Thursday, March 4, 2010

Dan Seals Grudgingly Gives Up Charlie Rangel Campaign Cash; What About the Rest?, Asks Bob Dold

Dan Seals, perennial candidate for Congress in Illinois' 10th Congressional District, has FINALLY bowed to years of criticism for his association with embattled House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel, and stated he will give about $14,000 in contributions he received directly from Rangel.

Not good enough, says GOP challenger Bob Dold. What about all the money that Seals has raked in from fundraisers sponsored or supported by Rangel, Dold wants to know. According to a Daily Herald article today, Dold pegs the appropriate amount at something much closer to $55,000.

Rangel has only recently taken a 'leave of absence' from his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means committee after being admonished by the House Ethics Committee, and amid the continuing investigation into charges that Rangel abused his public position to raise corporate funds for a library bearing his name, illegally rented multiple rent-controlled apartments in Harlem, failed to disclose income from a property in the Dominican Republic and illegally stored a personally-owned vehicle in the House parking garage.

Dan Seals, of course, has a history of taking money from ethically-challenged Dem politicians, like the time when he took a campaign contribution from disgraced former congressman Dan Rostenkowski right in front of the students at his night school class at NU (yes, as we noted at the time, the check was actually from Rosty's wife, but even Seals didn't really try to hide behind that and eventually returned the check weeks later after the story broke).

So, what's Dan Seals going to do now that his cash pipeline from New York has been turned off at the spigot???

Locally: Team America congratulates new Lake County Republican Chairman Bob Cook of Wauconda as the new party central committee chairman, who was elected by acclamation at the GOP County Convention at Midlane Country Club in Wadsworth last night. Bob is a tireless worker and truly dedicated to the Republican cause, so he should do well. TA had a nice chat with Bob yesterday afternoon before the evening meeting and, if he won, Bob pledged to be a big-tent leader, and bring all of the GOP groups in Lake County together to the maximum extent possible to fend off the Dems. The Dems, of course, re-elected 20-year chairman Terry Link. Yawn.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

once a thug always a thug. Now its time for pup to return the millions of dollars he's recieved from hate organizations that promoted anti-semitism and ant-israel positions.

Last I heard, pups 2 time failed flak elisabethsmith she's on twitter-was helping jon corzine lose in new jersey. Hopefully jamie crain will be just as bad.

Can't tell right now who's in bigger meltdown mode, pup or alexi or the quinn/scott lee cohen ticket.

look out below

FOKLAEAPS

Anonymous said...

Who cares? Where's the beef in this guy Dold? He ran a mean-spirited, negative, right-wing primary campaign, has no record of any community service over the years, and has never had a job that his parents didn't get him. Tell me why this moderate should vote for him (for him -and not just against his opponent)?

Anonymous said...

Mark Kirk is the most leftwing Congressman in the house and of course to democrats here he is considered right wing to which I say Pat Hughes anyone? Dold is prochoice and of course gets called a nazi even though dick durbin is prolife and the senate majority leader is pro life and pro gun. This is the pathetic rhetoric of desperate whack job democrats who have been unable to win in the 10th for a decade and whose pathetic puppets for chicago machine democrats hey susan garrett have shown over the course of the last 15 years that they are simply horrible servants of the special interests.

Get used to mark kirk, we're about 2 days away from broadway bank getting seized, our tax dollars being spent to bailout alexi's bank and asking him where all those millions went. Local democrats have had a lot of experience with their golden children flaming out lately rod, scott lee cohen.

Scott Brown gave his senate first speech today on the floor. Mark Kirk gives his 9 months from now.

FOKLAEAPS

Anonymous said...

Over the weekend when FOKLAEAPS has time. FOKLAEAPS is going to play the catwoman f--- your candidate by association game with the anti-abortion house democrats who have given to pup and the anti-israel democrats that have given to pup along with the amount so that team dold with a d for defeat dan can ask our young unemployed 9th district friend why he takes money from the anti-Israel congressmen and anti-choice members of congress. I'd love to hear why pup took their money and why its ok for him to attack kirk and dold for taking money from pro-life people but not the other way arounds.

revenge beckons.

sanity will reign.

FOKLAEAPS

Anonymous said...

Seals is keeping $41,000 in dirty Rangel money

Anonymous said...

That's not a big deal...Seals can always fall back on money he earns from his job.

Oh, wait....

Anonymous said...

I think the whole district knows Dan Seals has been unemployed for over five years.

He is one of the few people I have ever met to have accomplished less and less as he gets older and older.

Crazy4glf said...

1. Seems to me that when DeLay was suspected of less than prudent behavior, the first step the GOP took was to change the rules. I also don't think all his association contributions found their way to charity.

2. Mark Kirk is left-wing? Supporting the Stupak amendment? Helping 'sell' the WMD theory? Blaming constituents for how he votes despite his studying the entire piece of legislation? Seeking Sara Palin's endorsement.

Parallel universe - here we come.

Anonymous said...

Explain how Dold is recommended by the Illinois Federation for Right to Life and also claims to be ProChoice ?

Anonymous said...

Robert Dold has an excellent record of community service, having been the scout master for his local Eagle Scout troop for the past ten years. Anon 10:11, if community service is a reason to vote for someone, then you now have your reason to do so.

Anonymous said...

Apparently Dolt made an appearance over the weekend and bashed mark kirk repeatedly. This is interesting considering Kirk is a self made man who made Porter a force on the north shore while Dold and his pal dan quayle were raising taxes and ruining the gop's brand here to the point that no Republican presidential candidate has won the 10th since bush in 1988.

Beating up Mark Kirk, what a winner this guy is. Apparently they don't teach Reagan's 11th commandment in the NTRO anymore either that or his daddy's money makes him too good for teamwork.



FOKLAEAPS

Anonymous said...

"Explain how Dold is recommended by the Illinois Federation for Right to Life and also claims to be ProChoice ?"

I don't really have a dog in this fight at this point, but I will say that IFRL will often endorse someone if they are pro-choice but good on most legislative issues such as notification and federal funding.

Ralph Rivera (their downstate lobbist) is well known for being pragmatic.

Anonymous said...

what exactly did DOLD say about KIRK?

Anonymous said...

Dolt basically trashed Mark Kirk for 30 minutes at a chicago Republicans meeting over the weekend.

I am sorry, this guy has no understanding of foreign affairs, is dumbfounded beyond his talking points, has the nerve to disrespect the congressman who if he hadn't held this seat Dolt would have zero shot of winning, and has zero record of any personal accomplishment.

At least with Ari Friedman or Dick Green you had candidates who weren't slick arrogant guys who confused inherited wealth and connections for talent and vision.

The good news is redistricting happens next year and we'll be able to shop for a candidate with a brain who isn't into bashing the Republicans like Dolt is. Dolt is charlie crist, hastert, mckenna, arlen specter, jim jeffords, dede scozaffava with a little bit of blago slickness and stroger brain into one.

FOKLAEAPS

Anonymous said...

I supported Dold...and I will in November. I'm concerned because the only thing changed on his website since primary election day is him supporting the Armenian Genocide Resolution, passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, 23-22. Who is advising him? Turkey recalled its Ambassador temporarily. Turkey, the most successful Islamic Democracy in the world is one of our most critical allies. Maybe take down some of the campaign celebration pictures and refocus on IL-10th issues. Remember, in 2007 a similar resolution passed committee. Bush 43 ensured it would never reach the House floor -- he knew our relationship with Turkey was/is critical.

Anonymous said...

There are a ton of armenians in the district.

the footnote to that turkey vote as long time followers of team america's blog will recall is that turkey's top lobbyist in washington is none other than Jay the shorest man ever to run for congress Footlik.

this is one of these issues where washington has a minor sneeze and a region gets a cold. Turkey is a huge player that we and Israel need. THey have a base I think the congressman flies out of at Incirlik.

FOKLAEAPS

Anonymous said...

FOKLEAPS.....

Please try and let me know exactly what was said by Dold against Mark. You don't know me but I highly doubt your claim. Bob is a good man.

Anonymous said...

FOKLAEAPS - My guess is that if Dold said anything bad about Kirk it had to do only with the Cap and Trade issue. There is no way he would trash the guy who is helping him greatly. I've known Dold for a little while and he's not built that way.

Of course Dold and Kirk are going to differ on some issues. I was never a big fan of Kirk, but always voted for him as he usually had his head on straight.

Your true nature has finally won out over your conflicted issues with Dold. You have not liked him from the get go and now have gone back to calling him dolt - based entirely upon what is probably a 1/2 truth wrapped in supposition. "Apparently"?

I always thought you were a pretty good voice of reason on this blog and looked forward to reading what you had to say - even though you didn't like my preferred candidate, which is not a big deal. No more though, you have shown yourself to be a petty, misinformed hack with nothing better to do than trash the person who was obviously the better candidate in the primary - I mean, he won right?

Please get your facts straight before muckraking the 10th standard-bearer.

Anonymous said...

The Amenian Genocide Resolution needs to be supported by this nation on moral and ethical grounds. Period.

Millions of Armenians were marched to their deaths in the early days of what today is the modern Turkish Government. They were marched into the desert with only what they could carry, nothing more and were physically removed from the villages and towns they lived in. At best, Turkey will admit that maybe a "mistake" was made but that only a few perished, in spite of well documented reports to the contrary by independent observers, both back then and today.

Add to the slaughters of other ethnic groups in Asia Minor, from several hundred thousand Greeks, Bulgarians, Romanians, Georgians, Kurds and other Christian and non-Christian groups, the indiscriminate seizure of church properties and private properties by ethnic residents of Turkey who are not Turkish, and you will see why this simple Resolution causes immediate Turkish hissy fits.

In the late 1950's over 100,000 Greeks were forced out of Istanbul in extended and violent rioting and torching of Greek homes and businesses, which turned out to be Turkish state sponsored and controlled. After WWI, there were nearly 400,000 Greeks in Asia Minor. Today there are roughly 1,000. After years of being unable to practice their faith without harassment or seizure of their properties, and being taxed double the rate of their Turkish neighbors, they were all forced out.

The Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Partriarch (our version of the Pope so to speak) of Constantinople, Bartholomeos, is restricted to his tiny little compound and recognized only as the Bishop of Istanbul, while the rest of Orthodox Christians worldwide consider him to be "first among equals." The only theological school for Orthodox Christianity in Asia Minor was shut down by the Turkish Government nearly 40 years ago, so he is unable to train and educate new priests. The famous Saint Sophia Cathedral now is a museum, after it was converted to a Mosque.

Turkey's reliability in times of conflict has always been suspect. They failed to allow an Iraq invasion using their borders including air rights for the air force, making the Iraq invasion more difficult. They sided with Nazi Germany during WWII and with Germany and the Axis Powers in WWI. They are for and against pipelines of oil running through their country, depending upon who is asking and when.

They routinely invade Greek airspace over the Agean with their airforce. They have militarily occupied 40% of Cyprus for over 30 years and only they and North Korea recognize the "government" they prop up "on the Turkish side."

Dold is smart to back this resolution. There are a lot of votes from those whose ancestors suffered from Turkish occupation and oppression over the centuries and still do.

President Obama promised to support this resolution back when he was running for President, and has been running away from it ever since he has been elected.

Turkey is the Anthony Soprano of the world. Needed at times, apologized for, and never held accountable.

Some friend of the USA!

Louis G. Atsaves

Anonymous said...

LGA,

To classify Turkey as the Anthony Soprano is well beneath you. Turkey stands as the beacon for what a successful, vibrant, Islamic Democracy can look like. Turkey was essential to Desert Storm and remains so today for Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Remember, it was us that dropped two nuclear weapons on Japan in 1945. I trust Japan would not compare us to another graphic character.

My point again, is I submit that our preferred candidate, if he was to just have one addition & press release on his website in the last 5 weeks...let's make it more relevant to the 10th.

The Armenian Genocide Resolution is much more complex than simply supporting any and all human rights resolutions -- as we have seen (and you have indicated) by recent PsOTUS' activities.

Anonymous said...

FOKLAEAPS is a die hard republican. I have always always always voted a straight republican ballot, donated to republican candidates and worked in republican campaigns.

If you go to the chicago young republicans twitter page, Dold emphaitcally said that he was not mark kirk. Ripping the good congressman is bad bad news.

As for unwavering support for republican candidates, FOKLAEAPS feels very badly hurt and damaged by what the gop has done to its grassroots supporters that it has betrayed. People king louis astaves, the ellen pup and alexi slayer, team america, mrs. team america, conservative vet, baxters mom, the folks that work hard in the trenches and blogosphere. I share my conservative bretheren's hatred for establishment republicans although I disagree with them on guns, abortion and science issues.

Even the good congressman I disagree with on issues like the time he wastes trying to save mongolian refugees, but he's our man with a plan. I won't tolerate dold undercutting him. he is our best chance to thwart Obama and msk needs us to help him r-o-c-k this year.

Oh and I do like dold's latest ad filmed in walker brothers. the apple pancake is perhaps the best thing for breakfeast in the 10th besides defeated pup.

FOKLAEAPS

Anonymous said...

FOKLAEAPS you should try being in the same room with yourself when you speak.

Anonymous said...

===Turkey stands as the beacon for what a successful, vibrant, Islamic Democracy can look like.===

Minority rights do not exist in Turkey. One little school of theology that would train 5-10 priests a year is shut down and stays shut down for 40 years for "security reasons" while fundamentalist Islamists gain more power and control. Minority ethnic groups even though they are Turkish citizens, are taxed double the rate of ordinary Turks.

The plight of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Orthodox Christianity was featured two months ago on an extended 60 Minutes broadcast. Go to their website and check it out. It is still there.

In this country, we don't do that. If you are Canadian-American, or Greek-American, you pay the same taxes as everyone else. We don't seize churches, and level them, with the iconography sold on the black market worldwide.

There is a reason all those ethnic groups hate Turkey with a passion. A Democracy which allows its military to overthrow the government when it moves towards more freedoms is not a real Democracy. The same is true of a government and military which deliberately plans and carries out an organized "riot" against a minority group to drive them out of the country.

Some beacon!

Anthony Soprano fits perfectly in this situation. Any nation that would side with North Korea to create a phony parallel government in Cyprus recognized by no one else in the world (not even Cuba, Iran and the other crazies) is suspect.

If Israel were to be invaded, Turkey would do what it usually does. And that would not bode well for Israel. Cyprus from a military standpoint would be of great assistance in protecting Israel, but not so coincidentally, the military bases on the Turkish side are not allowed to be used in such a defense, only the Greek side.

As Adolph Hitler famously said when he created concentration camps and gas chambers for Germans and others who were Jews, "who remembers the Armenians?"

The "beacon" is more like a tiny flashlight that you attach to your keychain.

It's time we remember them and others. And never forget.

Louis G. Atsaves

Anonymous said...

It looks to be what I suspected. While I was not there, the context seems to be that he was talking about Cap and Trade (looking at sequence of comments twittered). I think he is also saying he is not a Kirk clone, but his own man. His own independant voice.

My two cents.

On to a better issue that DOld and Kirk should hop on- have you all seen this?


http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/saltwater/news/story?id=4975762

Further evidence (as if we needed any more) that Obama is letting the far left drive his agenda. Will the pup stand up for the 10th folks on this issue against his idol in the WH?

Doubt it.

Anonymous said...

Fearless prediction...readers of team america will rise agains tthe bully hack that his folkless. No credibility, no class, no loyalty....