Right after the close and contentious June 2009 National Organization for Women Election, Judy Berman wrote an article for Salon.com, titled Did Palin Supporters swing the NOW Election?Some, including Amanda Marcotte, were concerned that Palin supporters had infiltrated NOW. A money trail is beginning to show that this may actually have been the case.
A detailed investigation into aspects of members of the LA chapter of NOW's financial dealings around the time of the 9-vote victory by McCain-Palin supporter Terry O'Neill over Obama supporter Latifa Lyles is revealing payments from Sarah Palin's political action committee to close O'Neill allies around the time of the election.The blog Palingates, with help from several sources, including Alaskan researcher Barb Dwyer, has posted information about Glebe Inc, which ties it to payments from Palin's PAC:
According to Palingates, Palin's PAC paid Mandell over $12,000 for her efforts to swing the election.Shelly Mandell, past LA President of NOW, a Clinton PUMA who had, quite shockingly to some, campaigned for and publicly endorsed Sarah Palin for VP in Carson, CA and Henderson, NV in October 2008. Much was made of this by both Left and Right Wing media and bloggers during the election, proclaiming that NOW leadership was supporting Palin and abandoning Obama.
In regard to the June 2009 NOW election, Shelly Mandell appeared as the ringleader of this embittered Old Guard, intent on wresting power from the “Obama hacks” and putting the Good Old Girls back in the driver’s seat. Our federal election ended in November 4, 2008. But not so, apparently, the virulent hatred that certain NOW PUMAS held for the “Usurper” who had stolen the throne from Hillary. It was alive and dangerous and apparently keen to have at least one election go in its favor.
But hatred strong enough for PUMA Mandell to hire herself out to Conservative, Pro-Life SarahPAC, for real cash money, to help swing this election to an anti-Obama NOW President?
The blog also claims it will be printing more information soon, tying Mandel, past Ms. and MORE Magazine editor (and 2008 McCain campaign communications director) Ellen Lafferty, and Greta van Susteren to SarahPAC, and to the 2009 NOW election coup.
Firedoglake has long been critical of NARAL and some NOW stances - since the 2006 Connecticut U.S. Senate race, or earlier. Not just NOW, but many progressive and moderate environmental and women's rights coalitions and non-profits are periodically endangered with hostile takeover, so as more information comes out on this election of ten months ago, not many are overwhelmed by surprise. As Amanda Marcotte wrote right after the June election:
When will liberals stop letting conservatives guilt trip us into self-destruction? If a bunch of anti-choicers claim to be feminists, that means, "We are trying to infiltrate your organization and movement to make it irrelevant. We're pretending to be your friends to stab you in the back." "Pro-life" is misogyny, and has no place in any feminist organization.
image - DZ
Update - Friday 12:30 p.m: I have been informed that "the post on Palingates you reference makes a claim that SarahPAC paid Mandell, a claim that cannot be proven."
I take that to mean that Ms. Mandell is claiming the information published at Palingates and which is linked to and quoted here, is inaccurate. Progressive Alaska is not vouching for the accuracy of the information published at Palingates on this. Should the Palingates authors or Ms. Mandell wish to further clarify this issue, you are welcome to a guest post at Progressive Alaska.
Update - Sunday 4:15 p.m: Palingates has indeed sought to clarify this issue in a post there titled Shelly Mandell - Did she or did she not receive the $ 12,368 from SarahPAC? - UPDATE! Elaine Lafferty reappears!
I'll be writing more about this after I get some information from friends.
32 comments:
thank you for sharing this on your blog!
Drowning not waving. Man, are you desperate ! Quite funny, really.
"Pro-life" is misogyny, and has no place in any feminist organization"
So, the birth of a human being is misogyny ? Hilarious.
And the irony of a blog that screams "whore" and "slut" at Palin, running a quote about "misogyny" is just too much !
I apologized for using the term "slut." Never been asked to apologize for the other term, though. I wonder why.
"I apologized for using the term "slut."
Using misogyny as a desperate attempt to get traffic is sad beyond belief. That you kept your disgusting "Palin slut" poll up for a whole week shows how sincere your "apology" was.
“However, the real unemployment rate, even by the standards of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is much higher. The U-6 unemployment number, as the real data is called, is at 17.5%, within 0.5% of its all-time high. This figure includes discouraged workers who’ve stopped looking, marginally attached workers, and workers that are forced to work part-time because full-time jobs are not available.”
But in Leftist World, it's news that a "feminist" is upset that George Soros didn't buy the election of someone who wants all women to have abortions.
Phil,
Thanks for posting this.
You seem to attract some very yucky comments...
Thanks for the good info, Phil. I was not aware of what's happening at NOW. The more people know, the better.
I, too, thank you for posting this. It looks as though "stealth candidates" took over NOW, a sickening situation to me. I appreciate your shedding light on the situation.
Thanks Phil ! I didn't realize before now that a candidate who raises more money in an election can often win that election! It's shocking to think that people contributing to a political campaign can actually affect it's outcome. Thank goodness that kind of thing can't happen in Presidential elections - who knows what kind of interest groups, such as trial lawyer firms, would take advantage of such a system.
It's interesting that the article over at firedoglake appears to have been 'removed.'
Any thoughts about that?
SarahPac list the monies as paid to Glebe, Inc a private addressed owned by Shelly Mandell, and from which she made a donation to Hillary Clinton.
That is proof. Documentation is available online via Palingates or SarahPac filings, as is the same information involving information of ownership (not a business building, but residential coding) and the information of the donation.
It is proven to be fact, unless of course, someone is saying that the information of SarahPac and California Real Estate ownership records, and Hillary Clinton donations are incorrect. They would all have to be "incorrect" to say that this money was not paid to Shelly Mandell. What is the likely hood of that vs the likely hood that Ms. Mandell doesn't want it known that she was taking money from Palin's PAC. Which it is proven that she did.
Phil, do you know who pulled the article at firedoglake? Who informed you? Any other specifics you can provide?
The article at Palingates was carefully researched and provided links to all of the sources of information.
What more proof does anyone require - a photo of Mandell being handed the check from SarahPac?
Phil - Why the overreaction by FDL? The information for the $12K consulting fees paid to Glebe Inc at Mandell's Address came from SARAHPAC, not PalinGates. It was accompanied by a screenshot of the SarahPAC reported expenses.
No one alleged anything improper. The reader can draw any conclusion.
So WHY the overreaction on Mandell's part?
Is Glebe Inc a legal Corporation in California?
What was the big deal that caused the threat to FDL when the post itself simply stated info from SarahPAC paid to Mandell's home address to an apparently non-existent CA Corporation????
I haven't a clue as to why they reacted as they did, and turned toward fdl and only there. FDL is becoming very high traffic, is the only thing I can think of.
Well the info on palingates came directly off SARAHPAC. The bots are desperate and sister sarah is spreading alot of money to stifle anything negative about her.
So they pull the post. I sent the whole kit -n- kabottle to CREW and let her and whomever else is involved wiggle out of it..!
I tired of the queen of means BS.
So now it appears as if Lafferty is the Glebe Corporation. (Glebe Inc). Elaine Lafferty also made a contribution to the Hilary Clinton campaign.
She uses Shelly Mandell's home address? Why?
The Glebe Inc is a NV Corporation with a Las Vegas address.
Elaine Lafferty (a "Democrat") received over $50K from the McCain campaign.
And yet .. the $12K from SarahPAC went to Sarah Mandell's home address???
Stranger and stranger - but PG is still digging Phil.
I'll be writing more about this Sunday.
Once again, Phil, you have your fingers burned feeding the desperation of Palingates for attention.
If you can't vouch for the accuracy of what they post then why are you giving their material credence?
There is an underlying absurdity in the involvement of such European bloggers in American affairs. At the very least, the content at Palingates and their screencap sensationalism is an embarrassment which has bitten back at Alaska bloggers on several occasions already this year.
anon @ 11:37,
I have no idea what you are talking about. Are you saying that the Palingates post is inaccurate? Could you be specific about what you are alleging?
Essentially, you are claiming something has happened without backing up your claim.
What happened with the post re the LA NOW election and $$$ from SarahPAC and ramifications about how SarahPAC disburses funds is becoming detailed, and your allegation here is - to say the least - way beyond sketchy.
My fingers are fine, BTW.
Please put some meat on the plate before you again accuse me of helping those pesky furreners.
Interesting that news that LA NOW might have been infiltrated/taken over by Palinites has so many with their undies in a bunch. Looks like you really riled up the anthill! It certainly raises the question of why women formerly known as Democratic women would work to advance Palin or even identify with Palin. There is no such thing as a Conservative Feminist. Palin is not a Feminist. She's a Christian Dominionist hoping to bring the endtimes in her lifetime. It is stunning and extremely creepy to me that what might be a group of influential Hillary PUMAs hate Obama so much they would back Palin to try to interfere with him carrying out his agenda, It's an agenda that doesn't seem that much different than the one Mrs. Clinton would be advancing if she had been elected. The defensive reaction and lashing out at Palingates by the Anonymouses suggests there's something going on that some people might like to not be known. Keep digging Phil and Palingates. If there's nothing to this then the ones involved will have no problem correcting the story.
"Essentially, you are claiming something has happened without backing up your claim."
Au contraire, aged one. Palingates has cornered the market in making claims which have, at best, spurious authority.
As someone who has himself railed against the fetishistic interest of some bloggers in all matters Palin, do you not discern a certain lack of logic in your own promotion of a blog which has Palin fetishism embodied in its very name.
You cannot vouch for the accuracy of the posting: game over.
Phil,
thanks a lot for defending Palingates!
Of course Phil Munger cannot take responsibility for what people write on other blogs. Nobody can do that. Only a Palinbot would not be able to understand this simple fact.
Palingates is a thorn in the side of the Palinbots. We have revealed, amongst other things, for example that
- Rebecca Mansour and Joseph Russo, founders of C4P, were secretly paid by SarahPAC
- Bristol Palin received $ 100,000 for the cover story in the tabloid magazine "In Touch Weekly" (the money went straight into an "education fund" for Tripp)
- Todd Palin's racing Iron Dog team is sponsored by Mystic Oil which is owned by the Venezuelan government
- Andrea Friedman, "Family Guy" actress with Down Syndrome, harshly criticized Sarah Palin - and the most damning criticism was omitted by the New York Times and was only available on Palingates and went from there straight into the MSM (Palingates had about 100,000 page views on this day)
- in 2009, Sarah Palin built her new "chateau" next to do her old house in Wasilla, and Palingates presented exclusive aerial pictures of the building site, taking by contacts in Alaska - the first pictures of this building site shown in public
- Kristan Cole authorized an illegal Christmas Pillage of the old Matanuska Maid in December 2007 BEFORE the company inventory was officially auctioned - and we published the email of Kristan Cole proving this fact, which was never seen before in public. Apart from that, we published several other new facts about "Dairygate"
- Sarah Palin's Legal Defense Fund, the "Alaska Fund Trust" is just a slush fund for the family, and that no reasons for the withdrawal of money need to be presented! In addition, we drew attention to the fact that Kristan Cole's first report of the Alaska Fund Trust is now almost one year overdue - and nobody seems to care.
- Sarah Palin has received highly suspicious donations from oil & gas explorers from Giddings in Texas, which coincide with a $ 193 Mio "donation" of the State of Alaska to 15 unnamed oil and gas exploring companies (by law, the names of these companies have to be kept secret...)
I have probably forgotten a lot of things, but that should be enough for the moment ;-)
As a PG-er myself, I'd like to invite anyone to come over to PalinGates and read the O'Neill story, Parts I and II - peruse the screenshots (particularly the ones that show disbursements taken from SarahPAC's legally required disbursement report), the screen shots of monies paid to Elaine Lafferty and Shelly Mandell, and the fact that Elaine Lafferty used Shelly Mandell's home address to make a donation to Hilary Clinton in her own name (???) And yet, even while on the McCain payroll, two $6K disbursements for "consulting/expenses" were paid to the Glebe Inc - located in Las Vegas, NV, and mailed again to Shelly Mandell's home address. Glebe Financial Inc has Elaine Lafferty listed as Pres/Sec/Treas/Director. The information is available at the Secretary of State, Nevada Entity Details.
Form your own opinions...read the details. Ask your own questions.
In other words...follow the money to see why a supposed Democrat would follow Palin? Perhaps the $53K paid as "consulting" fees?
We are waiting for Ms. Lafferty or Ms. Mandell to respond. But all we here are ...
***crickets***
from 11:37:
"the involvement of such European bloggers in American affairs."
Remember the world is flat, with no tubes. Only 'exceptional' americans
have opinions.
Hows that view from the garage.
We tend to ignore rhetoric like this. We all have opinions but we do base them on information we have SOURCED, not on someone attacking us or telling us what is true or not.
It is important that when Mrs Palin is "brought to justice", it be done legally, in a court of law, with evidence and a jury. It will involve some form of money manipulation and it will be tied up in a big red bow.
The gossip and innuendos will not finish this up. The courts will finish her - and her massive rape of the Alaskan resources. But it must be done right - and not with gossip.
Still hearing crickets from Mandell and Lafferty.....
For anyone concerned about "European" bloggers involvement in American affairs....How do you feel about Rupert Murdoch and his involvement in American Politics? Patrick, Kathleen, and Regina at Palin Gates do not scare me with what they uncover and write about on their blog. Rupert Murdoch scares the hell out of me, and should scare the hell out of any U.S. citizen. Maybe anon @ 11:37 should be as concerned about that.
Thanks for staying on this story, Phil.
I read Palingates' research and documentation...it's thorough and amazing. Great detectives over there.
Well, the view from the Palingates' garage resembles a continual re-run of the next instalment of "War Games": the puerile conviction that with a few clicks of a computer mouse you alone can access all the secrets of the known universe... absent, of course, of essential context, and with interpretation subject to the fallibilities of your personal prejudices and predilections, eh Patrick?
Those Palingates' icebergs? All made of marshmallow, buddy.
European bloggers, 11:37? What's wrong with Europeans?
Don't you believe Monsieur Sarkozy is entitled to have an opinion about Sarah Palin after his long telephone conversation with her?
And you're overlooking Antipodean bloggers ....
PHIL, I stopped reading the comments on your blog a long time ago when they started filling up with so much hate rubbish that one had to pick through. At first I wondered why you let people ruin your blog that way, then I just stopped reading your blog altogether.
I could hardly believe my eyes just now when I saw that you are now 'approving' comments.
It's your choice, of course, but if your readership number hasn't changed, then your readership definitely has.
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