Money makes the world go round –>> What do you think?
Spencer Abraham [ the Senator from Michigan before Deb Stabenow] used his ‘blue-slip privilege’ to block hearings and block a vote for 2 of Clinton’s nominees to the 6th Circuit.
The 2 nominees that Abraham wouldn’t pass on were from his home state. (A 3rd nominee to the 6th circuit from a different state, Ohio, also never got a hearing from Hatch’s committee.) So THREE of Prez Clinton’s nominees to the 6th Circuit were blocked — got no up-or-down vote in the Republican-majority Senate.
Now, 1 of Bush’s new nominees to that circuit is Henry W. Saad of Michigan’s (state) Court of Appeals.
It turns out – according to campaign finance records – that the very senator who used his blue slip to keep seats open for Saad got campaign donations from Judge Saad. Not only that, Henry Saad’s wife has sent to the campaign of Spencer Abraham lots of $ $ too.
[The money follows the flip.]
Judge SAAD’s own campaign gifts:
to GOP candidates, $6,350 since 1994, including $2000 to GW Bush for president in 2003, also
— >> includes $ 3,250 TO Spencer Abraham’s campaigns between 1994 and 2000 (in 8 donations in amounts between $250 to $1000)
– – and they are found here and here.
These donations are in addition to $14,000 to Spencer Abraham from Saad’s wife, Mara Letica (mostly in 2000, also in 1994 + 1995),
and $11,000 more to Abraham from Saad’s inlaws (in 1994, 1995, 1999 and 2000).
All in all, $25,000 from her family to Abraham’s campaign –>>> with $14,000 of that coming straight from Mara.
And $3,250 direct from Henry Saad to Abraham’s election campaign.
Judge Saad was appointed to the Michigan Court of Appeals by Governor Engler in 1994.
———–
>>> The most recent gift from Saad’s wife Mara Letica on October 12, 2000 is here. The campaign summary for Abraham’s last Senate campaign shows her as perhaps his #1 or #2 top contributor, top of the list, with one donation of $10 K before the 2000 election, and a second one further down for $2 K, one year earlier.
Saad’s wife’s family gave to the Abraham campaign: an amount of $6,000 in 1999-2000 (from her brother Anton and her parents (Ilija and Gudron). And $9,000 in 1994 and 1996 from the family, including from Mara.
Additionally, Saad’s wife Mara Letica, forwarded $10,000 to the “Swift Boat Vets and POWs for Truth” recorded on November 23,2004 (after the election). The “527” organization was dedicated to casting the military service of John Kerry in Vietnam in an unfavorable light to stop his election to President. The donation interests me, however, it is without doubt fully legal. It just catches my eye.
At first glance, Mara’s $10K donation would seem to breach FEC dollar limits. However, documents show it took a roundabout route to Abraham from the “Roast of Governor Engler Committee” in October 2000 or from then-Governor Engler’s leadership PAC.
For whatever reason, the Roast of Gov. Engler Committee, disbursed $40,000 —> to the Abraham Senate 2000 committee on 10.13.2000, and $120,000 more was transferred from the “Roast” PAC to Abraham Sen. 2000 on October 16. (So Mara Letica’s $10K contribution to the committee was merely one [of a set of other contributors besides her] that offset or fulfilled the Engler committee disbursements.)
Mara Letica’s contribution to Engler’s Roast committee on Oct. 12 is confirmed in the FEC documents here, line b.
Engler’s “leadership” PAC also gave a $10K contribution to Spencer, FEC record here.
The Engler-Roast Committee record of disbursements is from Page sequence 34 in the FEC document copies, from the “Roast of Governor Engler Committee” to “Abraham Senate 2000.”
(The second link here is a screen capture image of the page, or else you can navigate to it from the FEC-sourced link right above, and use the “go to” button to #34; hit “refresh”/”retry” if pg does not display fully.)
As an aside, I’d say that must have been some festive “roast” on Governor Engler’s behalf! It seems election campaigns were participants.
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HERE is what is MADDENING about the 6th Circuit nominees. 3 of Clinton’s were blocked (no vote held), including 2 (Helen White and Kathleen Lewis) because of Abraham’s maneuver. Nominee Kent Markus of Ohio also did not get a hearing, independent of Abraham.
[This maneuvering goes on in other circuits too. Priscilla Owen is in the position of supposedly “deserving” an up-or-down vote precisely because Kay Bailey Hutchison kept Clinton nominees Jorge Rangel and Enrique Moreno from getting their vote. (Clicking the 2nd link, can do a ‘find’ for ‘Hutch’)]
The Senate has APPROVED FOUR of Bush’s subsequent 6th-Circuit nominees.
Now they’re pushing for 3 more of Bush’s nominees. After Spencer personally prevented 2 from his home state going forward, it’s natural that Michigan’s present senators Levin and Stabenow objected to some of these seven (in all) Republican nominees to the 6th Circuit going forward.
[ Link to the 1990s confirmation history is here, the 5th or 6th paragraphs.]
My question is this: If 3 of President Clinton’s nominees to this circuit were not entitled to an up-or-down vote (and 2 of them were stopped by Michigan’s Republican senator), then why are all 7 of Bush’s subsequent nominees entitled to it?
Why is blocking some of them by filibuster, as a tool by Michigan’s Democratic senators and Reid, unreasonable as a way to stop 1 party from first blocking a President’ judges and then stacking the court with the next President’s judges. No wonder Michigan’s senators, Stabenow and Levin, are incensed about this circuit.
Now myself, I am not an expert on what is legal for campaign donations. That is, the contributions from Saad and his relatives likely are permissible by law. And I do not know the rules and customs for a state appeals judge to be donating to political candidates. Maybe if I check I would find it is done a lot by other nominees to the federal appeals courts, and done by Democratic judges who would be candidates for federal nomination, too.
But
This is cross-posted also at daily kos. [Please consider recommending here at Booman and also recommending at kos [link]]