Democrat hack creates front group
Bob Lowry of The Huntsville Times wrote “Consultant wants state to consider local firms for jobs”:
Jyles Machen, a Huntsville consultant and political action committee organizer who is retired from NASA, said he is forming the Alabama Works Coalition to support legislation to ban no-bid contracts in state government.
Jyles Machen heads a shady PAC named “Real Democrat PAC, The” (TRD PAC) – note how the acronym helps hide the name of the PAC. Machen is a Democrat hack – even worse, he has no respect for elections. Machen is one of the scum who tried to “hijack” the State Board of Education Republican primary in June 2008 – the SOS website used to report that his PAC pumped $100,000 into the Troy Smithwick puppet campaign (against incumbent Stephanie Bell). Machen’s Secretary of State reports seem to have been scrubbed since I first looked at this last year (which is apparently legal – Machen reported the contribution but Smithwick didn’t report getting it – also apparently legal). Fellow Democrat hack Steve Raby also pumped $100,000 into the attempted hijacking (Tennessee Valley PAC).
Here’s the story from Brett Blackledge of The Birmingham News “Money given to Republicans by AEA-funded PACs unprecedented, GOP officials say”:
“Traditionally, the party does not get involved in our primaries, but this is a unique situation where the Democratic Party and the AEA are fully funding candidates to run as Republicans,” GOP Chairman Mike Hubbard said…
“We encourage all Republican voters to not allow the Democrats to hijack our primary, specifically in the election for the state board of education, which, based on the levels of corruption that have been exposed, is the last place Democrats need to be in control”
BTW the Democrat-controlled State House Joint Contract Review Committee filed suit against Governor Riley and Paragon:
A judge recently dismissed a suit filed by the committee against Riley, Newton and Paragon Source. The judge said the committee had no standing and that it suffered no harm.
You may have heard the Alabama Works Coalition ads on WVNN – now you know it’s a Democrat ‘de-moralization’ trick.
Thanks for connecting the dots. I knew his name sounded familiar.
“Scum” and “hacks” – you really are objective, huh, LeTarde? But what else could one expect from an Auburn engineer?
This is a blog, not a newspaper report. These are opinions.
What is LeTarde?
CS, you might want to dedicate a little more mental horsepower to your comments. The post above was not authored by an Auburn engineer.
Wow – Reactionary – when did you become an Auburn engineer?
Somebody help me out here. Where did the $100,000 go? I see the $100,000 from “The Real Democrat PAC” to the Smithwick Campaign, shortly before the primary. I would have expected the $100,000 to show up on the Smithwick’s termination report. At least Smithwick bothered to do one. If Smithwick returned it and never deposited it, it should show up on the “The Real Democrat” annual report. I can’t find it.
Mike Ball – I asked the SOS office about TRD PAC showing $100,000 to Smithwick and Smithwick not showing it on his reports. The SOS reply was that the law doesn’t require (or allow) them to check the reports for accuracy or completeness. If somebody (like a newspaper) investigated and complained, then the TRD PAC or Smithwick campaigns can amend their reports. No harm, no foul, no penalty. I was shocked because I was under the impression that accurate detailed reports were the ‘law’.
If it’s really bad, then the Attorney General is supposed to get involved, but we haven’t seen any action there because I guess that no ‘laws’ were broken. It’s not illegal for Democrats to run a ‘false-flag’ candidate in a primary – although it is certainly unethical in my opinion.
TRD PAC’s online reports now say “see attached” – the attachment is of course
not online.
If a newspaper wanted to get a prize for investigative reporting, this would be a good story. The headline could be “Democrats subvert election”. I’ve wondered why ALGOP didn’t look into it themselves.
I’m sure that all the candidates who make an effort to file detailed reports will be interested to know that they don’t really have to do that. Note – I’m not a lawyer and that’s not legal advice; it’s an observation. For example, IIRC the AEA report says $3 million in, $3 million out.
Transparency is nothing without completeness, accuracy, and accountability.
I just mailed my annual report a couple of days ago. It kinda’ makes me feel like an idiot, having spent 3 hours trying to find a 34-cent math error.
I think I’ve found the $100,000. The contribution to the Smithwick campaign, dated 5/28/2008, listed on “The Real Democrat” PAC’s amended 10 day report for the 6-3-2008 election is the money that Smithwick mis-reported on his 10-day report as from the Tennessee Valley PAC, dated 5/13/2008. Not only was the source of the funds wrong, but Smithwick reported recieving the contribution before the date the TRD PAC reports as making the contribution.
Of course Smithwick certainly would not want to report recieving a contribution from “The Real Democrat” PAC prior to his Republican primary election. Our campaign finance disclosure laws are atrocious.
Shortly after this election, an investigator from the Alabama Attorney General’s office did some work tracking down the $100,000.
I’m glad “The Real Democrat” PAC guy didn’t name his PAC “The Unbelievable Real Democrat” PAC.
I think the acronym is perfect. Is it pronounced “Turd PAC”?