Valerie Pachulski and Gabi Plumlee's 2004 GOP contributions
In a May 31 Arizona Republic website feature of restaurant reviews from readers, Pachulski is the contributor and mentions that she has "moved to D.C."
Another Arizona donor of over $9000 to the Nevada Republican Party in 2004 [SEE CORRECTION BELOW], Gabi Plumlee, works for the Republican National Committee in D.C.
UPDATE July 8, 2006: As pointed out in the comments by "Kellen Rose", the Center for Public Integrity website I linked to for "over $10,000 to donate" has things exactly backwards--this isn't a record of donations (though CPI has extensive databases of donations to politicians and political campaigns), but a record of expenditures by the Nevada GOP to out-of-state entities. That is, Pachulski and Plumlee were on the GOP payroll, not making contributions. I failed to see what was staring me in the face on that website.
Accordingly, I apologize to Ms. Pachulski and Ms. Plumlee for my inaccurate statements and the suggestion that there was something unusual going on here. I'll leave this post as a historical record of my error and the correction. It was a stupid mistake.
UPDATE (September 24, 2007): Valerie Pachulski points out that she was not an administrative assistant at Arizona Right to Life, but the Director of Events.
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6 comments:
Are you suggesting that these people are acting as a conduit to conceal contributions to the Nevada GOP?
That appears to be a plausible explanation consistent with contribution-laundering activities by other Republicans. It's also possible, however, that they have big trust funds and enough inherited wealth to throw around without getting so much as a tax deduction for it.
It could also be possible that they have a life and you don't. I'm suggesting that you save your cash and support something you believe in, as well!
Lisa, the difference is that I have an occupation and salary which would not make a large cash donation mysterious. I do, as a matter of fact, save my cash and support things I believe in--there's a list of organizations my wife and I support on my web page, though political campaigns are not on the agenda. As for whether I have a life, that could be subject to debate, but I'm pretty happy with it.
Are you commenting because these women are friends of yours? If so, can you explain where their donated money came from?
Jim and Michael,
You guys are completely ridiculous. Jim the website you link to explains what this is. It explains that the dollar amounts are "itemized expenditures by this committee to entities out of committee's state".
It completely amazes me that Michael, who says he is a lawyer, cannot read clear English well enought to ask if this means Ms. Pachulski and Ms. Plumlee were "acting as a conduit to conceal contributions".
It further amazes me that Jim would suggest that this is a "plausible explanation" and that you would go on to say this is a "large cash donation" that is "mysterious".
This is exactly what it says it is. These two people were not making contributions to the Nevada GOP. These two people were getting paid by the GOP. That is what an EXPENDITURE is. The other website you link to says they worked for the Nevada GOP. So they were obviously on the payroll. God forbid they earn a paycheck for their work.
Kellen, you're absolutely right--I was thrown off by the CPI website, since I was expecting to see donor lists (they have extensive databases of campaign donations), and I didn't see the obvious staring me right in the face. The money flows listed are going in exactly the opposite direction to what I suggested.
I owe an apology to Pachulski and Plumlee, and will update the post accordingly.
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