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Today’s quotable

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Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), asked about the $2,000 he got from [embattled US Rep. Matt Gaetz], told Forbes he “probably got 5 million bucks” in campaign contributions in the 2020 cycle and said to “ask the TV stations and radio stations that got my money where it’s at… ask them what charity they’re gonna give it to.”

* Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association President Kristina Zahorik…

“Rodney Davis has now refused to donate to charity the tainted campaign cash he received from Matt Gaetz and continues to deflect from commenting on the damning allegations surrounding Matt Gaetz. While three of Rodney Davis’ colleagues have donated Matt Gaetz’s money to charity, Rodney has only made jokes and now quips that he already spent the money — well we have the receipts.”

“Rodney Davis closed out his reelection with money in the bank, but pretends he’s spent it all to avoid having to unburden himself and his constituents of Matt Gaetz’s dirty money. Either Rodney Davis is lying, or he’s unable to keep his own finances in order just like the FEC has recently questioned him about.”

In 2020, Rodney filed FEC campaign disclosures showing he had $229,247 cash on hand after the campaign, and $140,435 at the end of the year. On February 9, 2021, Rodney Davis’ campaign received a Request for Additional Information (RFAI) from the Federal Election Commission regarding debts he owed. The RFAI mandated a response by March 16, 2021, but Rodney Davis’ campaign has so far apparently not filed the required, amended report with the requested “…clarifying information as to why this activity was not disclosed on your original report.” The FEC states that “Failure to adequately respond by the response date noted above could result in an audit or enforcement action.”

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:14 pm

Comments

Completely tone deaf for Illinois Democratic County Chair Association President to lecture Republicans about taking tainted money from politicians under investigation.

Will she call for the all the Democrats who received “dirty money” from Michael Madigan to donate it to charity?

Comment by Lucky Pierre Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:27 pm
Matt Gaetz is innocent until proven guilty just like all the other Republicans and Democrats that have been accused of improprieties. I choose to wait for the facts to come out

Comment by John Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:34 pm
“Davis Gaetz Hit With Money Issue”

If Davis defends Gaetz… boy, that’d be… interesting.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:36 pm
Rodney Davis always harps on partisan vitriolic rhetoric but is also always the first to be aggressive and combative with Dems and the press. “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Comment by Downstate Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:39 pm
Uhhhhh, come on Rodney. This one is a lay up. Show your constituents that you haven’t gone COMPLETELY off the rails.

Comment by McGuppin Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:42 pm
What hypocrisy. That $2,000 Davis received from Gaetz, might just cover a weeks’ worth of dry-cleaning costs for the 6 million dollar plus legal team MJM ( Past chair ILDems )needs in his corruption defense.

Comment by Donnie Elgin Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:44 pm
“Ask the TV stations” is such a weird deflection. Don’t ask the Dems what they did with MJM money, ask the local pizza place they used to feed volunteers!

Comment by Downstate Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:45 pm
Why can’t he just denounce him? If he does run statewide, this wouldn’t be helpful.

Comment by 13thResident Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:45 pm
Nice that Rep. Davis has decided to let the mask fall, emboldened by the last election.

No-apologies truculence. No pretense of holding himself to a higher standard in his fundraising while he touts all his support to combat human trafficking in his government press releases.

Comment by Moe Berg Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:48 pm
Davis is so quick to play the victim card, but equating fee for service payments like the money he paid to TV stations to campaign contributions like he got from Gaetz is not a road he should go down. Especially if he’s sitting on cash, and if it’s just $2,000, this is an odd hill to fight on.

Comment by Socially DIstant Watcher Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 12:48 pm
===ask the TV stations and radio stations that got my money where it’s at===

I think I have identified the problem. United States Representative Rodney Davis believes that this is /his/ money.

What do our friends at the FEC have to say about this concept that this is United States Representative Rodney Davis’ personal money.

===Using campaign funds for personal use is prohibited.===

I see, so, in no way are the campaign contributions we’re discussing U.S. Representative Rodney Davis’s money.

To borrow a phrase from Rich, perhaps Rodney or his staff need to go READ THE WHOLE THING: https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/making-disbursements/personal-use/

===Will she call for the all the Democrats who received “dirty money” from Michael Madigan to donate it to charity? ===

This is kind of an apples to oranges comparison. Public corruption has been a truly bipartisan tradition in Illinois. I am not aware of any truly broadly practiced returning of contributions or tainted campaign funds after blatant and illegal political corruption comes to light, especially with the common practice of Illinois governors being convicted and facing jail time and certainly there’s no practice in giving back the political graft in this state, regardless of how illegal, or how intentionally illegal the hiring practice was.

One of the major reasons that this is an apples to oranges comparison, is that Matt Gaetz is being investigated for being a child rapist and the trafficking of a child for sex.

If United States Rodney Davis wants to hang on to contributions from a child rapist/child sex trafficker because they’re “his” that’s very different than trying to measure what the appropriate level of accountability is for a party structure after the defacto leader of that party is caught engaging in criminal activity.

Caught is the key word. Whatever stones people want to throw, we probably shouldn’t be naive enough to pretend that one side of the aisle or another was free of blatant criminal corruption going back over the years here in Illinois.

I would also expect that the criminal investigations are far from over.

Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 1:16 pm
Money speaks louder than words.

Davis couldn’t thumb his nose any harder?

Comment by Dotnonymous Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 1:17 pm
= Especially if he’s sitting on cash, and if it’s just $2,000, this is an odd hill to fight on. =

Agreed, Rep. Davis should donate the $2,000 to charity, and then challenge any Democratic legislator or candidate who received $ from Madigan to do the same. That would benefit Rep. Davis and the Illinois GOP much more than a measly $2,000.

Comment by cover Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 1:19 pm
So he’s blaming the media for taking money from Gaetz?

Comment by Third Reading Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 1:21 pm
More proof that Betsy would have been better for our district. Disappointed from day one with Davis. Too far right.

Comment by It's Just Me . . . Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 1:22 pm
Complete unforced error on Davis part. Donate the $2000 to a charity. Spend 15 mins calling lobbyists in DC and he’ll have it all back and then some. Its not even that hard.

Comment by Red Ranger Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 1:36 pm
So, question. Should I be going through everyone who ever received a contribution from any of the indicted and convicted Democratic politicians or their supporters and demanding they donate that money to charity? I’ll pick on Teamsters Local 727 PAC for example. What about all the Teamster Dollars that John Coli spread around to the Democratic Party ( I’ll note that his son John Coli, Jr is the chair of that committee now with William Coli as treasurer). Coli plead guilty to extortion, an infamous offense of moral turpitude, which certainly must morally taint any donations.

Julianna Stratton - 2016-5k
Jason Ervin - 2012 -5k
Kevin Morrison - 2018- 1.5k
Pat Quinn - 2013 -20k
Jay Hoffman - 2008 -1k
Mike Madigan - 2008 -10k
Alexi Giannoulias -2008 - 5k

The list grows when you look at Joint Council #25’s contributions. Sims, Cullerton, Mulroe, Conyears-Ervin, Rita, Frerichs, Orr, Iris Martinez, Brendan Reilly, and more. Easily 50k in money tied to Coli and his organization. Will I be seeing any statements seeking to have that disgorged from those folk’s committees? Do the inactive committees similarly have a “moral” obligation to disgorge these tainted funds?

Comment by Just Another Anon Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 1:56 pm
- Just Another Anon -

So you are justifying keeping money from a possible sex trafficker, a minor at that?

Ok… that makes sense.

Whew.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 2:07 pm
The Davis reax just goes to show he is way more worried about his political career being ended by a primary challenger than a Dem.

Comment by hisgirlfriday Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 2:15 pm
Waiting for the hundreds of Dems that took money from Mike “ComEd” Madigan to return it too.

Comment by Soapbox Derby Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 3:08 pm
=== Waiting for… ===

So it’s cool having $2k from a possible sex trafficker… until the Dems do something too?

Huh. “Ok”

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 3:20 pm
@OW

So you are saying its ok to keep money from a felon convicted of extorting innocent citizens because a Republican took money from someone *under investigation* for *alleged* sex trafficking? I say that because until the investigation concludes, he’s legally not *accused*.

Thank you for helping me illustrate the perils of the high horse the DCCA is riding.

Comment by Just Another Anon Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 3:58 pm
=== So you are saying its ok to keep money from a felon convicted of extorting innocent citizens because a Republican took money from someone *under investigation* for *alleged* sex trafficking?===

Any way to justify keeping Gaetz money, amirite?

I mean, seriously… how pathetic of a person who needs to defend taking $2K from someone who allegedly trafficked a child for sex? Well, you say “what about… “

Talk about gaslighting ethics, that’s embarrassing.

If you wouldn’t want to take a picture with Gaetz right now, would you still take his money?

Also… in prison… child sex crimes are considered the bottom of the barrel bad in that hierarchy, other prisoners can’t stand them either…

… but… if you wanna excuse taking $2K from an alleged child sex trafficker… I truly appreciate you letting me know your position.

Anytime I can know who people are… helps.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 4:04 pm
All of them should give back the money or donate the money. But the truth of the matter is that he is right on something, when does dirty money end? Should those he paid for campaign activities give that back to charity as well. Do all the sign makers, mailing companies, TV networks, etc, have to give back the money.
What of campaign contributions over time from others who have issues. Did everyone give back all of Rod’s contributions. What of Link? Arroyo? Burke?
It kind of goes on an on. What is considered a crime or allegation that you need to give the money back for and what is fine to accept the money.

Comment by Unionman Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 4:29 pm
=== All of them should give back the money or donate the money. But the truth of the matter is that he is right on something, when does dirty money end?===

It’s $2,000 from someone you wouldn’t want your picture with or support today.

Is Davis that desperate for $2,000 he’d take cash from someone under investigation for sex trafficking and wouldn’t want to be seen with today?

The thing about ethics, you can either “whatabout” ethics to short side a lacking of ethics or realize $2,000 isn’t worth owning if you have to own Gaetz… ethically.

It’s not a slippery slope, it’s a measure of the ethics.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 4:38 pm
I dislike the idea that giving away funds from a “tainted” donor ameliorates the original donation.

Money is fungible. The original donation must be reported and therefore, is still on the books. Giving away an equivalent sum of money does nothing to change the fact of the original donation from the tainted source.

Comment by Huh? Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 6:10 pm
If a certain Chicago Public Official A is charged with criminal offenses, how will Zahorik respond to demands that legislators return cash donations from his campaign war chests?

Comment by Motambe Monday, Apr 19, 21 @ 10:19 pm
Is it fair to say that Gaetz is under investigation for “trafficking”? Joel Greenberg is under investigation, certainly. The allegation is that Gaetz was one of Greenberg’s clients for a young woman, who, when crossing a state line, becomes a child.

Comment by Urbana Cowboy Tuesday, Apr 20, 21 @ 1:40 pm