Campaign Finance Reports – KWS Edition
End of year campaign finance reports were due by January 20, 2012, and of course, KWS filed hers late. It makes for some interesting reading.
It seems that a number of individuals and law firms with an interest in the captive insurance industry like KWS enough to give her money. Now mind you, captive insurance does nothing for the consumer. It isn’t to benefit Delaware consumers; captive insurance is insurance for corporations. It isn’t to benefit our state, and, despite her claims to the contrary, the captive bureau does not fill the state’s coffers. So why does KWS push the captive bureau so hard? Because it makes her donors (lawyers and law firms who work in captive insurance) more money. And in turn, they kick-back money to her campaign. Here are some examples:
Fitzgibbons & Company of Scottsdale AZ, donated $250 (company’s website)
Stephen Schwab, a lawyer from Chicago, who works for DLA Piper, gave $1200 (company website)
DLA Piper PAC gave $1200
Robert Holt Myers, Jr. of Bethesda, MD, gave $1200. He’s an attorney with Morris Manning & Martin, which has a practice in the captive insurance industry (company website) Myers appears to play both sides of the political fence, too.
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLC, of Dallas, another law firm with an active practice in the insurance and reinsurance industry, donated $1000 (company website)
She also received a $1200 donation from the insurance commissioner of Louisiana, who happens to be a republican. Sort of fits in with her hiring a republican to run her campaign. Ooops. My bad. Italo Carrieri-Russo, the former president of the UD College Republicans, changed his voter registration to Democrat days before being introduced as her campaign manager. Speaking of ICR, he was paid $1500 for his partial month’s work.
Also noteworthy is that one Nicolas O. Biasstto, who has been rumored to be KWS’s paramour, not only gave her a maximum donation of $1200, but it appears that he also made a $132 in-kind contribution. I’ll leave it up to the election lawyers to determine if he violated the campaign donation limits.
Another person who’s being paid for campaign work is Joe Conner, Jr. You all know Joe. He posts on here sometimes, using his own name. He’s been on KWS’s payroll since April. My guess is that he earns his keep by trolling around our blog and bashing anyone who dares question what KWS does in office.
My biggest question surrounds a interest-free loan from the Estate of Daniel F. Harkin III &
Rolling Rock Road, in the amount of $10,000. This loan was made to KWS’s campaign account about a month after she won election. What’s interesting, and questionable, about this loan is that KWS is also executor of the Harkin estate. So she basically lent herself money from the estate. From Wikipedia:
Executor (female form: sing. = executrix, pl. = executrices) is also a legal term referring to a person named by a maker of a will, or nominated by the testator, to carry out the directions of the will. Typically, the executor is the person responsible for offering the will for probate, although it is not absolutely required that he or she do so. The executor’s duties also include the disbursement of property to the beneficiaries as designated in the will, obtaining information about any other potential heirs, collecting and arranging for payment of debts of the estate and approving or disapproving creditors’ claims. An executor also makes sure estate taxes are calculated, necessary forms are filed and tax payments made, and in all ways assists the attorney for the estate. Also the executor makes all donations as left in bequests to charitable and other organizations as directed in the will. In most circumstances the executor is the representative of the estate for all purposes, and has the ability to sue or be sued on behalf of the estate. The executor also holds legal title to the estate property, but may not use that property for the executor’s own benefit unless expressly permitted by the terms of the will.
I wonder if Mr. Hawkin’s will stated that KWS could loan herself funds to further her political career. Again, I’ll leave this one to the lawyers.
So, 60% of her donations have come from out-of-state, many from people or law firms connected to the captive insurance industry, and a possibly illegal loan that she has never paid back, even though she took the loan in 2008.
Tags: Campaign Finance, Captive Insurance, captive insurance companies, Insurance Commissioner, KWS
Yeah, and Conner also posts oft-times, not using his real name. He gets paid for that?
Thinking of setting up my own ‘Troll for Hire’ practice…
El S – I’m only surmising that’s what he gets paid for by KWS. I don’t know if he’s been gainfully employed since his troubles a few years ago.
In 2008, on her 8-day General report, she had $16.5K in loans listed (including almost $10K from Farley Printing?)
The Year End report from 2008 seems to be missing.
The Year End Report from 2009 shows $29.3k in loans, including the loan from the estate.
The Year End Report from 2010 shows $29.3K in loans, with $17.7 made in payments. Here she pays off James Hudson, Farley Printing and about $7K in loans from KWS to her campaign.
The Year End Report for 2011 shows $11.9K in loans, with $1550.00 paid to KWS for her own loans to herself.
Showing that the loan made from the Estate is the largest one still out there and the one that hasn’t had a single payment made to satisfy it. Which isn’t to say that there is anything illegal in that. But it looks a little sleazy when you pay yourself before you make funds entrusted to you by someone else whole. That’s probably just me though.
Good evening MJ and El Som, for a couple of guys who post under assumed names you seem to delight in outing or attempting to out others.
El Som we are in fact acquainted and I would have thought you would behave differently. MJ I would not know you from a rock at the inlet so I have no expectations. I have noted with interest how many different ways you have been able to refer to my “troubles”. Lets be clear that the things that happened in my life beginning on August 13, 2006 and culminating on May 16, 2007 were not troubles they were crimes. They were 2 serious drunken driving crashes which fortunately for the most part only injured me seriously. Also included was a substantial chapter 7 bankruptcy, the loss of my business my home and all of my money topped of with a really stupid financial crime. I was an am responsible for all of the above. I never denied anything and entered guilty pleas across the board. As to these things being referenced I made peace with the transparency of the internet long ago. Its all out there and will continue to be. No need for veiled references. As an aside the old Dana Garret blog post is the closest to being accurate. I had a choice on the morning of May 17, 2007, give up or start over. I was inclined to choose the former but with the help of some great friends and medical professional I began to start over. Even the 22 month 10 days and 11 hours I spent as Commissioner Danberg’s Guest were better than the hell in which i put myself. At this writing I have had my professional license back for 6 months and I am executive Director of a small social service non profit which operates out of a homeless shelter in West Center City Wilmington. Now I will give you what have been waiting for. What do I do for Insurance Commissioner Stewart? I hate to disappoint but the fanciest word I can put on it is “data base management” a more accurate term wound be “clerical work”. I am in no way whatsoever an adviser. I have known the Commissioner over 35 years since we were both Young Democrats in Wilmington. Things are better now but when I first got out I was a couple steps above homeless. Karen was kind enough to find some work for me on weekends. I still do it and will as long as she wants me around because she was there to help me when I needed it and I have always been loyal to my friends.
As to you two if you want to know anything further grow a pair and ask:) I have had five near death experiences, broken close to 60 bones and have been rightly publicly humiliated, do you honestly think what you say or do is going to substantially affect me:)?
Joe
jpconnorjr@gmail,com
Joe – no one was outing you. You’ve posted here under jpconnorjr numerous times, so if anyone outed anyone, you did it to yourself.
And since you bring up Dana’s blog post, here’s a link for all to see – http://delawarewatch.blogspot.com/2007/05/joe-connor-lobbyist-chairperson.html.
But this isn’t about you, Joe, no matter how much you’d like it to be. This is about questionable loans to KWS’s campaign committee, and her reliance on out-of-state money, money that’s coming from the very industry she is supposed to be regulating, to fund her campaign.
Thank you for your prompt response.
Have a great evening:)
So, no response to the fact that KWS’s campaign is being bankrolled by the insurance industry?
Of course not. And she used the same thing against Gene Reed 4 years ago.
Not only did she use the same thing against Gene Reed in 2008, she ended up raising a fair bit of her own funds that year from industry partisans, including from folk who ended up working for her.
It probably seems like Deja Vu to point out that the people she is relying upon to fund her campaign are most certainly not interested in the protection of Delaware consumers of insurance products. Which isn’t to say that we shouldn’t keep reminding people about that. Most of us on this blog found Reed’s source of funding enough to dismiss his candidacy.
Looks like Dan Harkins’ executor is actually John Cartier:
http://www.nccde.org/will/Detail/default.aspx?number=146678
John’s got some ‘splainin’ to do. Executor lending money? To a political campaign?
Most of the money JP Connor got from KWS’s campaign fund was for cleaning up her house. Being that she’s a hoarder (they should put her on the reality show by the same name), that can’t have been easy if he was even able to complete the job. But using campaign money for that is definitely a no-no. Am I right or am I right?
She puts the ticks in executrix.
Well, Anontoo, is she’s a hoarder, she probably had campaign materials spread all over her house. If the work involved getting all the campaign stuff into a single location, there might be justification for the payments. Just sayin’.
Anontoo is likely one of the permanently unhinged who think she should be impeached for her out-of-date campaign pictures. One of these days one of these guys will actually show up with some proof and wouldn’t that be fun?
Cass, JP’s work won’t last. Give it a few months and go over to her house to see for yourself. That’ll be all the proof you need.
801 West 20th Street in Wilmington if you want to see hoarding. Talk to DOI staffers about what JP was doing just before he got paid.
I rest my case.
Don’t bother with the sanctimony. You know she’s a crook.
The sanctimony isn’t especially exciting sport when even her most vociferous detractors can never produce proof. Even though they’ve had years and years and years to get it.
Make no mistake — I definitely want someone running that office who won’t be so easily led astray by the industry that the office is supposed to regulate. But you people aren’t helping with your feverish accusations.
And I’ll repeat (because we haven’t for awhile) — if you have good proof of the kind of malfeasance that you constantly accuse her of, you can submit that proof to any DL editor and it will be published here. Full.Stop.
Look for it in their homes and in out of state law firms. That’s where they moved it after the CRI report came out in April 2010 that was followed by legislative hearings conveniently fixed by her mentor whose name you know. There was frantic running around and carrying of boxes out of the DOI immediately after the report was published. Nothing was ever left around again after that, but what they’re doing is still obvious even though a lot of it merely starts in the office and is finalized off premises.
This is the point, anontoo — if you know of this stuff and can put your fingers on it, then do it and produce it. No one here is chasing your conspiracy theories.
Unless, of course, you can produce any real shred of evidence.
Look for what in their homes? What supposedly transpired?
Do you have access to her personal finances? Can it be shown that she’s buying things her salary wouldn’t pay for? Are the trips she has taken been paid for by her office, or did some sponsoring organization pay for her to attend?
If you want to find evidence of anything, start there. Let us know if you find anything.