Freddie Mac to pay to Settle Allegations

[sofa king]

By SHARON THEIMER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 18, 2006; 5:58 PM

WASHINGTON -- The home loan giant Freddie Mac has agreed to pay a record $3.8 million fine to settle allegations it made illegal campaign contributions.

The fine announced Tuesday is by far the biggest ever levied by the Federal Election Commission. Because the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, widely known as Freddie Mac, agreed to pay the fine and stop breaking the law, the FEC said it would not take further action against corporate officials.

...

Freddie Mac was accused of illegally using corporate resources between 2000 and 2003 for 85 fundraisers that collected about $1.7 million for federal candidates. Much of the fundraising benefited members of the House Financial Services Committee, a panel whose decisions can affect Freddie Mac.

The fundraisers were organized by then-Freddie Mac lobbyists Robert Mitchell Delk and Clark Camper, who described them to the corporation's board of directors as "political risk management," the FEC said.

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[sofa king]

1. What's important here is what isn't said. (Now with actual article)

Link to article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041800987.html

The article scrupulously avoids mentioning that Freddie Mac's external lobbyist is none other than the Alexander Strategy Group, run by DeLay/Abramoff accomplices Ed Buckham (unindicted co-conspirator) and Tony Rudy (pled guilty).

It seems well within the realm of possibility that the internal lobbyists within Freddie Mac (Clarke Camper and Robert Delk) were coordinating (colluding?) with ASG to set up these illegal contributions.

Somehow, the Washington Post missed that connection.

[nashville_brook]

2. holy crap! this is a great find.

[sofa king]

3. Thank you. Have you noticed the article has changed?

The article has since been updated (under the same link). I guess the first version was an online version and then the print version made today's paper.

Here (hopefully) is a list of all lobbyists who have registered for Freddie Mac... if the link works:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/lobby/profile.aspx?act=clients&year=2003&cl=L001722&sub=2

As you can see both Buckham and Rudy were named lobbyists.

Interestingly, the article has changed at least twice since I posted it. The first version, quoted above, did not mention any "consulting," groups. Then, about 2am last night, the article was revised to mention that as a result of the fine, the FEC has stopped its investigation. Now, that item has been removed. Also removed (from the second version) was mention of a letter of reprimand being sent to "two consulting firms." Now the article just says that one firm, Epiphany Productions, was accused of making illegal contributions. The FEC won't take action on either Epiphany or the unnamed and expurgated second firm.

The Washington Post is covering this up.