Hey remember when Mitch McConnell was a real stickler for cabinet appointees to have their paperwork finished before any hearings? Yeah neither does he apparently.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate plans to rush forward this week with confirmation hearings for many of Donald Trump’s nominees for cabinet and other key executive positions. Though many of the picks have not yet completed the customarily required ethics clearances and background checks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has shown no willingness to delay.

But back in 2009, McConnell took the exact opposite view. A letter to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), posted on Twitter by Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington co-founder and former Obama administration ethics adviser Norm Eisen on Sunday, shows he demanded that “financial disclosures must be complete” before any confirmation hearings be scheduled.

In his letter, McConnell wrote that his party’s duty to “conduct the appropriate review” of presidential nominations, “consistent with the long standing and best practices of committees, regardless of which party is in the majority,” was one it took seriously. “These best practices serve the Senate well,” he added, “and we will insist on their fair and consistent application.” The then-Senate Minority Leader called the financial disclosure process and other ethical steps essential “to fairly review a nominee’s record and to make an informed decision prior to a vote.”

Yep, that ole Mitch McConnell is a by the book kind of guy.

Right up until it inconveniences a president from his party that is.

Bernie Sanders' wife explains that there will be no financial disclosure. "Why bother?"

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

Sen. Bernie Sanders has pushed hard for transparency on U.S. trade and campaign finance, but has been far less aggressive in disclosing his own personal finances. 

Now his wife and campaign confidante, Jane O'Meara Sanders, is defending the senator's decision not to file a candidate personal finance disclosure and talking about the purchase of a new vacation home. 

Sanders and his campaign asked the Federal Election Commission for two 45-day extensions, in mid-May and late June, on filing the personal finance disclosures candidates are usually required to produce, and then decided not to file at all once he dropped out of the race and endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Jane Sanders confirmed Thursday. 

"I guess our campaign just said 'why bother'," said the wife of the Vermont independent senator who challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

Jane Sanders went on to explain that there was really no new information about their finances to share anyway.

Speaking of no new financial information Jane also talked about that new house they purchased.

On another financial matter, Jane Sanders said she and her husband paid cash — $575,000 — for the four-bedroom summer house they recently bought in North Hero, Vermont, on the Lake Champlain shore. She said she sold her share of her family's long-time vacation home in Bridgton, Maine, to her brother for $150,000, added some money from her retirement account and from an advance her husband got on a book he is writing to come up with the money to buy the couple's third home. 

They also own property in Burlington, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.

Oh so their share of the family vacation home only came to $150,000. Interesting.

In other, completely unrelated news Sanders is still accepting donations for "Our Revolution" which is scheduled to launch next week: 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will address supporters on Aug. 24 to tout "Our Revolution," a new organization intended to harness the energy of his supporters and help progressive political candidates across the country.

The independent senator also wants to empower “the next generation of progressive leaders by inspiring, recruiting and supporting progressive candidates across the entire spectrum of government – from school board to U.S. Senate.”

Damn, I am getting such a feeling of deja vu here.

A failed campaign, a new house, a PAC dedicated to "changing politics in America." Hmm, where have I seen all of this before?

Bernie Sanders asks for another 45 day extension on filing his personal financial disclosure.

BREAKING: @BernieSanders camp asks for (and gets) another 45-day extension on filing personal financial disclosure pic.twitter.com/QUdjX6Dy8J

— Dave Levinthal (@davelevinthal) June 30, 2016

Okay now I have been willing to accept the idea that Bernie Sanders is for the most part an ethical guy.

However let me just say that this really does not make any sense.

Bernie Sanders (Oh I'm sorry I mean his wife Jane.) has had ample time to get his tax information ready to release to the public, and yet we still have not seen anything besides his 2014 returns, which quite frankly raised some concerns.

And let's not ignore the fact that this 45 day extension takes us past the date of the Democratic Convention, July 25-28, which means that after Sanders concedes and throws his support behind Hillary the press will probably no longer bother to ask him about this anymore.

And doesn't that you just a tad suspicious?

Cause it does me. 

Donald Trump files his financial disclosure with the FEC today. Did he not get the memo that his candidacy is just a joke?

Courtesy of Forbes: 

Donald Trump filed his personal financial disclosure with the Federal Elections Commission today, claiming 2014 income of $362 million dollars. His campaign also said that his net worth “is in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS.” 

“Mr. Trump‟s net worth has increased since the more than one year old financial statement produced at his presidential announcement,” the campaign release states. “Real estate values in New York City, San Francisco, Miami and many other places where he owns property have gone up considerably during this period of time. His debt is a very small percentage of value, and at very low interest rates. As of this date, Mr. Trump‟s net worth is in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS.”

Interestingly enough that ten billion number is one that Forbes disagree with:

Forbes continues to disagree with Trump about his net worth, and has, in fact, chopped the net worth valuation from $4.1 billion to $4 billion since Trump’s remarks about Mexican immigrants during his campaign launch speech caused an end to business deals with NBCUniversal, Univision, Serta Mattresses, and Macy's M +7.91%, as well as PVH PVH -0.81% Corp. and Perfumania, the manufacturers of his menswear line and fragrances, respectively. In the wake of these deals, we have dropped the value of his brand to 0 (previously, it was at $125 million).

Currently the personal financial disclosure form is not yet available on the Federal Elections Commission site, so we do not as of yet have a way of checking to see who is right on the numbers.

If it turns out that Trump is full of shit, I wonder how he will manage to blame the whole thing on Obama?

It should also be noted that currently Trump is leading in the polls among his GOP rivals: 

The Suffolk University/USA Today survey showed Trump getting 17% of the Republican vote, placing him ahead of Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's (R) 14%. 

David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University political research center, attributed Trump's rise to the ongoing controversy over his harsh rhetoric against illegal immigration. 

 "Trump is making daily headlines in advance of the primary season,” Paleologos said. "This has vaulted him to the top of the pack on the backs of conservative voters."

This has really irritated some of  those in the Republican party. In fact one Florida state congressman has outright stated that he believes Trump is nothing more than a plant by the Democratic party.

Well plant or no plant, it looks like Trump is now leading the presidential field. And if he is actually going through with the filing of his financial disclosures with the FEC then it might be time to stop seeing him as a joke for late night comedians, and instead see him as the embodiment of the joke that is now the Republican party.

Filings with the FEC show SarahPAC gave just 10% of its donations to candidates and the lions share went to Palin "consultants". Updated!

"No you can't have any! It's all for me!  For me I say!"

From the AP:

A report filed with the Federal Elections Commission Sunday shows Sarah Palin's political action committee contributed at least $87,500 to candidates she's endorsed in the last few months.

But the financial disclosure filed by SarahPAC also shows Palin spending more than $210,000 on consulting.

Republican candidates receiving money from Palin for the period covering April 1 to June 30 include Terry Branstad, who is running for governor of Iowa, and Joe Miller, who's challenging Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the August Republican primary. Each received $5,000.

Among Palin's other high-profile endorsements: Republican Carly Fiorina, who's running for the U.S. Senate from California, received $2,500. But Nikki Haley, who's running for governor in South Carolina and for whom Palin made a campaign appearance, got no money, according to the filings.
She hasn't ruled out a bid. Aides have maintained that Palin's focus is on this year's elections and on getting conservative candidates elected.

Palin entered the reporting period with over $916,000 on hand. She received more than $865,800 in contributions, and ended the period with over $1 million on hand, according to the filings.

So in three months Palin has spent $210,000 in "consultant fees?"  Color me skeptical but I wonder if that is not simply a slick way to launder money that they are actually paying out to people they don't want talking to the press? Or certain bloggers that we know?

If she were actually spending that incredible amount of money for consulting, and still making such incredibly ignorant and arrogant statements via Twitter and Facebook, then clearly SOMEBODY is not getting their money's worth.  Or else they are simply too impulsive to accept the advice. 

Still I would like to have a look at the actual report.

Update: Here is the report. (H/T to ella)

Update 2: SarahPAC received 529 donations during this period, but only ONE from an Alaskan! 

I think believe pretty much tells you all you need to know about Sarah Palin's support up here, don'tcha think?

Celtic Diva has the goods on Sarah's less than truthful Financial Disclosure form.

First we have Part One.

Sarah Palin filed her final POFD (Public Officer Financial Disclosure) on time according to APOC (Alaska Public Offices Commission) rules.

However, Palin has proven herself to be selective as to which rules she chooses to follow and how completely she follows them.

For example, we've seen nothing "disclosed" nor have we heard anything about Palin's AK Fund Trust (for which her website is still collecting money) since the summer revelation that Investigator Daniel found Palin cannot spend the Fund Trust without probably violating a pesky Statute or two. While the Personnel Board is a separate issue from APOC, it is still important to note that the Board IS NOT following the Executive Branch Ethics Act. How do we know?

Part Two is right here.

One of the questions that I keep getting asked is "How come the other Alaska bloggers are not pursuing babygate?" Or "Why don't YOU talk more about the still pending ethics charges against Palin?"

My answer is that each of the Alaska bloggers have their own speciality. Each of us have strengths and weaknesses, when it comes to addressing certain issues. I may be covering one aspect of Sarah's lies or Alaska issues, while Phil Munger, or AKM, or Shannyn Moore are covering others. That is why the blogrolls are so important.

Linda (Celtic Diva) is amazing when it comes to sorting through complex legal forms. She has worked for the federal government and knows how to see through the legal gobbledygook to find the important information contained within. And she has done an amazing job in these two posts.
If you are fascinated with the sheer depth of Palin's obfuscation then you definitely need to head on over to the Blue Oasis and see what Linda has uncovered. It is jaw dropping.

AKMuckraker has brought this to the attention of the Huffington Post readers.

Sarah Palin releases her financial disclosure forms. Get out your calculators kids!

So today Sarah Palin FINALLY released her financial disclosures from Jan. 1 to July 26, the day that she officially became the "Quitter in Chief".

(You can read them for yourself in pdf form here)

It was pretty interesting.

I learned that she is the owner of a marketing business called PIE SPY, LLC. (I have NO idea what the name means and I refuse to allow my deviant mind to think about it too long.)

(P.S. Wait! I found out that the description of this business is as follows: "Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities". What? Sarah did NOTHING for the elderly while she was Governor, why would she suddenly start a business to help them? Can anybody say "Tax Shelter"?)

For debts that she owes to Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness Sarah actually says on the form that the costs are "to fight false allegations while Governor". Can you believe she has to deny her guilt even in a financial form? (I wonder if this also counts the money she paid to Van Flein to send threatening letters to Shannyn and myself, and the time Van Flein spent talking to a certain right wing website in an attempt smear my name?)

Palin also lists $3,750.00 in checks sent to her and Todd personally which she claims that she has not cashed and will be sending back to the individuals who sent them. (Oh you KNOW that has to hurt! Palin does not give up money easily. Perhaps that is why she has not sent them back yet.)

But the VERY interesting number is the $1.25 million that she received from Harper Collins as a retainer for her book deal. At first I was stunned that the amount was so small, but one of my blogger buddies pointed out that this is just her RETAINER, not her ADVANCE. In other words this money was just to keep her from jumping to another publishing company. She would not get the REAL money until she had resigned as Governor so that no pesky financial disclosures would have to be made about the amount. Tricky.

And this is pretty much confirmed by, you guessed it, Meg Staplemouth: "The Governor has complied with Alaska disclosure law by her filing yesterday. Now, as a private citizen, her business dealings, including her publishing agreement, are confidential." In other words "F**K OFF!" (God I love it when Meg talks like that!)

Well gang that is all the time that I can spend digging through this moose crap for today. But hey if you find anything interesting that I missed, please share it in the comments section. The title links to the ADN story about the report so you can go there and see what they are coming up with as well.

Have fun!