Friday, May 22, 2009

Huelskamp picks up more endorsements

I'm running out of headlines that say Sen. Huelskamp has gained yet more endorsements, but it looks like I'll have to get creative as a blast email from the Senator's campaign says more are on the way.

A blast email from the campaign says that Sen. Huelskamp has picked up the endorsements of five Kansas legislators. State Senator Ralph Ostmeyer (R-40) and State Representatives Jim Morrison (R-121), Owen Donahue (R-39), Mario Goico (R-100), and Don Schroeder (R-74) all outlined why they support Sen. Huelskamp for Congress.
"I've served with Tim Huelskamp in the Kansas Legislature for nine years, and I have never seen a more dedicated public servant -- or a more effective conservative leader," said Sen. Ostmeyer.
Endorsements from key legislators this early in the race is quite telling of the strong campaign Sen. Huelskamp is running.

Wasinger used Giuliani fundraiser

Oh how far Rob Wasinger has fallen when wonce he wearned to tell a widdle white wie.

It looks like Steve Kupka, the fellow who hosted a fund raiser for Rob Wasinger in their D.C. lobbyist offices, also used to work for some other Republican candidates. Kupka works for the D.C. lobbying firm of
Husch Blackwell Sanders LLC, who also happen to do work for the California Stem Cell Initiative. If you're like me, you found that to be a little troubling given Wasinger has tried to present himself as "the" conservative candidate in the first district race.

Whitehouseforsale.org has Kupka listed as a "bundler" for Rudy Giuliani's campaign during the 2008 Presidential race. The site defines a "bundler" as someone who uses their influence, either as a private citizen or a lobbyist, to channel money to a candidate. The site is run by Public Citizen, which is Ralph Nader's public watchdog group. Let's just say I'm not a big fan of them or Nader but the info got me curious. However I certainly wasn't going to take it at face value given the source.

A search for "steve kupka, rudy
giuliani" returned another site that listed Kupka as being Giuliani's Nebraska finance chair. That would explain why he was listed as a bundler for Giuliani and yet Whitehouseforsale.org has no information on how much money he actually channeled to him.

Why would Rob feel the need to use a D.C. lobbyist who works for a firm that does work for stem cell research and who on the side, tries to help the most liberal Republican Presidential candidate in history? Didn't Rob try to get Sam Brownback elected as President?

Goodness, what other "conservative" help does Rob have on his team?

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Wasinger paid $92,000 for five months of "work?"

Kansas Meadowlark recently published an article about documents he discovered during a trip to Washington D.C. One of those was a financial disclosure form filed by Rob Wasinger where he shows $92,000 in salary from a Magellan Group LLC in Hays, Kansas.

Magellan Group is registered with the Kansas Secretary of State whose website lists Rob's aunt, Marilyn Wasinger, as the Resident Agent. The site also lists her address as the contact address for the Magellan Group. This is the same home address that Rob used to register to vote in November 2008. It was the first time Rob had voted in Kansas.

What kind of business is Rob's aunt running out of her home that they can afford to pay Rob $92,000 salary? What kind of work is Rob doing to draw so much money in addition to his salary as Sen. Brownback's Presidential campaign manager and Chief of Staff? Maybe Rob did some yard work for his aunt while staying with her and using her address to vote in Kansas for the first time? I don't know if that's a $92,000 job though.

The Magellan Group has no website and there's absolutely no mention of them in the Yellow Pages. What exactly do they do that they're able to pay Rob so well?

And it looks like that $92,000 isn't even for a full years work. The company just registered with the Kansas Secretary of State on August 7th of last year. So it looks like Rob got a cool $92,000 for just under five months of "work."

Was Magellan Group set up as a shell corporation so Rob could skim money off the top somewhere else and pay his bills? After all, what small start up company run out of someone's home can afford to pay an employee $92,000 for five months worth of work? And from what his campaign is putting out, he's not doing much else these days.

Whatever the Magellan Group does or sells I don't think I'm buying. With that kind of salary over five months I doubt I could afford their product.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Wasinger reports $92,000 in income from aunt's company

The Kansas Meadowlark has a post up about financial disclosure statements he's investigating in Washington D.C. One of them is for Rob Wasinger for $92,000 from a Magellan Group LLC in Hays.

Kansas Secretary of State records has the company registered to Marilyn Wasinger, Rob's aunt and is registered at the same address as the contact for his campaign listed with the FEC. Why isn't Rob being open and honest about the three different salaries he's been drawing, from Brownback for President to Chief of Staff and now $92,000 from a shady corporation registered in his aunt's name?

Read the Kansas Meadowlark story for more information. According to that site, the records are only in Washington D.C., so we'll have to wait and see what more they bear.