We Need a Death Penalty for Corporations

Case in point, Wells Fargo:

Some employees in a Wells Fargo unit that handles business banking improperly altered information on documents related to corporate customers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The behavior again raises questions about Wells Fargo’s risk-management practices and controls. The bank has been sanctioned in recent months by federal regulators for problems in these areas and as a result can’t grow its balance sheet.

The employees in Wells Fargo’s so-called wholesale unit, which is separate from its retail bank, added or altered information without customers’ knowledge, according to the people familiar with the matter. The information added varied from social security numbers to addresses to dates of birth for people associated with business-banking clients, the people said.

………

The behavior took place in 2017 and early 2018 as Wells Fargo was trying to meet a deadline to comply with a regulatory consent order related to the bank’s anti-money-laundering controls, the people said. The employees were also working to get documents in order prior to new requirements from another regulator for disclosures related to proof of beneficial ownership of businesses, the people added.

Wells Fargo became aware of the behavior in recent months from employees, the people said. After investigating, the bank discovered the behavior wasn’t an isolated incident, the people added. The bank is still investigating the matter, one of these people said.

………

The altering of information within the business-banking division of Wells Fargo, which serves small firms with annual sales ranging from $5 million to $20 million, comes as the bank is continuing to grapple with the fallout from the sales-practices scandal that erupted in September 2016. That involved bank employees fabricating information to open as many as 3.5 million accounts without customers’ knowledge or authorization.

The phrase, "Rotten to the core," applies here.

If there is a company who is as unequivocally merited its erasure from the universe, it is Wells Fargo.

To paraphrase Pat Boone, Wells Fargo should, "Be displayed publicly and have all of his fingers and toes broken, and then publicly executed," as a warning to other miscreants.

Corrupt Son of a Bitch

Mick Mulvaney, head of the OMB and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, just admitted that he requires a payment from some people to talk to them in an official capacity.

Why hasn't he been frog marched out of his office in handcuffs?

Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives on Tuesday that they should press lawmakers hard to pursue their agenda, and revealed that, as a congressman, he would meet with lobbyists only if they had contributed to his campaign.

“We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” Mr. Mulvaney, a former Republican lawmaker from South Carolina, told 1,300 bankers and lending industry officials at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington. “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”

………

Mr. Mulvaney, who also runs the White House budget office, is a longtime critic of the Obama-era consumer bureau, including while serving in Congress. He was tapped by President Trump in November to temporarily run the bureau, in part because of his promise to sharply curtail it.

………

Asked about the comments, John Czwartacki, a spokesman for Mr. Mulvaney, said: “He was making the point that hearing from people back home is vital to our democratic process and the most important thing our representatives can do. It’s more important than lobbyists and it’s more important than money.”

No, he was describing how he extorted donations from lobbyists.

Seriously, even by the standards of the Trump administration, this is brazenly corrupt.

We Cannot Miss You if You Just Won't Leave

Hillary Clinton is going to, "Headline A Major DNC Fundraiser."

If she has given her last hurrah, why is she still trying to accumulate political capital?

If she isn't still considering running in 2020, she wants to play kingmaker.

Make it stop.

Please, just make it stop.

Data Point of the Day

Top 20 all-time recipients of hedge fund money:

1. Barack Obama
2. Hillary Clinton
3. Chuck Schumer
9. Kirsten Gillibrand
16. Cory Booker#NeverBooker #NeverGillibrand "Hedge-Fund Ownership" pic.twitter.com/wPqQcalrCG

— Rob (@philosophrob) April 8, 2018

Well, that explains all the bankers who were jailed when Obama was President.

It also gives the lie to the myth to the myth of the Obama small donor juggernaut during his Presidential campaign.

Tweet of the Day

One of the saddest things about this whole Russiagate frenzy to me is that there are bound to be some babies in liberal strongholds stuck with the first name Mueller 👶

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) March 30, 2018

I do remember a decade ago, when "Fitzmas" was coming, and Karl Rove was supposed to be frog marched out of the White House in Handcuffs after Patrick Fitzgerald indicted him.

Didn't happen.

Play it safe expecting parents, name your kid, "Moon Unit."

H/t Naked Capitalism.

The Process Is Simple, Choose a Rich and Stupid Candidate, Get Him to Make Huge Media Buys, and Profit

I think that I have divined a method to the madness at the DCCC and the DNC.

They push candidates that have nothing to recommend them but money (see Cisneros, Gil) then they boost these candidates, who, having no clue, run poor campaigns where they overspend on expensive media on the advice of consultants, and those consultants get a percentage of the media buy, and walk away with their pockets full, win or lose.

It is the Upton Sinclair quote, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it," made manifest.

This explains the latest shenanigans in Minnesota. It's looting by the political consultant class:

Jeff Erdmann of Eagan is a football coach at Rosemount High School who wants to add a term in Congress to his resume.

He hopes to run against first term Republican U.S. Rep. Jason Lewis in Minnesota's 2nd District.

But Erdmann said he faces an obstacle in gaining the DFL Party endorsement in the form of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

………

DCCC officials made it clear money drove their choice to back Craig, he added.

"We didn't talk anything about my background, my success as a teacher, as a coach any of the values that I hold. All they wanted to talk about was where we thought we could get money-wise."

………

In Minnesota's 3rd District in the western suburbs, another wealthy Democrat, Dean Phillips, also won early DCCC backing.

Democrat Adam Jennings is also in the race and hoping for the chance to run against Republican U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen. Jennings said the DCCC wouldn't even speak with him.

"There is kind of an establishment big-money component to all of this, and the more I think about it the more motivated I get to run."

The folks at the DNC and the DCCC hang out with the political consultants, they break bread with them, and in many cases, they marry them, and in a few years, the do a tour as political consultants themselves, and get rich giving bad advice to candidates.

They are deciding this on the basis of what butters their bread best, and not winning elections or getting good people into office.

They are parasites, and you cannot negotiate with a parasite, you can only remove it.

Please Go Away Now

Hillary Clinton, again, and this time, she has managed to piss off the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which spent 2015 and 2016 with its thumb on the scales for her by raising money for her new PAC on the same day as the DNC is doing a fundraising event. (Yes, I know, NY Post, but still………)

I really hope that this is just another attempt to raise money for the various parasites that constitute the Clinton inner circle, because the other alternative, that she is seriously considering running for President again in 2020, is simply too horrible to contemplate:

Just as Democratic donors thought they’d finally put away wallets for Hillary Clinton, she’s coming back to NYC for a fundraiser for her nonprofit — while also creating a party stink by throwing the bash at the exact same time as an event for DNC chairman Tom Perez.

Clinton will be in town on April 30 for her “Onward Together” organization, to support young political leaders.

With great fanfare, Clinton announced in an email to her 2016 supporters that she is launching the Onward Together Leadership Council and that they could become charter members — in return for coughing up at least $10,000.

Seriously, the level of delusion self absorption is stunning, and it is tremendously destructive to both the party and our political discourse.

Make it Stop!!!!!

GUESS WHO’S RAISING BIG $ AGAIN? @HillaryClinton soliciting major donors to give $10k+ to join finance committee of her nonprofit group Onward Together, which will hold a donor mtg in April with her & @GovHowardDean. pic.twitter.com/cXymVcOc0Q

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) March 7, 2018

Apologies to Dr. Seuss and Art Buchwald:

"Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton will you please go now!
The time has come.
The time has come.
The time is now.
Just go.
Go.
Go!
I don't care how.
You can go by foot.
You can go by cow.
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton will you please go now!
You can go on skates.
You can go on skis.
You can go in a hat.
But
Please go.
Please!
I don't care.
You can go
By bike.
You can go
On a Zike-Bike
If you like.
If you like
You can go
In an old blue shoe.
Just go, go, GO!
Please do, do, do, DO!
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton
I don't care how.
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton
Will you please
GO NOW!
You can go on stilts.
You can go by fish.
You can go in a Crunk-Car
If you wish.
If you wish
You may go
By lion's tale.
Or stamp yourself
And go by mail.
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton
Don't you know
The time has come
To go, go, GO!
Get on your way!
Please Tony B.!
You might like going in a Zumble-Zay.
You can go by balloon . . .
Or broomstick.
Or
You can go by camel
In a bureau drawer.
You can go by bumble-boat
. . . or jet.
I don't care how you go.
Just get!
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton!
I don't care how.
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton
Will you please
GO NOW!
I said
GO
And
GO
I meant . . .
The time had come
So . . .
Hillary WENT."

And Now We are at Dueling Memos

Following the Nunes memo, the Schiff memo has been issued in redacted form.

Rather unsurprisingly, it shows that Nunes was a complete tool of the Trump campaign that he is (nominally) investing:

The FBI team investigating the 2016 Trump campaign's contacts with Russians had already opened inquiries into multiple people connected to the campaign when it received a controversial dossier alleging illicit ties between then-candidate Donald Trump and the Kremlin, a Democratic memo released by the House Intelligence Committee revealed Saturday.

The dossier, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, wasn't provided to the FBI's counterintelligence team until mid-September 2016, according to the memo. By then, the counterintelligence investigation into Trump's campaign was seven weeks old. "The FBI had already opened sub-inquiries into ... individuals linked to the Trump campaign," according to the findings of the committee's nine Democrats.

The committee posted the heavily redacted 10-page document Saturday after weeks of wrangling between the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, and Justice Department officials over the contours of classified material he hoped to release.

Much like in Watergate, we are seeing coverups, and much like Watergate, it will be the coverups that can prove Trump and his Evil Minions^™ downfall.

Mixed emotions here, because I do not look forward to President Pence.

Tweet of the Day

I'm actually surprised I haven't been indicted. I'm Russian, I was in the U.S. in 2016 and I published columns critical of both Clinton and Trump w/o registering as a foreign agent.

— Leonid Bershidsky (@Bershidsky) February 17, 2018

Yeah, pretty much.

The Resistance: Grift Edition

Scott Dworkin aggressively raised funds for his anti-Trump "resistance" group, the Democratic Coalition Against Trump, and then he kept most of the money for himself and his friends:

Omar Siddiqui couldn’t make it to an August fundraiser in Beverly Hills for the Democratic Coalition Against Trump. But he ponied up the $2,000 ticket price after the group’s senior adviser, Scott Dworkin, sent him a personal invitation.

Months later, Siddiqui, the Democratic challenger to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), was surprised to discover his money—or three of every four dollars of it—had gone to the coffers of consultants and lawyers the group leaned on to fight a libel suit, rather than pushing back against the president.

When told by The Daily Beast how the group had spent his money, Siddiqui was, charitably speaking, not pleased.

“Being an attorney,” he said, “I intend to investigate this further and look forward to receiving a full explanation about the use of donations.”

The Democratic Coalition, one of the many new progressive-minded organizations to bloom in the age of anti-Trump fervor, brought in nearly half a million dollars last year. Its donors include Siddiqui, a pair of Hollywood television producers, a former Real Housewife of Miami, and a member of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors. The vast majority of its funds, however, have come from people whose names don’t make it into Federal Election Commission disclosures: the small, “unitemized” donors who give $200 or less.

It’s what the group has done with its money—not how much it has brought in—that has raised eyebrows among other operatives.

The Democratic Coalition paid more than half of the money it raised last year to its employees or their consulting firms, according to Federal Election Commission records. Dworkin’s Bulldog Finance Group was the chief beneficiary, drawing more than $130,000 from The Democratic Coalition.

This is what is wrong with the Democratic Party establishment in a nutshell.

The DNC requires candidates that it supports to spend a large proportion of their money on a consultant from their list, and Scott Dworkin is most assuredly on their list, at least until this story came out.

First, we need to end the grifting.

So Not a Surprise

I know that uccess has many fathers, but failure is an orphan, the DNC has taken this to hacktacular levels:

In the immediate aftermath of Doug Jones’ shock victory in the Alabama Senate race, the Democratic National Committee tried to take no small amount of credit. Indeed, it took $1 million worth of credit.

The truth is more complicated.

After Jones defeated Republican and accused pedophile Roy Moore, the DNC said it had quietly spent $1 million constructing a voter-outreach effort for the Democrat, including an extensive campaign of text messages, phone calls, and door-knockers.

Now, faced with documentation that questions the claim, DNC officials say the committee spent only $250,000 of its own money on the race, cash that funded more than two dozen staffers on the ground in the state who, among other things, conducted extensive outreach to African-American voters.

The rest – nearly three-quarters of the total funds originally claimed – was not a direct injection of DNC money but instead cash the DNC raised on behalf of Jones through email solicitations.

Counting that kind of assistance as funds spent is unusual, according to Democrats familiar with campaign fundraising; political groups typically make clear distinctions between the money they raise for a candidate and the money they spend backing a candidate.

Just when I thought that the DNC could not get any lamer.

Stooges, Definitely, Russian? I Don't Know.

At least, there is symmetry.
                  \

It now appears that everyone's favorite group of jack-booted thugs, the National Rifle Association, is being investigated by the FBI for acting as a pass through Russian money to support the Trump campaign.

It's not clear from the story as to whether this is Russian government money, or just money from rich Russians, and separating the two is generally problematic, but here we have a real crime, money laundering, which is a felony:

The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy.

FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA, the sources said.

It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections.

It’s unclear how long the Torshin inquiry has been ongoing, but the news comes as Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s sweeping investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including whether the Kremlin colluded with Trump’s campaign, has been heating up.

All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity because Mueller’s investigation is confidential and mostly involves classified information.
………

The extent to which the FBI has evidence of money flowing from Torshin to the NRA, or of the NRA’s participation in the transfer of funds, could not be learned.

However, the NRA reported spending a record $55 million on the 2016 elections, including $30 million to support Trump – triple what the group devoted to backing Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race. Most of that was money was spent by an arm of the NRA that is not required to disclose its donors.

Even a lower level prosecution might put the NRA's tax exemption at risk, but getting Wayne LaPierre convicted of a felony, which would require him to give up all of his guns, would make my f%$#ing day, big time.

Resisintance, Schmesistance, There's Money to Be Made

What a surprise. The People who are running the so called "Resistance" are taking their vig:

When Donald Trump took office in 2017 many people feared the worst. During his campaign, he promised to build a wall to keep out immigrants, discussed creating religious registries, and was recorded making claims of sexual assault on women. A large group of the American population worried that their rights would diminish during a Trump Presidency.

As a reaction to the fears stirred up by Trump in the White House, the Democratic Party responded with the Resistance. In essence, the Resistance is a combination of activists, groups, Democrat Party leaders, and Democrat-leaning celebrities or media personalities. The purpose of the Resistance has been to organize people against the harshest parts of Donald Trump’s platform. Whether through organized marches and protests, or donning pink hats as a way to promote feminism, there have been many forms of resisting Donald Trump.

While the Resistance might boost morale or inspire some people, it has also become an opportunity for others in the media to make thousands of dollars. Enter Scott Dworkin, an MSNBC contributor, who claims to lead the Resistance in his twitter bio. He has regularly appeared on Joy-Ann Reid’s show, AmJoy. During his appearances, Dworkin has pushed theories of a connection between Donald Trump and the Russian government. He hypes this connection as something that will lead to the impeachment of the President. But that is not where Dworkin’s efforts end; in fact, it’s just the beginning.………

………

During the 2017-2018 election cycle, The Democratic Coalition took in a reported $221,847.62 from individual contributors and spent $209,073.96. A closer look at their expenditures revealed something of interest. The Super PAC made multiple payments of $5,000-10,000 dollars to a firm BULLDOG FINANCE GROUP, for “Consultant-Fundraising.” A quick search of Bulldog Finance Group revealed that its founder was none other than Scott Dworkin himself. In total, Dworkin, who sits on the board of The Democratic Coalition, agreed to pay his consultant firm $79,500.

Furthermore, other expenditures made by the Democratic Coalition had ties to someone sitting on their board, Jarad Geldner, who is listed as the Super PAC’s senior adviser. Geldner also founded FWD Communications, a public relations firm. The Democratic Coalition made multiple payments to Geldner’s firm totaling $18,500.
………

Rather, Dworkin’s Super PAC promotes fear through a repeating cycle of Russian-based propaganda, which garners donations, which pay consultants that generate those stories over and over again, garnering yet more donations. As to what purpose his Super PAC actually serves, it appears to be little more than a Möbius strip of self-serving opportunism. The money sent to this Super PAC would be better spent in other ways to help fight back against a Trump administration. Donors could be sending money to candidates or grassroots organizations, rather than to the whims of Scott Dworkin.

Donate to local campaigns. not the party apparatchiks.

Job one for them is lining their own pockets.

You Run the Most Incompetent Campaign in History, You Change Nothing, and You Want My Money

The same incompetent people are running the same organizations, and are allowed to continue to be paid without anything even vaguely resembling adult supervision, but they are surprised when it proves difficult to convince people to throw good money after bad:

Democrats aim to win back control of Congress and build up their presence in state capitals during next year’s elections, but they begin this ambitious mission with precious little cash to finance it.

The Democratic National Committee had $6.3 million in the bank on Dec. 1, while the Republican National Committee had six times as much, at $40 million, according to documents the parties filed with the Federal Election Commission. In November, the DNC posted its worst fundraising amount for the month in a decade.

The Democratic Party’s political committees dedicated to House and Senate races show more parity with their Republican counterparts, but not enough of an advantage to outweigh the struggles of the DNC. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ended November with $34.2 million in cash, compared with National Republican Campaign Committee’s $42.3 million, fundraising reports show.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a former DNC chairman who hosted a party fundraiser at his home Dec. 14, is among the Democratic stalwarts stepping in to try to reverse the course. “I have heard a lot of donors say they need to take a break,” said Mr. McAuliffe. “The party’s job is to convince them they can’t.”

The national committee’s lackluster fundraising is at odds with a wave of enthusiasm Democrats have experienced across the country: A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found 50% of respondents want Democrats to lead Congress after next year’s elections and 39% said Republicans—a Democratic lead that has widened since an October poll.

Over the last election cycle, the Democratic establishment in Washington DC:

• Systematically eliminated Hillary Clintons's potential opponents in the primaries. (Not just Sanders, but O'Malley, Biden, etc.)
• Studiously ignored reports from the field.
• Strip mined the state and local parties.
• Lost to an orange haired carnival clown who was caught on tape bragging about assaulting women.
• Spent over a BILLION dollars doing all of the above.

People are not donating because they think that the current "Professionals" running the party will just waste the money on stupid sh%$.

Clean house publicly, and send the current lot back home to flip burgers, and the money will return.

Well, That Was Fast

After running a campaign for Virginia Governor in which campaign finance prominently featured, Virginia Governor-elect Ralph Northam is taking corporate money for the inauguration:

After calling for sweeping campaign finance reforms during last year’s Democratic primary, Gov.-elect Ralph Northam is accepting five-figure checks from some of Virginia’s biggest corporate donors to fund his inauguration.

Dominion Energy, the state’s top public service corporation whose bankrolling of Virginia politics has made some lawmakers increasingly uneasy, contributed $50,000 to Northam’s inaugural committee earlier this month, the same amount the company has given to help celebrate the last four incoming governors.

Northam’s committee received an additional $50,000 from the tobacco giant Altria, and took in $25,000 each from Anthem, Capital One, Hunton & Williams and Aetna Life & Casualty, well-known players in the health care, banking, legal and insurance fields.

Combined, the inaugural committee has taken in more than $250,000 from corporate or business donors, according to data on large donations compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project. The committee has reported raising almost $650,000 so far, including a $67,795 transfer from Northam’s PAC and several big checks from Democratic donors.

And they wonder why the electorate is cynical.

This Ain't Political Support, This is Looting

A Little Florid, but On Point

The folks at The Young Turks have come across a memo from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which appears purpose designed to ensure both that small dollar candidates are disadvantaged, and that consultants extract maximum money from the campaign:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is making several demands of candidates preparing for the 2018 House elections, according to an internal memo obtained by TYT. The memo dictates policies on campaign spending and sexual harassment, and outlines requirements for Democratic Party “unity.” An email accompanying the memo gives campaigns until Thursday, December 8, to respond.

The memo was sent by DCCC Executive Director Dan Sena on December 1 to candidates and campaign managers. Sena did not respond to a request for comment, nor did DCCC Communications Director Meredith Kelly.

Although the memo does not mention the highly contentious 2016 presidential primary, it includes a requirement that the campaigns must agree “not to engage in tactics that do harm to our chances of winning a General Election.” The memo does not identify what tactics it is prohibiting.

Candidates also must “hold a unity event with their primary opponents following a primary,” the memo says. What would constitute a “unity event” is also not made explicit.

………

The document also requires that candidates “establish a strong written sexual harassment policy for their campaign and all staff” and “complete an extensive online sexual harassment training, to be offered through the DCCC by a third-party vendor.” Rep. Ruben Kihuen, a freshman Democrat from Nevada, has been called on to resign by current DCCC Chairman Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi after allegations surfaced that he sexually harassed his campaign’s finance director in 2016. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the longest-serving member of the House, announced his “retirement” Tuesday after a slew of harassment allegations.

So, you have to pay THEIR consultant for training, even though there are a slew of non-profits out there that would do this at a minimal cost.

The memo requires that candidates hire “professional staff and consultants who can help execute a winning campaign” and says that the DCCC “will provide staff resumes and a comprehensive list of consultants” to help satisfy this requirement.

The memo mandates that candidates preserve at least 75 percent of all funds they raise for “paid communications”—which is seen as code for T.V. advertising, a method viewed by much of the new generation of Democrats as outmoded, especially for mobilizing young and minority voters who could be critical in 2018.

Again, you have to spend money on their favorite consultants, and dedicate 75% of your campaign funds to TV, which corresponds to about 22% of your campaign funds to consultants who are paid commission on ad buys.

Seriously, don't give to the DCCC, don't give to the DSCC, don't give to the DNC, give directly to campaigns, and when you do, try to ensure that they aren't overspending on overpaid Washington, DC consultants.

Right now, the entire Democratic Party establishment resembles a f%$#ing racket.

They are corrupt and incompetent.

Do not feed the flim flam men.

Well, Good Luck with That

It turns out that refusing to do a postmortem of last year's electoral catastrophe, remaining arm in arm with the incompetent political consultant class, and stacking the process to favor the failed establishment has resulted in the people not wanting to donate to the Democratic National Committee (DNC):

The Democratic National Committee's fundraising woes continued last month, when the party posted its lowest total for the month of October in at least 15 years.

The DNC raised $3.9 million in October -- far short of the $9.2 million raised during the month by the Republican National Committee. 

The RNC has now raised $113.2 million over the 2017 calendar year and has $42.5 million in the bank and no debt. The DNC, meanwhile, has raised $55 million this year. It has $5 million cash on hand and owes $3.2 million in debts.

t was the worst October for Democrats dating back to 2003 -- the first year the national parties were required to file monthly finance reports. The low totals reflect the difficulty the DNC has had raising money since former President Barack Obama left office.

This is not a surprise.

While many donors, particularly the big money donors, don't have a problem with the corporate tool DNC, they do object to a process which preserves the jobs, authority, and privilege of a cadre of party officials who are venal, self-serving, and incompetent.

Well, This Explains a Lot

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has over $25 million in campaign funds, and for 6 months last year, he literally raised no small dollars at all:

At $25 million and counting, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo sits atop the largest tower of campaign contributions of any Democratic politician in America. But this monument to his prodigious fund-raising strength also reveals one of his greatest vulnerabilities, especially if he harbors presidential ambitions.

He has virtually no small donors.

Since the beginning of 2015, Mr. Cuomo has raised over 99 percent of his campaign money from donations larger than $1,000 and nearly 99.9 percent of his funds from donors who gave at least $200, according to an analysis by The New York Times. At one point last year, Mr. Cuomo went six months without reporting a single individual donor who gave less than $200.

“You almost have to try to have that few,” said Michael Whitney, who served as Senator Bernie Sanders’s digital fund-raising manager on his 2016 presidential campaign. He said that if Mr. Cuomo were to run for president and maintain his “comically absent number of small donors,” it could cripple him in an era where both parties, but particularly Democrats, have become reliant on an army of small givers to compete at the national level.

(emphasis mine)

This is f%$#ed up on so many levels, it buggers the mind.

I am so hoping that he loses the primary in 2018, though there are 25 million reasons why this is unlikely.

He the epitome of everything that is wrong with "centrist" Democratic hypocrites.

But of Course

Remember the company Whitefish?

It had only two employees, and then it got a $300 million contract to repair Puerto Rico's electrical grid following the damage from hurricane Maria.

They had ties to the Trump campaign and Interior Secretary Zinke.

Well, one of their first jobs, a high power transmission line, just failed, cutting power coverage from 40% to 18%.

So not a surprise.