Charles Rangel

NYT: Lawmakers, Besides Rangel, Had Endowments Funded By Corporations

Rachel Slajda | August 6, 2010, 10:24AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

The New York Times reports today that many lawmakers in addition to embatted Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) have educational endowments in their honor heavily funded by corporations with business before Congress.

Although their spokesmen deny any similarity, the endowments have echoes of the Rangel Center, the CCNY educational center at the center of alleged ethics charges against Rangel.

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Alvin Greene

CREW Calls For Investigation Of South Carolina Primary Shenanigans

Christina Bellantoni | June 15, 2010, 2:55PM

SC Sen candidate Alvin Greene (D)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today joined Democrats calling for a state criminal investigation into the mysterious candidacy of Senate nominee Alvin Greene. Greene (D-SC) was able to capture 59 percent of the vote and win the party nomination last Tuesday despite having never campaigned. CREW also filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over alleged reporting violations by Greene and two other no-name Democratic candidates in South Carolina.

CREW and others have said the investigation should focus on how Greene came up with the more than $10,000 filing fee. Officials with the watchdog group asked South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster (R) to investigate whether Greene was "induced" to run in a violation of state law. That's an echo of the calls from the state Democratic Party and House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who has suggested Greene's candidacy was part of some sort of conspiracy.

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South Carolina

GOP Operative Hired By S.C. Democrat: There's No Plot Here!

Christina Bellantoni | June 15, 2010, 10:23AM

Preston Grisham (inset), former aide to Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)

The Republican consultant at the heart of accusations of mischief in the South Carolina Democratic primary said in an interview he worked for a Democratic candidate because he opposed higher taxes and seemed qualified to serve in Congress.

Preston Grisham, a longtime campaign operative for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), said his new firm Stonewall Strategies was just getting its first clients together when Gregory Brown gave him a call out of the blue to ask for some help with his primary campaign against House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC). Though the nearly $24,000 in payments (the largest expense for the Brown campaign) are listed as for "marketing," both Grisham and Brown said Stonewall did initial polling and helped Brown set up his Web site. (It was housed here last week but now is a dead link.)

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SC-GOV

Clyburn Says All Three Dem Candidates He Thinks Are 'Plants' Hired GOP Firm (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | June 14, 2010, 5:02PM

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC)

We've been keeping a close eye on the accusations and rumors coming out of South Carolina in recent days following a very strange Democratic primary. It's far from clear whether any of the mysterious candidates who performed better than expected for being little known were "plants" or part of any larger plot.

Today House Majority Whip James Clyburn accused all three candidates he's already suggested were "plants" of hiring Stonewall Strategies, a firm run by former aide to Rep. Joe Wilson. On MSNBC today charged that Democratic candidates Gregory Brown, Ben Frasier in SC-01 and Alvin Greene in the Senate race had employed Stonewall. Preston Grisham, who runs Stonewall, flatly denied the charge in an interview.

Clyburn (D-SC) has spent the last several days suggesting that something was amiss during Tuesday's primary, during which Frasier and Greene prevailed despite a lack of campaigning and no recognition from the state Democratic party.

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South Carolina

Clyburn's Dem Challenger Denies He's A 'Plant' -- But Hired GOP Rep.'s Aide

Christina Bellantoni and Justin Elliott | June 11, 2010, 12:43PM

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and SC congressional candidate Gregory Brown (D)

A Democratic primary challenger in South Carolina who has been accused of being a "plant" hired for his Congressional campaign a GOP consultant who as recently as late last year was the campaign manager for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), according to campaign finance reports.

Businessman Gregory Brown says he challenged Rep. James Clyburn, the highest-ranking African American in Congress, in the Democratic primary on Tuesday because he's worried about the state's poverty rates and failing schools. Clyburn (D-SC) charged this week that Brown is such a political novice that he must be a "plant."

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Alvin Greene

DSCC Chair Won't Discuss Greene Mystery, Says It's State Party Matter

Christina Bellantoni | June 10, 2010, 5:31PM

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)

The chairman of the Senate Democrats' campaign arm would say little about allegations surrounding Alvin Greene's mysterious Senate candidacy in South Carolina, telling reporters today it is a matter for the state party to handle.

Asked by TPM about Greene and the South Carolina Democrats' call for him to step aside at a briefing today, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) put both hands out in protest. He dodged several questions about charges from Rep. James Clyburn and the state party that Greene may not be a legitimate candidate, saying the "appropriate officials" are looking into it. He wouldn't answer a TPM question about whether he supports the state party, which is calling for Greene to step aside despite winning the primary Tuesday night.

The bottom line is that Democrats recognize it's not going to be a competitive race to challenge Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), regardless of the candidate chosen as his rival. Menendez said the party is "not engaged there" and that it is "not a place that I am focused on."

"I will allow the South Carolina Democratic Party and Congressman Clyburn, who I serve with and I know can be tenacious, to continue to pursue it and we will look at," Menendez said.

South Carolina

Greene's Filing Fee Check Featured Hand-Scrawled 'Alvin M. Greene For Senate' (PICTURE)

Justin Elliott | June 10, 2010, 11:33AM

SC-SEN candidate Alvin Greene (D)

In March, unemployed veteran Alvin Greene showed up at the Democratic party headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina, to register as a candidate for U.S. Senate. To pay the filing fee, he was bearing a personal check for $10,440 -- which he has insisted all along was his own money. But party Chairwoman Carol Fowler turned him away, saying he needed a campaign check.

TPMmuckraker has obtained from the party the "campaign" check that Greene, the man now being called a "plant" by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), returned with several hours later. It is distinguished as a campaign check by the words "Alvin M. Greene for Senate" scribbled in pen in the upper left hand corner.

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