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Subscribe to RSSSACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Democratic campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee defrauded at least 50 candidates, officeholders and political organizations out of $7 million in a scheme that dates back more than a decade, according to a court filing made Tuesday by federal prosecutors.
The U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento filed the additional charges in federal court, providing the most detailed account to date in a case that has left some Democratic candidates scrambling for campaign cash in an election year.
Such filings typically are a prelude to a plea, but prosecutors would not confirm such a development or offer any further details.
Durkee, who heads Durkee & Associates in Burbank, was arrested in September and charged with suspicion of mail fraud after millions of dollars disappeared from the campaign accounts of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, other Democratic members of Congress and several Democratic state lawmakers.
The filing details a complex shell game in which Durkee shifted campaign money to cover an array of personal and business expenses.
Disneyland bills
In one example, $23,000 taken from Feinstein's account was used to help pay American Express credit card charges from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Amazon.com, Disneyland, Trader Joe's and Turners Outdoorsman.
Other misappropriations from Feinstein's account covered payments for a Long Beach condominium owned by Durkee and to the 401(k) plan for her employees.
The court filing said Durkee had devised a scheme from January 2000 until she was arrested last September "to defraud clients of Durkee & Associates, and to obtain money from them by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises."
It said she had signature control over roughly 700 bank accounts, including those used by political campaigns.
Durkee's attorney, Daniel Nixon, did not return telephone and email messages Tuesday evening.
Durkee was scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon at a hearing that had been set before Tuesday's developments.
Political treasurer Kinde Durkee is accused of stealing money from California campaigns for personal use. Political attorney Bob Bauer joins Chuck to explain the legal issues.
She has been accused of looting the accounts of dozens of Democratic officeholders, candidates and political organizations. Prosecutors also say Durkee filed false information with the Federal Election Commission and the California Secretary of State, which track campaign contributions and expenditures.
Feinstein alone estimated that she may have lost $5 million, but there has been no firm accounting of the losses because the money has been so difficult to track.
The fraud investigation froze the coffers of dozens of Democratic politicians across the state of California during an election year, and left candidates scrambling to raise more money.
In a separate order filed Monday, the U.S. attorney's office and Durkee agreed to a forfeiture auction of her Burbank home, which it says she owns with her husband, John Forgy. The couple owes $671,000 on the house, as well as $17,471 in state tax liens, according to the filing.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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but, but, but Republicans did it too!
Feeling defensive there Tron?
You know what, I'll bite. She's not really a democrat, shes a republican plant and agent saboteur.
There you go.
At some point people will wake up and realize that the common denominator in being a crook is politician and not democrat or republican. Time to throw the all out and start over.
$7 million is small potato's compared to the the almost $16 trillion American's now owe on our debt ....
Poor Bush ....
He'll get the blame for this one too ....
Two Crocodiles were sitting at the side of the swamp near the lake.
The smaller one turned to the bigger one and said, "I can't understand how you can be so much bigger than me. We're the same age; We were the
same size as kids. I just don't get it."
"Well," said the big Croc, "What have you been eating?"
"Politicians, same as you," replied the small Croc.
"Hmm. Well, where do you catch them?"
"Down the other side of the swamp near the parking lot by the Capitol."
"Same here. Hmm. How do you catch them?"
"Well, I crawl up under one of their Lexus cars and wait for one to unlock the car door. Then I jump out, grab them by the leg, shake the @!$%# out of them and eat 'em!"
"Ah!" says the big Crocodile, "I think I see your problem. You're not getting any real nourishment. See, by the time you finish shaking the @!$%# out of a Politician, there's nothing left but an @!$%# and a briefcase."
TexasLaw ....
Be careful ....
You can use that same joke , but with lawyers .... "LOL"
Lol BigBen It could apply to so many haha.
I did like it though ....
I meant no harm TexasLaw ....
Your pretty sharp for looking like such a youngin ....
Haha none taken Big.
Some will like it, some will turn into the Hulk hahah.
Yeah I'm a youngin to some... 24 but feel 70 already.
I'm screwed if I actually make it too 70.
Don't say that ....
It's never too late to get in great shape ....
Joe Weider proved you could make gains well into your 60's ....
65 to be exact ....
Nancy Pelosi told him about rule #3 out of her playbook of covering your trail... Obviously he didn't listen to her.
Big I am trying to do that.
I am working on trying to get into way better shape. Lose weight.
Heart problems and Diabetes run in my family. Alot of the men on my Moms side of the family
Have just dropped from heart attacks. My grandfather passed away in '94 from a HA and my Dad in '96 but his was
Hypertrophic Cardio Arythmia ( Spelling? )
My back is already shot.
I will never give up. It's a hard to to accomplish but I feel once I do, it'll be sweet victory.
You get out what you put in as they say.
Hey I liked your picture ....
Put it back ....
They now have a cure for diabetes ....
It's that stomach reduction surgery ....
Immediate cure ....
On the news yesterday , amazing ....
Check it out ....
Cured of diabetes within hours after surgery ....
Sorry I completely screwed that up haha. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is what I meant.
I have heard about that. Is it that Lap Band Surgery? There are so many differen't things anymore.
I am trying to put that picture up!.
The dang thing says it's uploaded and saved but nothing is appearing.
I hate when things fail to work correctly.
Yea ....
Thickening of the heart ....
If you have it ....
Start consuming about 8 or so ounces of pure lemon juice a day ....
Read up on it ....
Your pictures up .... cool ....
Thanks Big. I'll definitely do some reading about that.
Yeah I finally got it too work, I guess mine only works with "cute" pictures haha.
Always nice to meet some decent people on these comment sections.
Kind of refreshes everything.
Have a good one!.
You too ....
Let's let them get back to discussing people stealing from people ....
Over and out ....
Thanks ....
When you can steal this much without noticing for 10 years, the system is obviously broken. Term limits solves this.
I agree ....
Term limits on steeling ....
texas and bigben -maybe you two should just go and rent a room together. Kidding. Nice to read some lighthearted banter on these pages after all of the vitriol! Breath of fresh air, things have become so nasty.
Wow the headline was "Feds: Democrat defrauded dozens out of $7 million."
What an incredible example of conservative bias. That makes it sound like it was a democratic politician. Only when you read the article do you learn that it *WAS NOT A DEMOCRATIC POLITICIAN*. From the article:
The democratic politicians were the VICTIMS. The guy that DID THE DEFRAUDING worked for a private company. We don't know what his political leanings might be (though I would hazard a guess that he's a republican, considering how badly hurt the democrats were hurt by this).
Come on, MSNBC. If I wanted this kind of conservative bias I would read Fox News.
Lol nice one Candy.
I'm here for the news like all the rest of us.
But my being a friendly person will never stop hahah.
What can I say?
Some of you didn't read the article very well. It's SHE, not HE. Kinde is a woman. And the story never really identifies her political affiliation. But the headline sure did get people to read the story, didn't it.
Good Story...I Love it..!
Crooks stealing from Crooks...
I also don't shed many tears when gang members kill other gang members...
Wake up America! The two party system is a failure and it just exists to take your voting rights away. It makes no difference who gets elected. The system is rigged and the big money people (the crooks who are legitimate), the pols who are whores for the big money donors, and the simple stupid crooks like this guy pervade the system. Get out from in front of the TV and take back your country,
Sure - dems would hire an affiliate republican to run their money... grow up.
Junicon/ ati-trust
Can you imagine a Tea Party activist working undercover , stealing money from Democrats, that is your dream. She is a DEMOCRAT!!!!!!!!.
News not published in MSNBC or Media Matters. Congressman Jefferson from Louisiana will go to prison for 14 years for bravery, after Prince Pelosi defend this delinquent with nails and teeth. CULTURE OF CORRUPTION.
How does this differ form Obama's plan of sharing the wealth? Stealing is stealing.....
A thief is a thief regardless of politics and trying to assign crime to a political group is ridiculous.
Assigning blame to Bush II for his actions isn't random accusations, he did so much wrong to America there is no need to make up more.
TexasLaw.....I hope you have insurance to pay for that lap band surgery! How many people in Texas are uninsured?
You guys should get a room
as i drown in my tears for the poor unfortunate victims of this heinous crime, i am reminded of the pedophile rapists who go to prison and learn what it is like to be "on the other end of the stick". our distinguished collegues getting their money stolen for a change...oops, i almost forgot, it's not really THEIR money, is it?
Republican, Democrat, Independent, they are all the same... This is just more evidence that we (As citizens) need to get big money out of politics... It legal corruption, plain and simple... Millions upon millions of dollars raised every day to put greedy people in a position of power...
For What??? Steal us blind!
....oh, this is too good. A Democrat redistributing the wealth. Taking from a democrat pocket over to their pocket. The irony is soo thick. Now, in order to be fair, if a republican steals from another republican, they can't claim wealth redistribution cause they're against it. So they would be stealing, which is another name for wealth redistribution.
Congrads Terry-Ca, you have the only comment that puts this in prospective. Anytime a politician spends millions of dollars ( in some cases their own money) for a couple hundred thousand salary a year there has to be money coming from somewhere else. And when a person donates millions to a political party he expects a return on his "investment". It doesn't matter what party, they're all a bunch of crooks.
Mike P101....."At some point people will wake up and realize that the common denominator in being a crook is politician and not democrat or republican. Time to throw the all out and start over."
You are so right....however some folks will ALWAYS blame the OTHER party.
To get down to "brass knuckles" about our corrupt politicians and their "select" staff, why doesn't the DOJ and the IRS take to Federal Court the 41 Obama White House staffers and some of their aides, in addition to the HUNDREDS of elected Congressional Representatives and HUNDREDS of government workers for NOT PAYING THEIR BACK IRS TAXES ?
Nah, there are hundreds of folks in the DOJ and IRS who have also FAILED TO PAY THEIR BACK IRS TAXES.
Remember to ask one question when someone asks you for a campaign donation:
Texas Law & BigBen: Do NOT get the lapband surgery....do the gastric bypass. That's the one that helps cure diabetes. I know, I had the GB done in 2000, and it really helped. Many members of my support group had diabetes BEFORE their surgery, and afterwards, they no longer had to take insulin or medications. It does work.....lapband kills and it doesn't help diabetes. Sorry to get off subject here....
I'm trying to figure why she is being arrested when her misappropriations we're just a fractionated percentage with a multitude of .00000000s under what the politicians has and are doing .
@Junicon... don't know if maybe they updated the story since your post, but she was a democrat. Opening line of the article:
"Democratic campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee defrauded at least 50 candidates, officeholders and political organizations out of $7 million..."
Well, the Democrats are famous for spending other peoples Money. This is just more of the same.
I'm just amazed that MSNBC actually reported that her party affiliation was Democrat. Usually, when they report on Repub scandals, REPUBLICAN is mentioned in every other sentence and when reporting on Dem scandals, DEMOCRAT is nowhere to be found in the entire article! How refreshing....
"I couldn't help it," said the scorpion (D). "It's just my nature."
Did some of you people even read the article? It was the Democratic POLITICIANS who were swindled, not the contributors.
Again I restate the same opinion:
Those caught & convicted of the abuse of power or profiting from their position as an elected representative or appointed & those caught financially influencing elections or bribing elected officials illegally
SHALL BE stripped of ALL of their financial resources, personal property, passport & citizenship & DEPORTED as criminals & never allowed to set foot on US soil again......no burial here either !
Want to see political corruption come to an overnight halt...?
THERE is your answer !
Write your US Rep & ask that this be written as a Bill, there is not one single Rep. who could vote against it & survive the following election....
Please attack me for this posting. I know I deserve it.
Liberals can be defrauded of their money because they are liberal with their money. Conservatives cannot be defrauded of their money because they are conservative with their money.
The contributors contributed their money to certain politicians in the hope of getting some type of political benefit even if the only benefit was the politician getting elected so yes when the money was swindled the victims were the contributors and not the politicians.
BigBenAlaska... Shrubya definitely gets MOST of the blame for the debt. Of the 15.4 trillion debt GWB is responsible for ~42% whereas Obama's portion (trying to fix what GWB broke) is ~20%.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/248944-galleryV9-nnhb.jpg
Are all people from Alaska as smart as S. Palin aka "the sharpest GRAND OLE PLUTOCRAT (GOP) tool in the shed"?
Why don't bigbenalaska and TexasLaw just get a room.
Lol well Damn... Why did my joke get collapsed? My first Collapsed comment. Poliltical humor is great though. That's the only thing good about politics is the jokes.
Oh and Rico... I am Insured. Couldn't tell you figures for the rest of Texas. I know many many who are insured, and I know there are those who aren't. That good enough?
Klondiko - I don't mind someone trying to make me mad, nor do I care if they want to turn 2 people being civil with each other into a bad thing ( Aren't there enough people on here acting like yourself? ). But if you have to insult someone and try to make them mad atleast come up with your own. Be original or don't try at all.
WMG-21 -
"Democratic campaign treasurer" means that she was a treasurer for Democratic campaigns.
look people, this is about someone who stole from Democratic campaigns. It is doesn't make it a political matter, but a theft. It happens in all political camps, religous sects, corporations, non-profit organizations and regular households.
IDIOTS for trying to make this a political matter! Stupid for believing!
Clearly the program is mislabelled!
It was not supposed to be "Democratic Re-Election Campaign Contributions". The program was for Continuing Education and the class was supposed to be titled "Post Election Ettiquette".
Notliborcon
I give you an "A" for the best spin of the day. When are you going to accept that this is Obama's economy, and Obama's debt, grown up men. It is funny how parties accept their blames. When a Republican does something wrong , Democrats call for their head,and accept the punishment , but when Democrats does something wrong they say, Republicans did it too. LOL
FYI Diabetes is not "cured" by the various stomach altering surgeries. The surgery helps with weight loss and diet (especially in the weeks following when people stop sucks down a pound of sweets a day), which in turn helps with primarily type 2 diabetes better than medications. Not always ALL types. What is found is that even with bariatric, lapband, etc. that individuals who change their diet do well. Those who change their diet for a short time improve but then return to their crappy diets the improvements go away. It is NOT a "cure" for diabetes.
Diet and exercise over the LONG term without the surgery has been shown highly effective at reducing needs for medications with diabetes (type I & II) as well. But people think it's easier to have surgery that to make a lifestyle change. For some it is.
How did a headline identifying Democrats as being despicable make it on MSNBC? Usually if it's a Democrat they just say "politician" or some other innocuous term... are they getting sick of covering for them?
The title is simply how you intend to read it. It simply points to the fact that the Democratic campaign embezzlement by Kinde Durkee. Unfortunately, we have a bunch of zealous Conservatives playing GOD claiming wealth distribution.... lol. Democrats, Progressives nor Liberals claimed moral nor family value (superiority). I guess it takes one to know one...
It is simply a crooked treasurer stealing from clients...
Oskar... Not spin if it is a FACT based comment. When ANY politician does anything wrong the opposite party always goes for the perpetrator's head. Not a Dem vs Rep thing but rather a political reality.
When are you going to admit that BUSH 2 drove the debt up and, under his watch, almost caused a DEPRESSION?
@Ash Plissken
Are you suggesting that the democratic campaigns in question would allow their funds to be handled by anyone other than a card carrying, party line dragging, dyed in the wool democrat? You can't seriously expect me to believe that this Democratic Campaign Treasurer is a member of the GOP...
way to bury the lead MSNBC....he didn't swindle innocent campaign supporters....he swindled the campaigns themselves....your headline implies wrong-doing on the part of democrats not against them....nice job!
Mad Mikey
Please learn how to read!!! The headline states that Ms. Kinde Durkee defraude dozens and that she was the Democratic campaign treasurer.
And our deficit is rising at 1 million dollars every 21 seconds now ....
So that $7 million is like about 2 1/2 minutes of money added to our deficit ....
And someone we all know ....
Can't even slow it down ....
I know its fun to point out other people's errors, so here's my go:
The actual headline, copy and pasted from the front page of MSNBC says this,
"Feds: Democrat defrauded dozens out of $7M".
I think that IS very misleading....
Not really misleading ....
mikeSanJacinto,
there seems to be a lot of reading comprehension-challenged people here. I was going to point that out, but you beat me to it. Funny how they claim "victim" so readily!
If she was in charge of the Democratic funds, I would not bet against her not being a Democrat.
But regardless of her political leanings as they say, as both are crooks in my opinion and all should be booted from office.
Vote every last career politician out and maybe the USA can save itself from those who feel they deserve your hard earned tax dollars.
It's called a lede - it's supposed to grab your attention. Reading comprehension is supposed to follow...
It was misleading in the sense that her political affiliation had nothing to do with the crime.
I would be like the headline from the Afghanistan killings reading "Democrat kills 16 in deadly rampage"
That dude's politics is irrelevant, don't you think?
Are you MAD, mikey?
oh, oh! a burr in the democrat blanket? Does it hurt to have msn SLANT a story the other way?
I'm with Jerry D...if there in...vote 'em out....every lying cheating self serving whore one of them!
Documents: FBI Spied on Bay Area Muslims
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Can you really deal with that many Democrat politicians and not be a crook?
What do you expect from a group of public education graduates who can not balance a budget let alone create one? For more than ten years this guy taught them how to run (ruin) the country and they just now discovered the missing money. Nice.
And you want to trust these mental giants with your health care. Nice.
And you want to trust these mental giants with your health care. Nice.
Not even the same issue at all, but hey, let's pretend it is.
Did you folks read the story it was a women.
OK.
Guy or Lady - republicans aren't much into details.
She definitely has to be a Democrat, If that is a woman?
Notsosure10: Next time read the article before you spout nonsense. The article clearly states that the democratic politicians were the victims and the person that did the defrauding worked for a private company.
If you have special information as to the guilty person's political leanings by all means share them.
Notsosure, maybe it's you who needs to read the article, she was the Democratic campaign Treasurer.
Sparrow: Just because she's a "Democratic campaign treasurer" doesn't mean she's a Democrat.....that's just a title that she has for the private company she works for, which also, I'm sure, has a "Republican campaign treasurer." There are private companies out there that handle campaign funds....but it doesn't make them a part of a particular party. I know about Kinde because she screwed our Democratic Club out of a mere $1400, but it devastated us. And, we have no way to get it back.
It's her company! DUH!
She's just doing what Democrats do best... spending other people's money.
Obama outspends Republican campaigns by millions
"But Obama, who faces no serious challenger for the Democratic nomination, has
sunk his cash into an expansive brick-and-mortar operation with offices in
nearly every state. His campaign has spent more than $135 million on operations
through February, according to an Associated Press analysis of Federal Election
Commission records. That's about $3 million more than all his GOP challengers
combined."
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-outspends-republican-campaigns-millions-061222896.html
LOL.........lol
Just goes to show just how far you can trust the democrats with their hands in your pockets. However, I'd have been happy if she took all of Feinsteins money and she had lost. She's as bas as Pelosi. Which they're all take a long walk off the short pier in CA, during shark feeding frenzies!
Probably should be looking at Feinstein as the more likely thief.
Darrel..It is endemic of both political parties, not just Democrates.
The article said the swindler had access to over 700 accounts over 11 years. Very sly. She was probably dipping into each one for relatively small amounts until she got caught. The clients are the victims here, dem or republican. I hope they throw the book at her. It was a blatant example of fiduciary breach of trust, no matter which side of the aisle.
Sick. Greed and immorality definitely have no political boundaries.
But the high concentration amongst Democrats is amusing... those with no morals seek people most like themselves.
What the WTF. Mad Mikey and Notsobright apparently don't read well enough to get the sex correct for the alleged perpetrator. Nice work public ed grads.
Wouldn't practice help?
This is not a story of politics. This is a story of an individuals greed. It is perfectly within reason to assume the people/person you hire to deal with money is trustworthy, and therefor not notice missing money, until it's too late.
For those automatically saying Democrats are bad, etc... This is not about policy. People all over get defrauded by accountants.
couldnt have happened to a more deserving person a politician!!!!!!!!!!!!!ms socialist will just steal from someone else the taxpayers!!!!!
The crooks run both parties,,,nothing new here. Any politican is a liar or they would never run for office. That is the nature of the ANIMAL! To me, if someone tells me he is a congressman or senator, I want nothing to do with them from that point on because they are scumbags, in my eyes.
This guy kinky dirt-bag Kinde Durkee is not as good as M.F Global's Jake the snake Jon Scumbag Corzine this a$$-hole only took 7 million?
Ha! amateur.
That's peanuts compared to other king pins like M.F, CEO Jon Scumbag Corzine, Bum-f---k Bernard Madoff, oh ya and Osama's, ahem! Obama's Tit licking Tim G. to Butt-f---ker Bushes Hanky Panky Paulson, and the best for last, Federal chairman Ben FN bean-head Bernanke.
Now those guys are pro's at f---king stealing people's money.
Oh ya and don't forget every scumbag in congress is allowed to do inside trading so this guy is a FN angel compared to most of the people he tried to rip off.
Later.
Ez up on the language a bit , Freemannogod ....
But yes ....
Many still aren't aware of Henry Paulson's influence in the trillions of dollars of bail outs ....
I hate to say it , but he should be in jail ....
Greed and immorality crosses the political spectrum. This has nothing to do with being a democrat or republican. This has to do with a person who defrauded millions of dollars. She's a common thief who backstabbed people who trusted her. Disgraceful.
What I want to know is how come she owed $17,471 in state taxes and she didn't lose her home? Anybody else would have had foreclosure on that property.
Many states don't foreclose on property taxes. They just put a lien on the home
Right Wingers - It's a female, woman, lady, girl !!! And yes, the earth does rotate around the sun. I know it doesn't look that way but take my word for it.
I would think that the DNC would be proud of her, glorifying their mantra of taking other peoples money.
maybe she thought "why should the politicans be the only ones to steal"
It was Bush's fault. He inherited this mess from G.W..
Well the good thing is ....
Someone kept a little money from getting to some politicians .... "LOL"
No way Feinstein and the others didn't know their accounting was out of whack. Sounds like Durkee had a nice little slush fund. This was some very clever accounting, but Durkee's political clients must have known.
When I graduated college with a Pol. Science degree (wish I studied Engineering), I went to work for a Republican consultant in Bakersfield (I'm a fiscal conservative). It was a real eye opener - the guy lacked any ethics. But he was considered the machine in Bakersfield, and all the Republican officeholders and candidates, including members of Congress from that area, answered to him. The guy sent his wife to D.C. to open a lobbying firm and they made millions pushing corporations to their cronies in the House. I worked for this guy for only 2 months before quitting to save my soul.
If you're looking for ethics in politics, good luck.
Why do you think we are $16 trillion in debt?
Is that not an indication of fraud?
He created or saved a 1000 jobs. It's called the Durkee Stimulus Package.
I wonder.
How do politicians feel when their pockets are picked?
You're my hero Durkee! LOL!
Her pic should have been on the article. .... well maybe not.
Her new mug shot , maybe ....
Nope. You don't want to see her picture. Trust me on this one.
So mow Democrats are cheating other Democrats? How appropriate. We the people have been cheated by slimy, selfish Democrats for decades. Now let them eat one another!
Why are they picking on her? Defrauding, in one form or another, is SOP for the political establishment,they consider it a perk.
Trips with shopping and golf in Hawaii can be a bit costly you know ....
Eating out every meal can also be costly.Where is her picture,looks just like a female Democratic politican.
Here is comes the liberals defending the action of their own and blaming republicans. Never calling for their resignation.
LMFAO!!!! Bwaaaaaahahahahaaaaaa
Turners Outdoorsman is a GUN store ohhh the hipocrasy~ maybe the ATF or LAPD gun squad should look into this???
Here comes oBAMAS replacement for timmy geitner!
Durkee has been tutored well under Corzine but none can out do the Man Made Disaster in Chief.
Oh My God, A DEMOCRAT DID THIS? You have to be kidding me. LOL. I love it. How does the Kenyan feel about it. LOL I love it.
HAHA It's funny to see all the political references with these posts. AFTER this election cycle those type of posts will go away, they always do.
EVEN FUNNIER both of the political parties in this country have been dealing the American people one injustice after another.
A shame people don't see that.
Siding with one party over another seems to give a sense of superior righteousness to most. They really carry their political banner as if somehow they truly beleive their party is right.
All that is happening the real problems get lost and remain unsolved in the political banter, deception and lies told by both over financed political machines
Good one!!