on “Sue Kelly” at the left side of the report line, to get to her summary statement.



Now you can see that more than half of her receipts were from “Non-Party (e.g. PACs) and other Committees”. To see which PACs love Sue, just click on “Non-Party (e.g. PACs) and other Committees”, and see what comes up!



MY GOODNESS, there are a lot of them. So many to investigate. And a lot of them seem to have her on an allowance...with checks coming two, three, four times a year! Nice work, if you can get it.

Look at all those banking and credit bureau PACs coughing up the dough. Can anyone spell BANKRUPTCY BILL? So that's the going rate for a "yes" vote on a terrible piece of legislation. Pretty cheap considering how much the bill is costing Hudson Valley families.

But, we digress. Let's take a look at the non-industry PACS. These guys turn out to be money-bundlers who, in effect, raise money from folks and then give it to Sue, so the folks who really gave it don’t show up on Sue’s reports. Like who, for instance? Let's pick one...um.."Every Republican Is Crucial" (ERICPAC) sounds interesting.

ERICPAC happens to be the creation of Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor, who also happens to be a close associate of...drumroll, please...TOM DELAY. His name just keeps popping up, doesn't it?

Let's give that a click:



Let's click on "Contributions received by this candidates committee."



Whoa...RJ Reynolds and Altria show up...a lot. Tobacco money, huh? Wonder what they want and why would Sue want to hide their names from public eyes? Bet you won't hear a single reference to those contributions in any of her campaign speeches.

Let's hit the back button and then click on the "individuals" who give to ERICPAC.



WOW..lots's of folks. Hundreds of them want to give to Congressman Cantor's "Every Republican is Crucial" PAC.

Now, we note the names, Edwin Buckham, Daniel Gans and Allison Shulman. Let's click those:



Why did we choose these folks? They all are members of a group called the Alexander Strategy Group. Now what the heck is that? Well, let's be good search monkeys and check in with wickopedia and see what they have to say:



Can you read that?


There's that pesky TOM DELAY guy again...but let's read on...



Well, well, well...now wasn't that fun? So, dive in, look around and report back. We know Sue Kelly isn't working for us, so let's play Follow The Money and discover Who's Sue's Daddy!