More Illegal Cappiello Donations

Yanked in its entirety from ctblogger at HatCityBLOG:

First it's the illegal bundled campaign donations from James Galante, now it's this.

The State Elections Enforcement Commission adopted a stipulated agreement today to settle a case which originated from a referral by the United States Attorney.

The settlement was reached with two attorneys from the Danbury area: Jack Garamella and Christopher Leonard. Both are partners in the law firm Collins, Hannafin, Garamella, Jaber & Tuozzolo, P.C. Each attorney paid the maximum $2,000 civil penalty under these facts for making a contribution in the name of another. Jack Garamella gave $500 to Chris Leonard and asked him to make a $500 contribution to the 2004 re-election campaign of State Senator David Cappiello, because he did not wish to be identified as giving a contribution to a Republican while he was seeking the Democratic office of Judge of Probate.

Leonard made a prohibited contribution by accepting the money, and then writing a check in his name to the Cappiello campaign. The Commission imposed the maximum civil penalty as it considers this a serious violation. Concealing the true source of a candidate contribution frustrates the purpose of disclosure laws.

UPDATE: Click here to read the stipulated agreement between Garamella, Leonard, and the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

UPDATE 2: Cappiello speaks...and his comment is predictable:

"I was stunned," Cappiello said.

Hmm, this reaction sound familiar...oh yeah, Cappiello's reaction to James Galante's contributions to his campaign. You remember, the trash hauler with ties to the mob who also gave illegal bundled campaign donations to former State Senator Lou DeLuca and Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.

"He was a philanthropist - at least I thought he was," Cappiello said.

A philanthropist...yeah, got'cha!

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Chris Shays: Running Up YOUR Tax Burden

Anderson Scooper at 4th street news has an interesting post up on Chris Shays politcal courage in standing up for tax cuts for the rich and against helping the middle class:

"Shays' stated views on which taxes should be lowered: slightly decrease corporate income taxes, slightly decrease the capital gains tax, (meaning even further), and greatly decrease the inheritance tax, which I take to mean doing away with it altogether.

As a side note, it's interesting that Shays wants to increase spending across the board, except for agricultural spending and a national missile defense.

Combining the two, does that make Chris Shays a borrow and spend Republican? It sure seems to!"

Is there any other kind of republican these days? As for Jim Himes position on this? He put out his Middle Class Tax Relief plan on July 22nd:

Today in Stamford, Jim Himes announced a plan for middle-class tax relief plan that will help middle-class families in three important ways: by expanding college tuition tax credits to make college affordable again, by creating a new tax credit for first-time homebuyers to make it easier for families to buy their first home, and by expanding the saver's credit to help middle‐class families build wealth for the future. The plan would restore opportunity and the American Dream for middle-class families by helping them afford college, buy their first home, and save for the future.

Read the full plan here: (pdf)

BBC Report on the Successes of Today's GOP

OOPS! Did I say successes? Well? I suppose, if you count running the nation into the ground?

Americans live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed nation, according to a report from several US charities.

The report found that the US ranked 42nd in the world for life expectancy despite spending more on health care per person than any other country.

Overall, the American Human Development Report ranked the world's richest country 12th for human development.

The study looked at US government data on health, education and income.

Some parts of the US are in worse shape than others...

"Some Americans are living anywhere from 30 to 50 years behind others when it comes to issues we all care about: health, education and standard of living.

"For example, the state human development index shows that people in last-ranked Mississippi are living 30 years behind those in first-ranked Connecticut."

Yehaaaw! Connecticut is #1 among the members of this 12th ranked country in the world! And a mighty 42nd for life expectancy, to boot! Isn't this kind of like winning the lipstick on a pig prize? (Apologies to Mississippi mud lovers)

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