NOTE: There is an update and correction to this story. Please click through for the details.
Is there trouble coming down the pike for the McCain campaign in the form of questionable campaign contributions? The Democrats experienced their share of woes with now famous bundler Norman Hsu, well known for generating large checks for Democrats from people of, shall we say, extremely modest means. Today we find out more about Harry Sargeant III.
The bundle of $2,300 and $4,600 checks that poured into Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign on March 12 came from an unlikely group of California donors: a mechanic from D&D Auto Repair in Whittier, the manager of Rite Aid Pharmacy No. 5727, the 30-something owners of the Twilight Hookah Lounge in Fullerton.
Harry Sargeant III, a former naval officer and the owner of an oil-trading company that recently inked defense contracts potentially worth more than $1 billion, is the archetype of a modern presidential money man. The law forbids high-level supporters from writing huge checks, but with help from friends in the Middle East and the former chief of the CIA’s bin Laden unit — who now serves as a consultant to his company — Sargeant has raised more than $100,000 for three presidential candidates from a collection of ordinary people, several of whom professed little interest in the outcome of the election.
This comes along at the same time as officials are taking a closer look at Alice Rocchio and her husband who managed to pony up more than $60,000 in donations to McCain and the RNC, while not exactly living the celebrity lifestyle.
Alice Rocchio is an office manager at the New York headquarters of the Hess Corp., drives a 1993 Chevy Cavalier and lives in an apartment in Queens, N.Y., with her husband, Pasquale, an Amtrak foreman.
Despite what appears to be a middle-class lifestyle, the couple has written $61,600 in checks to John McCain’s presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee, most of it within days of McCain’s decision to endorse offshore oil drilling.
It is worth noting that, at least thus far, there is no proof of any wrongdoing here. People are welcome to dump their entire life savings into political donations if they wish, providing they stay within campaign finance law limits. But where there’s smoke, there is often fire, and some of these donors certainly do look like unusual targets for such largess to the GOP. It was a similar set of circumstances which set off alarm bells about Hsu and led to his eventual downfall and the returning of millions of dollars in donations by candidates.
If further investigations reveal some hanky panky, this could come at a very bad time for McCain, who has made campaign finance reform and integrity in the campaign process one of the watchwords of his presidential bid. Stay tuned, readers. This story may be only just beginning.