CBS News has discovered that members of Congress – including Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick – raise money as part of an effort to fund their campaigns. The program sent a hidden camera crew to Key Largo, where 14 Congressmen were having a weekend fundraiser.
Update: PoliticsPA has learned that people are only able to attend these events, called “fundraisers,” if they pay money.
The populist piece compares the high cost of tickets for event attendees with the plight of regular working people.
Click here if you cannot view the embedded video.
CBS News noted that each member of Congress featured in the piece declined comment, but they spoke to Paul Lindsay of the National Republican Congressional Committee. They asked him to respond to their allegation that the event followed the law and did not violate ethics rules.
“I think,” Lindsay responded, “the public has also seen that President Obama has had many high-level fundraisers throughout the country in cities like New York and Los Angeles.”
He noted that tickets to such events routinely match that of GOP fundraisers.
The report does not feature comment from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which does the exact same thing but evidently has enough sense to avoid hidden cameras. Video surveillance is legal even without the approval of a person being filmed, audio recording is not.
And it wasn’t too rough a segment for Fitzpatrick. Though was listed on the invitation, he is not shown in the act of hobnobbing.
7 Responses
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http://bmw-ark.ru/index.php/statii/stati/entry/the-reason-you-need-to-think-about-connectivity-and-why-you-should-learn-more-on-it
the imbalance of this hit-piece is pervasive
Ha Mike Sloshed? Mike rarely drinks. Now, if you want to talk about sloshed, lets talk about that drunken State Rep. John Galloway. I heard that the Puss N’ Boots bar in his district sales are down 30% since he got his DUI and isn’t drinking (in public) anymore. Also, anyone want to look at Galloway’s campaign finance reports and talk about the charges at Joe Canals in New Jersey?? Either he broke the law by using campaign funds to feed his own addiction, or he really did buy the liquor in NJ for a fundraiser in PA and broke the law by bringing it across state lines…
Mark, you are an idiot. The whole purpose of this article was how ridiculous the news report’s attempt at shocking the public was. Who the hell cares if Fitzpatrick is down in Fl holding fundraisers. Who cares if he is in Zimbabwe holding fundraisers. Fundraising is not illegal.
And who are these big money lobbyists that you seem to know about – besides the fact that there are no names given and lobbying is not illegal and donations are publicly available. Who cares about little things like that. Just write a stupid response because you don’t like Fitzpatrick, throwing around personal attacks.
@ Mark D
You’re an idiot.
Yo gotta love this fraud Fitzpatrick. He’s got a daughter going off on twitter about her drug use qne other things, he has 5 kids at home and can be found sloshed any given night at the local watering hole. Now he’s off at some swanky establishment in Key Largo, Fl making sure the big money lobbyists have all the access they want…..
Am I missing something or is this a scene from Casablanca?