MI Republican Party illegally races 'First Lady' car:subtle mind-control

http://www.moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com/articles/20050504.cfm

In February of 2004, a corporation by the name of CDC entered a car, "First Lady," into trials for the Hershey’s Kisses 300 in Daytona, Florida. As it happened, the stock car did not promote the First Lady, but instead her husband and his running mate. The hood of the car displayed, as the Office of General Counsel informed the Commission, "the name ‘Bush’…directly above a split image of a bald eagle and the American flag." And, "directly below the bald eagle/American flag image is the name 'Cheney'." FEC Matter Under Review ("MUR") 5420, First General Counsel’s Report (Dec. 23, 2004) at 3-4. Evidence of partisan purpose did not end there: "To the left of the bald eagle/American flag are the numbers '04'."

The OGC confirmed its suspicions by inspection of the website maintained by the First Lady’s driver, brother of one of the co-owners, who noted the intention of the team owners to "create a strong grass roots support system of Republican Candidates nationwide starting with the support of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney." Report at 4. And one of the co-owners was the sixth Vice Chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

The ticket fared better than the car. It did not qualify for The Hershey’s, though its three practice runs and qualifying trial were broadcast, live, by the Speed Channel—"a cable television channel that focuses on the world of racing." Report at 4, n. 4.

CDC did not survive. The brothers fell out. One, the driver, sued the other, the co-owner, and the brother-plaintiff kept readers of his website informed of the progress of the dispute, including his decision to provide certain "documents" to "the proper authorities." These "authorities" did not include the FEC, whose General Counsel advised the Commission that "e do not know which 'authorities' is alluding to in his message." Report at 5. One document did turn up, however, in the course of the proceeding: an unsigned letter of intent, from the Michigan Republican Party's "6th Vice Chair," seeming to solicit business investments in First Lady’s aspirations for racing greatness.

What to do? The Office of General Counsel found that a violation likely occurred. This was, it concluded, a case of possible illegal "coordination" between the corporation and the Michigan Republican Party. The coordination rules appeared to have been satisfied: a corporation financed partisan references to what might be called the "boys on the hood," Messrs. Bush and Cheney; those references—Bush-Cheney "04—constituted a "public communication" of "express advocacy"; and there was reason to be believe that an agent of the Michigan Republican Party was "materially involved" in some aspect of the development and distribution of the communication.


what "material information" would have been helpful to the decision to slap the Republican ticket members’ names on the hood of the car.