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- “I drink your milkshake, Democrats.
SLLLLLLURRRRRRRRP … I drink it up!”
The Democratic Party of Orange County is running around this weekend with its hair on fire. No, NOT because some knuckledragging jackanapes hung a noose outside the OC Labor Federation office – that’s just a day in the life for us fighters for justice.
And no, not because they’re busy trying to calibrate the precise degree of disapproval appropriate for Santa Ana’s hotheaded Mayor Pro-Tem’s calling some greedy-ass Jewish developer Hitler.
The reason for the hair being on fire is the FBI’s arrest of mega-treasurer Kinde Durkee – teeasurer for everyone from Dianne Feinstein to Jose Solorio – on suspicion of “mail fraud.”
Well … what’s “mail fraud” anyway? Turns out that’s a very vague phrase used only in the US, covering ANY kind of fraud that at some point uses the mail system – other countries would just say “fraud.” We know that Kinde’s firm was not involved in sending out mailers to the public, so she didn’t commit THAT kind of mail fraud. Seeing as how we’ve already got politicians clamoring about all the money she’s ripped off from them, it looks like she committed some kind of EMBEZZLEMENT. Which at some point involved the mail. (ALLEGEDLY of course.)
Who are these politician victims? Well, yesterday we heard genial half-Democrat State Senator Lou Correa lamenting that his loss of “hundreds of thousands” in campaign money to Kinde’s scams was “like a punch straight to the gut.” Wait a second – what’s Lou running for anyway that he needs hundreds of thousands in campaign money for? Isn’t he safely in his Senate seat for three more years – until December of 2014 – and then termed out? If he plans on continuing as a career politician after that point, I’ve no doubt the Chamber of Commerce and AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) will be happy to pony up, given his corporatist voting record.
Today Jose Solorio joins the wailing chorus with a Spike Lee-inflected statement: “I’ve been robbed!” Again, I could have sworn Jose is termed out, and was thinking of next running to take Lou’s place in 2014 – probably why his voting record has been looking more and more like Lou’s. And again, I think thankful insurance companies and the prison guard union will have no problem refilling Jose’s coffers by that point; although as I warned him in Harry Truman’s words, “When faced with the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will choose the real Republican every time.”
And Dianne Feinstein? I hope she lost millions, I’d rather Kinde have it than her. Then maybe a real Democrat would have a chance of defeating our Strom Thurmond some time this century.
Some DPOC players moan to me that this “hurts the image of the Party.” Come on – anybody with a brain knows it wasn’t our fault, we were the ones who got ripped off. All those slack-jawed cretins commenting “typical Democrat crook” on the Register’s website were not exactly going to vote for us anyway. It’s true that we do sometimes get spoiled in this county when it seems like only Republicans can be crooks and Democrats are born genetically incapable of corruption, but of course that’s not true. Apparently.
Also we should be glad this happened this year – an off year. At this point in 2012, only the most pinched-faced misanthrope will still be muttering, “Ugh. Democrats. Kinde Durkee.” This is the best time to get this problem out of the way and recover from it, and find someone trustworthy to work with instead. I’m glad to hear that of the folks running to take Jose’s place, Michele Martinez is using the worthy David L. Gould,and Julio Perez is using The Kaufman Legal Group. Me, I always recommend my pal from Derail-the-Sale Lysa Pisarski Ray – even though she’s a Republican she’s honest and competent!
Are there any more answers to the question in my title that I’m missing?
Tuesday afternoon update from Talking Points Memo:
FBI: Treasurer Used Campaign Funds Like Personal Piggy Bank.
We just got a hold of the FBI complaint against Kinde Durkee, the California accountant who has been a campaign treasurer for hundreds of Democratic campaigns. The feds charged her late last week with mail fraud for allegedly taking campaign funds from accounts she controlled and using them to pay personal and business expenses as well as cover for shortfalls in the accounts of other campaigns.
The victim in this case is alleged to be the campaign of state Assemblyman Joe Solorio, from whose accounts Durkee allegedly misappropriated more than $600,000, some of which ended up in the campaign accounts of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA). (There is no suggestion in the complaint that the the Sanchez campaign knew of these deposits.)
But the key takeaway from the FBI complaint may be that Durkee admitted, according to the feds, that she has been “misappropriating her clients’ money for years.” So who knows how many other victims there and the amounts of money involved.
Here’s a copy of the complaint.
By the way, this isn’t the first time Durkee has come under scrutiny for shady practices. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on a bogus “California for Obama” campaign that she was running back in 2007:
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton told the Chronicle at the time the effort was entirely unauthorized, and the campaign issued a harsh cease-and-desist-warning to Emmett Cash III, the former movie mogul who worked with Durkee on the San Bernardino-based campaign…
The most serious impact will probably be this: if everyone loses, say, 20% of what they believed that they had in accounts, Democratic fundraising will be about to get really messy. Everyone will want to refill their coffers ASAP — and will be focusing on pretty much the same donors, at the same time. So this is a gut shot to the whole local party, not just to those who used Durkee’s services, because it will make everyone compete — even more fervently than usual — for the same donor bucks. If what is alleged is true, your Republican bookkeeping friend could hardly have done a better job of damaging the Democratic party.
In the short term, there’s another impact I haven’t heard discussed: my understanding is that, in cases like this, accounts get frozen. (How could it be otherwise? The alternative is a “run on the bank.”) Unless Durkee & Assocs. has enough money to cover all of the funds supposedly in its managed accounts — in which event this would seem to be a particularly poorly executed alleged criminal enterprise — someone has to decide which victims gets how much of what’s left. How quickly will that happen? Not as quickly, I’ll bet, as many of those campaigns and PACs would prefer. Maybe not quickly at all.
Interests declared: I’m a member of the DPOC E-Board, which used Durkee’s services and for which I do not speak; friends with various candidates, consultants, and causes that have used Durkee & Associates; and when my band records music it is under the name “Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.” (No, that last one is not strictly true.)
Thanks, Mr. Diamond. That was the kind of input I was looking for.
My pleasure, Mr. Nelson!
I was pretty grossed out by this whole thing, namely how much emphasis is put on campaign cash instead of governing. I was even more disgusted by Correa’s response, I thought it was petty, selfish, unprofessional and poorly written.
Solorio’s response while not as dramatic, was pretty self serving and defensive as well.
I have not seen Sanchez issue a statement, but clearly she is in a leauge above these two. Perhaps they should be listening instead of talking.
And FWIW-It’ was’nt thier money!
It’s Lysa Pisarski Ray 😉 And David Gould is also a good man and good treasurer as well.
I got it Lysa, right before you corrected me! 🙂 Shout-outs to any other good campaign treasurers? I know Karen Hinks, but she hasn’t returned my call yet so I didn’t mention her.
I can whole heartedly personally endorse both Lysa’s competence and her integrity.
Thanks Geoff but I cannot take them all. 😉
Here is a list of Ca Treasurers from the CAPTA
http://www.californiapoliticaltreasurers.org/members.html
Lysa–
Durkee is on the list. Yiikes.
Someone finally figured out the Democrats were disorganized and therefore easy targets. Shocking! Someone give Kinde a big cigar! She protected them from an even bigger crook probably. Now they can all get their act together for the coming year.
You should ask DPOC Chair Frank Barbaro what he thinks about the whole matter since Kinde Durkee is listed as Treasurer of his “Orange County Victory Fund.”
I would presume that he is unhappy about it, for multiple legitimate reasons.
The FBI is now reporting that Mr. Solorio had almost $700,000 stolen from his campaign. Those of you that are always howling about the “bought” votes for Republicans should take a close look at why a minor player like Solorio would have that much bank at this time and the promises he had to make to get it.
At first I thought that you must be joking, but, nope, there it is:
Jose Solorio is not your average Democratic legislator, Geoff — yet I find myself feeling sympathy for him. That is one big chunk of change. What might she have done to Feinstein and Sanchez? Or maybe she just chose Solorio because he wouldn’t need it until at least 2014.
Geoff, if you read much of my writing here at all, you know that I frequently howl about the “bought” votes of Correa and Solorio – probably more than I do those of the opposing party (which is where I would expect corporate-friendly votes.)
Geoff Willis wrote:
> The FBI is now reporting that Mr. Solorio had almost $700,000
> stolen from his campaign. Those of you that are always howling
> about the “bought” votes for Republicans should take a close look
> at why a minor player like Solorio would have that much bank at
> this time and the promises he had to make to get it.
When I fill out my absentee ballot, I practice “instant campaign finance reform” by not voting for any candidates running in partisan races who have a “D” or an “R” listed as their party affiliation.
In those races where I have no other options, I deliberately blacken the boxes of all candidates running to ensure my vote is “spoiled.” It happens to be my way of politely saying “screw you.”
Now that California has adopted that crappy “top two” voting system, I gather I’ll be using my black felt tip pen with increased frequency when I fill out my ballot in next year’s general election.
Geoff and Greg, touched on the real travesty here: Why does a termed out assembly man have that kind of dough lying around. And why wasn’t he watching it more closely.
This is disgusting and really, Democrats and Republicans alike should be looking at how we let this happen.
kenlaysnotdead wrote:
> Geoff and Greg, touched on the real travesty here: Why does a
> termed out assembly man have that kind of dough lying around.
Because Democratic State Assemblyman Jose Solorio probably wants to run for another public office.
Let’s play a game, shall we? If you were Solorio, what seat could you buy yourself into with $677,181?
Board of Supervisors? State Senate?
State Senate — but not until 2014. The district that Lou Correa is now to be caretaking until then.
Greg Diamond wrote:
> State Senate — but not until 2014. The district that Lou
> Correa is now to be caretaking until then.
That was my suspicion, too.
Politicians usually move up the food chain, not down.
One of the D&A Committes was “Correa for Attorney General.” I’ll bet that there was not much to steal from that one.
It is called cooking the books for clients. Bottom line Jose us a victim of a terribe crime
It looks like Dan C. got the Solorio memo:
I quote: “If anything, all the Dems who used Durkee are victims here.”
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2011/09/kinde_durkee_democrat_treasure.php#Comments
What the fuck?? Is the LOC so blinded by allegience and so eager to follow what the Barbaro’s that they automatically, defend, when they should be questioning?
I sure hope that Dan is getting greased (paid) by someone, because otherwise, he’s just a Tea Party guy in a blue suit.
Let’s hear it for orginal thinking here at the OJ.
And, to be clear, I think Solorio, Correa, Krom Suhkee and Agran are as greedy as it comes. THEY ARE WAY MORE CONCERNED WITH MONEY THAN GOVERNING.
I don’t know whether you’ve ever had occasion to seek a committee treasurer. There’s nothing sinister about it. The laws are somewhat Byzantine and you really want someone with expertise in that spot. Durkee & Assocs. had a good reputation; choosing them was not unreasonable at all. (I think that I did it, in fact, when setting up my first campaign account here in OC, because they came highly recommended by credible people.) This is like hiring the equivalent of a bank and accountant — there’s only so much due diligence one should be reasonably expected to do. Do you go to your bank and withdraw all of your money regularly just to make sure than you can?
I’m happy to slam people who deserve it, but I don’t see why any candidate would “deserve it” here, nor why running for office and needing a place to process and track one’s donations reflects greed.
Mr. Diamond, I think you are either missing the point or choosing not to acknowledge it – our decrepit, archaic campaign finance laws allows legislators to build enormous war chests. These war chests are a corrupting source of power that create both the appearance and the reality of malfeasance. There is no rational reason why a local elected official should have a war chest of almost $700,000 – and the answer “that’s what it takes today” is the kind of circular logic that creates the false impression that there is no solution for the problem.
It is tragic that this troubled woman broke the law. It is unfortunate that these elected officials had money stolen from them. I think that it is stunning to see the amount of money that pours into these local campaigns creating a cesspool of impropriety.
Geoff Willis wrote:
> It is tragic that this troubled woman broke the law. It is unfortunate
> that these elected officials had money stolen from them.
Kinde Durkee is being called a thief because she allegedly stole money politicians got from wealthy businessmen.
If she had stolen money from taxpayers and given it to wealthy businessmen, she’d be called a politician.
Duane – Robbery is robbery. She still 3/4 of a million dollars from someone…..take the politician out of the equation.
Lysa Ray wrote:
> Duane – Robbery is robbery. She still 3/4 of a million
> dollars from someone…..take the politician out of the
> equation.
Hey, I’m just poking fun over the fact what we call “crime” is determined by the amount of political and economic power various groups of people wield in society.
I mean, Durkee’s a small-time crook compared to the Democrats and Republicans robbing us blind on behalf of the wealthy businessmen that bankroll their campaigns.
I find it amusing that politicians are crying “foul” because somebody like her allegedly took too many cookies out of their jars. I guess it takes a thief to know one.
Duane – I get what you are sayin’ and agree we are taxed (robbed) to death but at the very least we know we are being taxed to death. We don’t agree to it however we do know about it. What if your accountant or CPA stole from you?
Lysa Ray writes:
> Duane – I get what you are sayin’ and agree we are taxed
> (robbed) to death but at the very least we know we are
> being taxed to death. We don’t agree to it however we do
> know about it.
I personally don’t have a problem with paying taxes as long as:
1. The burden of bearing the cost of state expenditures isn’t squarely placed on the backs of the working and middle-classes through highly regressive taxation.
2. The money goes for socially-useful things like parks, education, affordable housing, and mass transit instead of corporate welfare, prison construction, and war.
> What if your accountant or CPA stole from you?
I’m not condoning the things that Durkee allegedly did. I’m just pointing out that in the world of thieves, she’s a two-bit player. All she did was take a few extra cookies out of the jars of politicians. Heck, some people steal all the jars.
So the politicians cry “foul” over this? The way I look at it, It’s like Jeffrey Skilling calling the cops and complaining that somebody stole $20 out of his wallet after he and the late Ken Lay looted Enron of millions of dollars.
I know campaign accounts aren’t to be used by politicians to personally enrich themselves. But the politicians do enrich themselves through the ties and contacts they establish as lawmakers–supposedly after they’ve left public office.
But they do this first by enriching the wealthy businessmen who bankroll their campaigns. The only piggy bank they have at their disposal is taxpayer money. So we get robbed. Politics is all about who gets what, when and how.
I have a mixed response to that.
(1) I favor public financing — if it’s still constitutional, and (after the Supreme Court gets fixed) even if it isn’t.
(2) War chest can indeed create the appearance of malfeasance and sometimes its reality as well — though that’s hardly assured.
(3) There IS a “rational reason” for local officials to have huge war chests today — scaring off potential competitors. That’s because our system fosters the need for it. There IS a solution to the problem, though: public financing.
This is a classic “don’t hate the players, hate the game” situation — this is what the game pretty much requires. However, it’s also fair to notice that some players play the game in a hateful way — as with Dems who suck up to obnoxious private interests — and it’s fair to hate them too.
Generally, though, I don’t think it makes sense to say that politics is so dirty that clean people shouldn’t get involved with it — that only assures a “dirtyocracy.” Clean people should get involved and stay as clean as they can — building those unfortunately very useful campaign war chests out of clean contributions. Are we agreed?
Geoff the spending cap for a primary senate election is over 700k……that is if the candidate chooses this option so they can have text on the sample ballots. The General is 1.3 Million I think – I am being lazy and dont want to event attempt to look at the damn FPPC site, to try to navigate it and find the exact numbers, but I am very close. My point is – Our great state set the amount needed to run…I believe primarily due to self funders.
Lysa Ray I agree cooking the books is a crime.
I think public financing is the only real answer to this.
Both parties have electeds with large banks of money in safe seats, which can be used for a future office or to help other candidates but within limits set by campaign finance laws.
The Republicans would have us beleive that less regulation and oversite would help, I suppose that Ms Durkee would agree with that. But without the FPPC the FBI would likely have not gotten involved and this could have continued a few more years until all the accounts were empty.
Blue – First I am a Republican 😉 Second I disagree that MORE regulation (and public financing) will solve anything. Bad people are everywhere and will still be bad people no matter what the law is at the time…..they will find a way around it, I believe in immediate reporting, or weekly/monthly campaign reporting. Candidates need to be able to raise $$ and have their own supporters. Case being 2 of the same party running for same seat. The more regulations that have been placed (some very worthy and for sure job security for me as a campaign treasurer) have not solved the dishonest person problem. They will always be there and find ways to get around the law.
Okay, I think you’re not quite getting what Bluedog’s saying. He’s not saying that with publicly financed elections there’d never be any crooks like (allegedly) Kinde Durkee. He’s saying that there’s something wrong with assembly candidates – whose races might not be coming up in years – needing to have a million bucks in their treasuries to be viable. And that’s why we should have publicly financed elections.
Don’t worry I’m sure we’ll still need campaign treasurers for something!
Vern Nelson wrote:
> Don’t worry I’m sure we’ll still need campaign treasurers for
> something!
Mopping the floors?
Only if in prison….
LOL I’m not worried Vern……I have many clients with their 2012 & 2014 warchests building. It sounds almost as if you are blaming Jose for having that much money so it is ok for Dukee to take it (allegely-blah!) I know you coul not be saying that because that would be silly! 😉 He has every right to raise now and most do as well with redistricting there will be some tough bloodbath races that will be very expensive. Besides that money was in his 2010 account – not 2014.
Vern you and I have had that discussion before on the Public Financing issue. First off where is the money coming from? CA has none (we could take from the unutiized Tobacco Tax that sits untouched) 😉 Second it is not fair IMHO that a peace and freedom candidate get the same amount of $$ and a Rep or Dem. It is a nice idea in theory, but doesnt make logical sense to me.
What’s your understanding of how it worked in Arizona?
That’s how it should work — and the SCOTUS decision to the contrary was horrific judicial activism.
Having Public financing available would give candidates the option to use it as an alternative to the current system, it would be unconstitutional to force candidates to use it.
Public financing would have to be limited to candidates who would have to have perhaps got pledges of support from some realistic perhaps 1-10% % of the voters who could vote for them and the amount could vary based on the position being sought. Candidates should also be allowed to raise a limited amount of funds from private donors.
Some proposed Public Financing involves using funds voluntarily provided by taxpayers and other private funding sources in addition to or in place of taxpayer Dollars
I agree that some of the rules that are currently in place seem to be counterproductive. Too may rules make it more difficult to follow them and may in some cases encourage bad behaviors.
No rules or laws will ever replace personal honestly.
And yes candidates need to have funds available to run I have no problem with them having accounts open and money in them.
Lysa Ray, you might as well be selling bad mortgages:
“It’s OK Mr. Lay, just take the loan, don’t worry about repaying it, by the time that (ballon) payment comes due, you’ll be on to another place”.
There has always been something slippery about these treasurers, anyone who ever met one headed to wash up pretty quickly.
Ken I take high offence to what you have said here. I AM SLIPPERY? You are very uninformed and do not know me one bit apparently….which is a ok with me…let’s keep it that way! I am not selling anything here oh misguided one…..a crime is a crime period. No matter who it is committed against, whether you like the peron or not…..it is still a crime. I do not even know what you are talking about bad mortgages, taking out a loan, balloon payments etc, etc…you have pulled that out of the air.
Don’t worry — the actual Democrats posting here don’t object to your being a Committee Treasurer. Being a Republican, on the other hand … well, no one’s perfect!
lol
It is my hot headed Italian temper…..but anyone who insinuates that I am not ethical really pisses me off.
Lysa Ray – she ain’t no Kinde Durkee!
Vern you can call me lots of things….been called them for sure – but unethical or to even imply it and you better be wearing ear plugs and a cup. 😉
Vern Nelson wrote:
> Well … what’s “mail fraud” anyway? Turns out that’s a very vague
> phrase used only in the US, covering ANY kind of fraud that at some
> point uses the mail system – other countries would just say “fraud.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation would have no jurisdiction to pursue a criminal case against Kinde Durkee if it wasn’t for the fact she sent campaign finance reports to Sacramento using the U.S. Postal Service
If she had instead sent them up North using a private delivery company like Federal Express or United Parcel Service, the matter most likely would have been under the jurisdiction of the California State Attorney General.
Technically, Durkee could still be prosecuted under state law. There is nothing stopping the State Attorney General from building a criminal case against Durkee since what she allegedly did violated California codes.
Duane-from what I read the FPPC turned her into the US Attorney General. Dunno if you know but she has been fined about $200k over the past few years by the FPPC and San Diego Ethics for reporting incorrrectly. Mail Fraud is a charge that covers a whole plethora of things and is what they initially charge before the real charges kick down. I do believe you are right though, the State can also charge her as well.
Lysa Ray wrote:
> Duane-from what I read the FPPC turned her into the US Attorney
> General. Dunno if you know but she has been fined about $200k
> over the past few years by the FPPC and San Diego Ethics for
> reporting incorrrectly.
If this is true, then the reason why the Fair Political Practices Commission might have contacted the U.S. Attorney General is probably because they suspected Durkee defrauded federal candidates.
Given that the Federal Election Commission is an entity of the U.S. government, that would also give the Federal Bureau of Investigation jurisdiction to open a criminal case into this matter.
They would have more resources available at their disposal to conduct a thorough investigation given the fact the FPPC has pretty much been gutted of resources due to state budget cuts.
> Mail Fraud is a charge that covers a whole plethora of things and
> is what they initially charge before the real charges kick down.
I’ve been around long enough to realize the little things are usually what bring down people in politics. Its easier to go after someone for something very small than something very big.
> I do believe you are right though, the State can also charge her as
> well.
And the State Attorney General may decide not to charge her if they feel the penalties Durkee receives for being convicted of these alleged crimes under federal statutes are just as severe or more so than what she’d get under California codes.
Yes I believe you you are right – Diane Feinsten’s Account is involved – I believe I read one transfer was from Solrio’s bank account to her account to cover costs which to me indicate she had already taken $$ out of Feinsteins account.
I think this will unravel, and be very big. I see new legislation (GAH) coming out of this as well. Just what we need another law because 1 person did a bad, bad thing.
EWWW!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/09/loretta-sanchez-kinde-durkee-campaign-fraud_n_956001.html
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/09/kinde_durkee_democratic_party.php
It gets worse for Democrats and Durkee – read above links
Well, when all the Democrats who’ve been swindled by Kinde come to their donors hat in hand, I hope priority is given to Loretta, who has a much better voting record than Feinstein, Correa or Solorio.
Dunno if they will be even able to recollect the money…..there needs to be a ruling both from the FPPC and FEC. It is goint to get much worse Vern…..this I know in my gut.
This lady’s done more for the state republican party than all party leaders combined.
The GOP should send her a trophy and pay for a make over for her future jail cell.
oh the biggest pain of the losses haven’t even begun yet. The funds belonged to restrict public benefit corporations. Those funds are not taxed, unless, they are used for non-permitted purposes.
These campaign funds are going to owe the IRS big time.