Bobby Thompson

Charity Scammer Allegedly Used Fake Names To Donate $$ To GOP Candidates

Rachel Slajda and Johanna Barr | October 21, 2010, 8:43AM

"Bobby Thompson" and George W. Bush

"Bobby Thompson" isn't the only fake identity associated with the charity scammer / GOP donor who was indicted last week in Ohio. Thompson -- whose true identity is unknown -- also made up a dozen fake names, then allegedly took out money orders in those names so he could make donations to political candidates.

According to the Ohio attorney general's office, Thompson wrote at least 11 money orders using the names of people who apparently don't exist, along with addresses associated with his fake charity, U.S. Navy Veterans Association. He used the fake names to give $376 to Florida attorney general Bill McCollum in 2006, $2,260 to Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign in 2008 and $500 to Marty Seifert, a former Minnesota state house representative who unsuccessfully ran for governor this year.

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George Rekers

McCollum On Rekers: He Was The Best Anti-Gay Expert We Could Find (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | July 27, 2010, 2:17PM

George Rekers and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum yesterday stuck by his decision to hire anti-gay activist George Rekers -- the George Rekers who was later caught with a male escort -- when the state had to defend its ban on adoption by gay couples.

Rekers, who himself has adopted a child, testified in 2008 in defense of Florida's gay marriage ban, which McCollum supports. As AG, McCollum pushed to hire Rekers over the objections of Department of Children and Families.

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Jim Greer

Greer Pleads Not Guilty To Fraud Charges

Rachel Slajda | July 6, 2010, 9:34AM

Former Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer

Former Florida GOP Chair Jim Greer pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud on Thursday. A tentative trial date was set for Oct. 18, two weeks before Florida's Senate and gubernatorial elections.

Greer is facing six felony counts of grand theft, fraud and money laundering stemming from allegations that, as chair, he secretly awarded a party contract to his own shell company and funneled 10 percent of the party's donations to the firm. He was ousted as chair in January over charges of financial mismanagement of the party.

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Jim Greer

Greer's Defense Attorney Plans To Call Crist, McCollum To The Stand

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 5, 2010, 4:08PM

Former FL GOP Chair Jim Greer

Embattled former Florida Republican Party chair Jim Greer is ramping up his defense against fraud charges in the Sunshine State -- and he plans to enlist some of his old friends to help. At a press conference Monday, Greer's attorney, J. Cheney Mason, told reporters that he'll call past and current heavy-hitters in the Florida GOP to the stand as he defends Greer, including Gov. Charlie Crist, state Attorney General Bill McCollum and current state GOP chair John Thrasher.

According to the AP Mason told reporters that the multiple fraud charges Greer faces in state court are due to "right-wing conservatives who turned against Crist, the man who picked Greer to head the state party, and decided to punish the governor by ruining Greer".

Greer is the "victim" in the case, Mason said.

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Mark Souder

Asked In '98 If He'd Had An Affair, Souder Hung Up On Interviewer (AUDIO)

Justin Elliott | May 19, 2010, 9:20AM

Mark Souder in 2004 trying out Saddam Hussein's "Spider Hole"

This is fun: The folks at Democracy Now have posted Lewinsky scandal-era audio of host Amy Goodman asking Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), "are you now or have you ever been involved in an extramarital sexual affair?"

At which point, Souder's line goes dead.

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George Rekers

McCollum Personally Pushed To Hire Rekers For Anti-Gay Testimony

Rachel Slajda | May 11, 2010, 10:51AM

George Rekers and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum personally pushed to hire George Rekers to testify in defense of the state's gay adoption ban in 2008, even when the Department of Children and Families balked at the cost, according to letters obtained by the Florida Tribune.

But with Rekers now embroiled in a scandal involving a gay escort, McCollum said he wouldn't do it again.

"We've been defending the constitutionality of the state law and we've been representing the Department of Children and Families, who hired him and paid him and needed expert witnesses and he was available and credentialed," McCollum told the Tribune. "I wouldn't do it again if I knew what I knew today but I didn't know that then and neither did anybody else."

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George Rekers

Florida Paid Rekers $120K For Anti-Gay Adoption Testimony

Rachel Slajda | May 10, 2010, 4:36PM

George Alan Rekers

The state of Florida paid George Rekers -- the anti-gay leader recently caught with a male escort -- $120,000 to testify against allowing gay couples to adopt children, testimony that was deemed not credible by the judge.

Rekers was paid a $60,900 retainer. He also received a $59,793 payment for hourly billing, according to document provided to TPMmuckraker by the Department of Children and Families. That comes out to 402 hours at about $150 per hour. The payments were made by the office of the Florida attorney general, Bill McCollum, which was defending the DCF's policy.

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George Rekers

Rekers Was Key Witness For McCollum In Defense Of FL Gay Adoption Ban

Rachel Slajda | May 8, 2010, 10:45AM

George Alan Rekers

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican candidate for governor, paid George Rekers at least $60,900 to be an expert witness in 2008 while defending Florida's ban against gay couple adopting children. When a judge called Rekers' testimony neither "credible nor worthy of forming the basis of public policy," McCollum explicitly defended him in following briefs.

Rekers is currently embroiled in a scandal for hiring a male escort to accompany him on a trip to Europe. But he's also a leader in the ex-gay movement. He co-founded the Family Research Council and sits on the board of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. He has, by all accounts, dedicated his life to protecting children from the "harmful" influence of gay people.

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J.B. Van Hollen

Wisc. AG's Office Asked GOP Consultant For Advice On HCR Lawsuit

Zachary Roth | April 28, 2010, 12:57PM

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen

When Wisconsin attorney general J.B. Van Hollen announced last month that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of several other AGs by suing the federal government over health-care reform, he presented the issue as a pressing legal and constitutional priority. "Wisconsin must act to protect its sovereign interests and the interests of the citizens of this state by bringing an action to contest the constitutionality of the (law)," Van Hollen, a Republican, wrote in a letter to the governor.

That may be how he sees things. But emails released this week by Van Hollen's office suggest that politics was hardly absent from the initiative.

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Bill McCollum

Florida AG's Lead Role On Lawsuit

Zachary Roth | March 26, 2010, 9:46AM

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum

Florida Attorney General Bob McCollum, in the midst of a run for governor, is eager to take credit for leading the effort to get health-care reform struck down by the courts.

McCollum and 12 of his fellow state AGs, all but one Republican, filed suit earlier this week in Federal Court in the northern district of Florida, arguing that the law is unconstitutional. (We assessed the lawsuit's slim chances of success here.) And now McCollum's office has explained to TPMmuckraker how he quarterbacked the effort.

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David Rivkin

Behind The Lawsuit: Florida AG Turned To Beltway Fixture -- And Old Lobbying Pal -- For Health-Care Challenge

Zachary Roth | March 25, 2010, 11:42AM

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and attorney David Rivkin, Jr.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has so far served as the public face for the legal challenge to the constitutionality of health-care reform. But on the legal heavy-lifting, McCollum has had help from a top member of Washington's conservative legal establishment and former Bush 41 White House lawyer, who once teamed up with the AG as a lobbyist.

David Rivkin, a lawyer with white-shoe DC firm Baker Hostetler, told TPMmuckraker that McCollum personally asked him to get involved with the lawsuit, once it appeared that the reform bill would indeed finally pass. "McCollum approached me on behalf of himself and several other AGs," said Rivkin, who along with Lee Casey, another Baker Hostetler lawyer, is listed on the lawsuit as "of counsel."

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Health Care

Could SCOTUS Be The Death Panel For Health-Care Reform?

Zachary Roth | March 23, 2010, 12:36PM

From left, Attorneys General Bill McCollum (FL), Ken Cuccinelli (VA) and Henry McMaster (SC)

Now that President Obama has signed health-care reform into law, opponents of the bill are pinning their hopes of stopping it on a last-ditch legal strategy. A group of 13 state attorneys general has filed suit (pdf), arguing that the law is unconstitutional.

The bid seems far-fetched at first. But the Roberts Court has recently shown a willingness to strike down landmark legislation -- charges of judicial activism be damned. So, given the stakes, it's worth asking: Could health-care reform have made it through the congressional gauntlet, only to end up dying in the courts?

(Late Update: The Justice Department is signaling that it's already gearing up for a fight. "We will vigorously defend the constitutionality of the health care reform statute," a DOJ spokesman says.)

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Republican Governors Association

Florida GOP Gov Hopeful To RGA: Time To Give Back Rothstein's $200K

Justin Elliott | November 19, 2009, 3:06PM

Bill McCollum and Scott Rothstein (inset)

Bill McCollum, the likely GOP nominee in the Florida gubernatorial race, is calling on the Republican Governors Association to give back a $200,000 donation from accused fraudster attorney Scott Rothstein, whose political support has become a hot issue in the race.

The statement from McCollum, who is in Austin for the RGA conference this week, comes on the heels of a demand from the Democratic Governors Association that McCollum ask the RGA to give the money back.

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Scott Rothstein

Dem Govs Group Blasts Florida GOP Candidate Over $200K Rothstein Donation

Justin Elliott | November 18, 2009, 5:12PM

Scott Rothstein (inset)

The Democratic Governors Association is going after Bill McCollum, the likely GOP nominee in the race for Florida governor, in the wake of TPMmuckraker's report that the Republican Governors Association got a $200,000 from accused fraudster Scott Rothstein.

"Bill McCollum is spending the week with RGA leadership at their annual fundraiser - in fact, this is the same fundraiser where Rothstein contributed his $200K last year," said DGA communications director Emily DeRose in a statement. "McCollum has two choices: Will he ask the RGA to return the fraudulent money, or will he thank them for using it to boost his chances in Florida?"

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