THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010
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THE INFLUENCE INDUSTRY Dan Eggen
Democrats say McCain is breaking his own law T
he irony is hard tomiss: Sen. JohnMcCain (R- Ariz.), a co-architect of one
of themost sweeping campaign finance laws in U.S. history, was accused by Democrats on Wednesday of violating that very statute. But theMcCain campaign
called the allegations a baseless stunt, saying the Democrats don’t have their facts straight. In a complaint filed with the
Federal Election Commission, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee alleged that television ads in support of twoHouse candidates from Arizona violate the tenets of the McCain-Feingold law, the landmark legislation enacted in 2002 that put broad limits on the campaign finance system. In the ads, paid for by the
Friends of JohnMcCain campaign committee,McCain appears alongside Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) urging voters to support GOP candidates Ruth McClung and Jesse Kelly. The DCCC says the ads amount to an illegal “in kind” contribution over the limits inMcCain- Feingold. “JohnMcCain chose to air
television commercials that violate the campaign finance legislation that bears his name, rejectingMcCain’s years of work on campaign finance reform,” said DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider. TheMcCain campaign flatly
rejected the allegations, releasing documents showing that it reported the ads as “independent expenditures” to the Senate this week. The DCCC complaint suggested that the campaign had not taken that step. “It’s not surprising that
Democrats would try to change the subject fromtheir struggling ticket with a baseless, frivolous complaint intended as a publicity stunt,” saidMcCain spokesman Brian Rogers. “Sen. McCain has always followed the
problem: owing gift taxes on their donations to nonprofits. In a recentmemo to clients,
Ofer Lion, a tax lawyer at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp in Los Angeles, warned that individuals who givemoney to groups organized under 501(c)(4) of the tax code could be liable for a 35 percent tax on gifts beyond $13,000. In addition, any attempt to
JOHNMCCAIN.COM
In the ads in question, Arizona’s Republican Sens. JohnMcCain, right, and JonKyl appear on behalf of twoHouse candidates.
letter and the spirit of the campaign finance law.” The DCCC’s allegations are
part of a broader effort by Democrats to portrayMcCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, as a political opportunist who has turned his back on his past as amoderate. He reversed or softened his positions on immigration and other issues in the face of a tea party primary challenge this year, and he has remainedmum about a Supreme Court ruling that effectively gutted his signature campaign finance law. McClung is challenging Rep.
RaulM. Grijalva (D) in Arizona’s 7th District, while Kelly is running against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) in the 8th District. The incumbents have each outraised their opponents by about 10 to one in the two districts, which borderMexico. The DCCC’s complaint alleges
two basic violations byMcCain. First, the Democrats argue, the ads violate a $4,800 limit on noncash contributions to a campaign. Second, they say, the commercials run afoul of rules
CONVERSATION:NATIVEAMERICANFARMERS USDA plaintiffs celebrate settlement BY KRISSAH THOMPSON The Obama administration’s
resolution Tuesday of discrimina- tion charges brought by thou- sands ofNativeAmerican farmers and ranchers has been met with an emotional reaction from the plaintiffswho led the lawsuit. The 11-year legal battle, which
ultimatelyendedwiththeAgricul- ture Department conceding that the government had discriminat- ed againstNative American farm- ers, resulted in a $760 million settlementof theclass-actioncase. The lawsuit was led by three
farmand ranch families:Marilyn Keepseagle and her husband, George, who live on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dako- ta; ClarycaMandan and her fami- ly of the Fort Berthold Reserva- tion, also in North Dakota; and PorterHolder of Soper,Okla. In an interview moments be-
fore the final settlement was an- nounced, Keepseagle, Mandan and Holder reflected on the fraught relationship their com- munity has had with the USDA and their hopes for the future.
Why does this settlementmatter?
ClarycaMandan: To us,whenwe lose land that has been in our family for generations—and it’s been our land for centuries . . . it ismore than just losing the homestead.Our land is sacred. Our land has always been sacred to native people, and to lose our land in thatway and have it sold at auction is themost egregious thing that could have happened for us. PorterHolder: It’s huge. It’s huge.USDAhas got good
The Federal Worker Overhaul at OPM
The Office of Personnel Manage- ment is adding staff to help speed the processing of checks for retirees. Federal Diary, B3
Enforcing the Hatch Act As elections near, Ana Galindo- Marrone of the Office of Special Counsel discusses the law, which bans federal workers from certain political activity. B3
What has your personal experiencewith theUSDA been?
MarilynKeepseagle:George and I have been in the ranching business for about 40 years.We’re still in it. In our case, I feel discriminationwas always there. We also felt thatwewere not treated equally comparedwith ourwhite neighbor, butGeorge saidwe are going to be fighters andwe are going to stay in it as long aswe could,whichwe have. There’s a lot of frustrations, a lot of struggle. Somehowor another, wemade it.We have 280 head of cattle. Holder: Iwent intoUSDAto try to buy a place that they had repossessed. It had sat on their negative inventory for almost 11 years. Thiswas ’98. I put everything together and knewI had a good plan. [The farm service officer] looked atmy application and said, ‘Youmight aswellwithdrawthis.’ That wasn’t in his job.Hewas supposed to helpme. . . .He wasn’t even listening. . . . I said, ‘Is it because I’mNative American?’His replywas, ‘Have you thought about going to the tribe?’ I tookmy plan and put it into action, and I nowown 320 acreswith 95mama cows. I had to get a loan froma private bank with an interest rate of 8 percent. [At the time, the interest rate for similarUSDAloanswas 4 percent.] Mandan: Fromthe very beginning itwas obvious that the agency intended to discriminate against us.We had our four- wheel-drive tractor,whichwas the centerpiece of our farming operation, in a repair shop, and [the farmagency]was contacted by the repairman for the payment, and the agency let them go ahead [and] take possession of the tractor and auction it off without telling us. . . . They sold it for half ofwhatwe had bought it for a year before. We found out the same thing
was going on at the same time in Montana, inNorthDakota, in SouthDakota, inOklahoma. Therewas definitely a pattern and a practice on behalf of the agency to discriminate against
programs, but they are discriminatory in theway they give themout.
NativeAmerican farmers.
What has been themost difficult part of this litigation?
Mandan: I thought two,maybe three years tops,wewould have a settlement. I never thought I would be sitting here 12 years later, through all of the agonizing depositions and documents and discovery andmeetings.Ups and downs, emotional highs and emotional lows. It’s unbelievable. . . . It’s been a very exhausting process. It’s been just unbelievable pressure. Constant calls fromother native clients wanting to knowhowthe case was going. Constant calls and appeals for help frompeople facing foreclosure. People continued like little soldiers, native farmafter native farm, to fall by thewayside. Holder: It’s been hell.
What comes next?
Holder: I’ve got daughters, and if they everwant to add tomy ranch, Iwould like to think that we opened doors for them. Mandan:We think through the settlement thatwemay have finally, significantly changed the way thatUSDAwill do business inNativeAmerican communities. Certainlywe hope therewill be some accountability. I’mreally excited about the [creation of the]NativeAmerican Farmer andRancher Council, whichwill be a high-level council andwill followup on the implementation of the settlement over the next five years. Keepseagle: I don’t knowifmy grandchildrenwant to go into ranching after they have heard us talking about all of our problems. It’s a great,wholesome life to be out in the countrywith the animals. Mandan: The stigma of borrowing fromthe agency is going to be something that is difficult to overcome. Somany people lost land or lost opportunities by the inability to get these programs that should have been there for themthat it has given the young people serious pausewhen they think about borrowing fromthe agency.
thompsonk@washpost.com
limiting a campaign committee to supporting only one candidate, with a small $2,000 exception. But theMcCain campaign
says the ads do not break campaign finance rules because they were declared as independent expenditures, which are not treated like contributions. Friends of McCain said it spent $80,000 on each of the ad buys, records show. Kenneth A. Gross, a campaign
finance expert at the Skadden Arps law firm, said treating such ads as independent expenditures “is a valid explanation, provided there is no evidence of coordination” between the McCain campaign and the other two candidates. But Crider said there is clear
evidence of coordination, including an appearance by McCain at a unity rally with the two candidates.
The taxman cometh Some tax experts are warning
that some big political donors might face an unexpected
fight such a levy by the IRS would expose the donor to publicity—which is exactly whatmany of themwant to avoid. Nonprofits classified as 501(c)(4)s, such as Crossroads GPS, the 60 Plus Association and many other big spenders this year, do not have to reveal their donors. “I think a lot of donors to
(c)(4)s of any flavor are not aware that this could come back to bite them,” Lion said in an interview. He and others caution that
much of this is speculative. The IRS has not shown an appetite for pursuing such donors for gift taxes, perhaps in part because it could be challenged on First Amendment grounds. Oh, and onemore thing, Lion
warns: If a donor refuses to pay a gift tax demanded by the IRS, the recipient would be on the hook.
No. 1 in college rankings The Center for Responsive
Politics has looked at giving patterns this year fromself- identified college students. The biggest student donor of 2010: Alexander Soros, a recent New York University graduate and the son of liberal philanthropist George Soros. The younger Soros, now
studying for his doctorate, has given $73,800 primarily to Democrats, the center found. His father has pouredmillions into liberal political groups and charitable causes over the past decade but has largely sat out the 2010midterms.
eggend@washpost.com
Report criticizes FBI on computer project Auditors say it
is over budget and
2 years behind schedule BY JEFF STEIN
The FBI’s effort to move from
paper to electronic files took an- otherhitWednesdaywhenJustice Department auditors issued their latest, and perhaps most critical, report to date on the long-trou- bledSentinelproject. “Sentinel is approximately
$100 million over budget and 2 years behind schedule,” the report from Justice Department Inspec- tor General Glenn A. Fine said, andstill lacks commonfeatures of personal computers and ordinary word-processingsoftware, suchas search functions, spell-checking andautomaticdocument saves. Worse, the IG said, the FBI had
spent almost 90 percent of the $451 million currently budgeted for the entire program, “but itwill have delivered only two of the program’s fourphases toitsagents andanalysts.” Theprojectcouldcost$350mil-
lion more and take six years to complete, the auditors said. “We found that while Sentinel
hasdeliveredsomeimprovements to the FBI’s casemanagement sys- tem, it has not delivered much of what it originally intended,” the report said. “FBI agents and ana- lysts do not have the planned ex- panded capabilities to search the FBI’s case files. Nor can they use Sentinel tomanage evidence.” OnSept. 16,FBI technologyoffi-
cialshad briefed the auditors, tell- ing them how the bureau had mended its ways, throwing out approaches that hadn’t worked and instituting new ways to get themissionaccomplished. But the auditors did not sound
impressed. Itmay be too late, the inspector general said, to keep re- fining Sentinel. “Regardlessof thenewdevelop-
ment approach, it is important to note that Sentinel’s technical re-
quirements are now 6 years old, and there have been significant advances in technology and changes totheFBI’sworkprocess- esduring that time.” The report said the FBI “needs
to carefully reassess whether there are new, less costly ways of achieving the functionality de- scribed in Sentinel’s original re- quirements.” In themeantime, the IGrecom-
mended that the FBI focus on parts of the new systemthatmost directly affect its agents and ana- lysts and to “reinstitute and ex- pand several reporting mecha- nisms intended tomeasure Senti- nel’s ongoingprogress.” In a brief statement attached to
the IG report, the FBI said it con- curredwiththe IG’s recommenda- tions and “has already takensteps to implement them.” But later on Wednesday its re-
sponsewasmore aggressive. In an additional statement, FBI
Associate Deputy Director Thom- as J.Harrington said the auditors’ complaints “are all resolved” and knocked the inspector general for continuing “to rely on outdated cost estimates thatdonot apply to the currentFBIplan. “In the future,” the statement
said, “the FBI requests that the OIG use these auditing standards inits reviewof theSentinelproject and not rely on ‘interim’ reports that do not accurately reflect the status of theproject.” But Sen. Patrick J. Leahy
(D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called the IG’s find- ings “disheartening.” “These stumbles continue to be
alarming,” Leahy said in a state- ment. “I have used the Judiciary Committee’s oversight authority for years to press the FBI to work aggressively to fix theseproblems, and I will continue to do so until this expensive and important pro- gramisworking as it shouldbe.”
steinj@washpost.com
6
soda fountains, swing dancing, and a whole lot more!
Telling Stories:
TOREADSPYTALK, The Washington Post blog on the
intelligence community, go to
voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk.
Smithsonian American Art Museum Poodle skirts,
Rockwell Family Day
Saturday,October 23, 11:30 a.m. –3:00 p.m. Travel back to Rockwell’sera through craft activities, games, and music— all inspired by artworks from the exhibition. In the Kogod Courtyard. Free.
Exhibition sponsoredby 8th and Fstreets, NW,Washington D.C. •
AmericanArt.si.edu The first 50 families to bring in this ad get afree Rockwell poster.
Norman Rockwell, Children Dancing at a Party (Pardon Me), detail, 1918, Collection of Steven Spielberg
A537 3x10.5
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