Money & Votes & the Armenian Issue
Michael recently wrote a post criticizing the contents of a letter concerning events that transpired between Ottoman Muslims and Armenians during WWI written by Matthew Reynolds, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for legislative affairs to Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As Michael so aptly pointed out-
What’s missing in this letter and in all other letters relating to this event some call the ‘Armenian genocide,’ are Turkish Moslem victims. For some reason, Western politicians do not seem to care much about the tremendous loss of life among Turkish Moslems; about how they were butchered, raped, vilified, tortured, drowned, suffocated, beaten or burned to death. This letter is no exception in this regard.
The post suggests that politicians readily overlook the suffering of Ottoman Muslims, and let’s not forget that there were also Ottoman Jews who suffered as much, for money and votes. One commenter, seems to insinuate that Michael’s hypothesis is inaccurate. So why don’t we take a closer look?
The U.S. Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency established in 1975 to administer and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). That statute limits the sources and amounts of the contributions used to finance federal elections, requires public disclosure of campaign finance information and–in tandem with the Primary Matching Payment Act and the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act–provides for the public funding of Presidential elections.
All campaign contributions in excess of $249 made to a candidate running for federal office must be reported and, what’s more, information about such contributions are readily available at the Federal Election Commission’s website. In fact, the website has a wonderful search engine that allows one to see who contributed how much to who, in what city and state the contributor is resident, and their profession. In addition, in the U.S., citizens may form political action committees that raise money as a group and then donate funds to various campaigns.
Some time ago, a friend did a little detailed research to determine how much money runs from the Armenian diaspora to federally elected officials. The results were quite surprising. For the 2006 election cycle, a little research uncovered that Armenian political action committees contributed $202,500 to candidates for U.S. Senate and Congress–that number is for Armenian political action committees only and does not include campaign contributions made by members of the Armenian diaspora individually. Please note, that is the election cycle immediately preceding the big brouhaha raised by the non-binding House Resolution 106, pushed by Armenian lobbies to recognize their genocide claims.
Then, there’s Robert Menendez, a great friend of the Armenian lobby. He alone has received well over $136,000 from individual Armenian contributors and Armenian political action committees.
Note, these numbers are derived from the U.S. Federal Election Commission’s website only. That means that these numbers do not reflect contributions of $249 or less, which means the amount of campaign contributions received by candidates from the Armenian diaspora was greater that what is reflected at the Commission’s site.
As one reviews the information at the Federal Election Commission, what’s striking is that individual Armenians very often contribute to candidates who are not running for office from their district and that many individuals simultaneously contribute to both Republicans and Democrats of varying political ideologies-the latter also being the case for Armenian political action committees. So, it seems, these contributions are not necessarily driven by a political ideology such as the desire to support political conservatives or liberals.
As for Michael’s statement about money and votes, definitely money–the money trail is there for everyone to see. As for votes, well, we all know where Menendez stands and he is the beneficiary of quite a bit of money from the Armenian diaspora.
Further information/confirmation can be had by reviewing the Federal Election Commission’s website, but below is some, and definitely not all, of the information on Armenian political action committees that I was forwarded:
2006 Election Cycle
ARMENIAN AMERICAN PAC (ARMENPAC)
ALLEN, GEORGE
SENATE Republican VA 2,500
ALLEN, THOMAS H
HOUSE Democrat ME 500
ANDREWS, ROBERT E
HOUSE Democrat NJ 3,000
BACA, JOE
HOUSE Democrat CA 500
BASS, CHARLES F.
HOUSE Republican NH 500
BERMAN, HOWARD L
HOUSE Democrat CA 1,000
BRADLEY, JOSEPH E MR III
HOUSE Republican NH 500
BROWN, SHERROD
SENATE Democrat OH 1,500
CANTOR, ERIC
HOUSE Republican VA 3,500
CANTWELL, MARIA
SENATE Democrat WA 1,500
CARDIN, BENJAMIN L
SENATE Democrat MD 2,500
CHAFEE, LINCOLN D
SENATE Republican RI 1,000
CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM
SENATE Democrat NY 1,000
CROWLEY, JOSEPH
HOUSE Democrat NY 1,000
DELAHUNT, WILLIAM D
HOUSE Democrat MA 500
DELAURO, ROSA
HOUSE Democrat CT 1,000
DOGGETT, LLOYD A MR.
HOUSE Democrat TX 500
DURBIN, RICHARD J
SENATE Democrat IL 1,500
EDWARDS, CHET
HOUSE Democrat TX 1,000
FERGUSON, MIKE
HOUSE Republican NJ 500
FILNER, BOB
HOUSE Democrat DC 500
FITZPATRICK, MICHAEL G
HOUSE Republican PA 500
GERLACH, JIM
HOUSE Republican PA 1,000
GUTKNECHT, GILBERT W JR.
HOUSE Republican MN 500
HERSETH, STEPHANIE M
HOUSE Democrat SD 1,000
HOLT , RUSH D
HOUSE Democrat NJ 500
HOOLEY, DARLENE
HOUSE Democrat OR 500
HOYER, STENY HAMILTON
HOUSE Democrat MD 500
JOHNSON, NANCY L.
HOUSE Republican CT 500
KALOOGIAN, HOWARD
HOUSE Republican CA 3,952
KELLY, SUE W
HOUSE Republican NY 500
KENNEDY, PATRICK J
HOUSE Democrat RI 1,500
KIRK, MARK STEVEN
HOUSE Republican IL 500
KNOLLENBERG, JOSEPH K
HOUSE Republican MI 4,073
LOBIONDO, FRANK A,
HOUSE Republican NJ 1,000
MALONEY, CAROLYN B
HOUSE Democrat NY 1,000
MARCHANT, KENNY EWELL
HOUSE Republican TX 500
MCCONNELL, MITCH
SENATE Republican KY 2,500
MCCOTTER, THADDEUS G
HOUSE Republican MI 1,500
MCDERMOTT, JAMES A
HOUSE Democrat WA 500
MENENDEZ, ROBERT
SENATE Democrat NJ 3,500
MOORE, DENNIS
HOUSE Democrat KS 500
OBEY, DAVID R
HOUSE Democrat WI 1,000
PALLONE, FRANK JR
SENATE Democrat NJ 1,000
PAYNE, DONALD M
HOUSE Democrat NJ 500
PORTER, JON C SR
HOUSE Republican NV 500
REID, HARRY
SENATE Democrat NV 1,500
ROTHMAN, STEVEN R
HOUSE Democrat NJ 1,000
SANTORUM, RICHARD J
SENATE Republican PA 2,000
SARBANES, JOHN PETER SPYROS
HOUSE Democrat MD 1,500
SCHWARTZ, ALLYSON
HOUSE Democrat PA 500
SCHWARZ, JOHN
HOUSE Republican MI 1,000
SHAW, E CLAY JR
HOUSE Republican FL 1,000
SHAYS, CHRISTOPHER
HOUSE Republican CT 500
SHERMAN, BRAD MR
HOUSE Democrat CA 1,000
SIMMONS, ROB
HOUSE Republican CT 1,000
SIRES, ALBIO
HOUSE Democrat NJ 500
SNOWE, OLYMPIA J
SENATE Republican ME 1,000
STABENOW, DEBBIE
SENATE Democrat MI 1,000
STARK, PETE
HOUSE Democrat CA 500
SWEENEY, JOHN E.
HOUSE Republican NY 1,000
TAUSCHER, ELLEN O
HOUSE Democrat CA 1,000
UDALL, MARK
HOUSE Democrat CO 500
VAN HOLLEN, CHRIS
HOUSE Democrat MD 1,000
WELDON, CURTIS W.
HOUSE Republican PA 500
WELLER, GERALD C JERRY
HOUSE Republican DC 500
WOLF, JOSHUA L
HOUSE Democrat OH 500
ARMENIAN AMERICAN PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
CONYERS, JOHN JR.
HOUSE Democrat MI 100
DINGELL, JOHN D MR.
HOUSE Democrat DC 100
EHLERS, VERNON J
HOUSE Republican MI 100
KILDEE, DALE
HOUSE Democrat MI 100
KILPATRICK, CAROLYN CHEEKS
HOUSE Democrat MI 100
KNOLLENBERG, JOSEPH K
HOUSE Republican MI 150
LEVIN, SANDER M
HOUSE Democrat MI 100
MCCOTTER, THADDEUS G
HOUSE Republican MI 100
MILLER, CANDICE S.
HOUSE Republican MI 100
PALLONE, FRANK JR
SENATE Democrat NJ 150
ROGERS, MICHAEL J
HOUSE Republican MI 100
SCHWARZ, JOHN
HOUSE Republican MI 100
ARMENIAN AMERICANS LEGISLATIVE ISSUES COMMITTEE
KLOBUCHAR, AMY J
SENATE Democrat MN 1,000
MENENDEZ, ROBERT
SENATE Democrat NJ 4,123
ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE PAC
BERMAN, HOWARD L
HOUSE Democrat CA 1,250
KALOOGIAN, HOWARD
HOUSE Republican CA 4,300
PALLONE, FRANK JR
SENATE Democrat NJ 250
RADANOVICH, GEORGE
HOUSE Republican CA 2,000
MENENDEZ, ROBERT
SENATE Democrat NJ 4,123
MENENDEZ, ROBERT
SENATE Democrat NJ 3,500
For all those ignorant foreigners who don’t understand the American political system, financial contributions to political campaigns is a standard practice so there is nothing new here in this article. Check out any industry and you will see millions of dollars that have been donated. The Turkish government itself, illegally funnels a lot of money to political campaigns because it is illegal for foreigners to contribute to U.S. elections. But as revealed in the media, the Turkish governement funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash into House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s campaign many years to get him to kill the Armenian Genocide resolution. Why don’t you go investigate that fact.
Interesting post by Ertugun - and what do you know it’s factually accurate. I love it - it echoes the same themes we saw last year with the Armenian Genocide resolution - the opposition/denialists vitcimizing AMERICAN citizens for appealing to their elected officials to recognize this horrible crime against humanity. While FOREIGN governments were buying their way in to the issue (usually illegally as the above post references) and artificially swaying officials as a foreign government should not really have any say over domestically and democratically elected Members of Congress…
Keep it coming
How utterly ironic.
Who are you calling an "ignorant foreigner" Ertugun? What kind of a weird twisted bigot are you? Have you ever heard the term self-hatred?
And, the beauty of your post is that you actually admit it’s an industry, the Armenian genocide industry making campaign contributions to get what it wants; created by profiteers and opportunists for monetary and other material gain. Hrant Dink was right, the diaspora has made itself sick.
You guys talk big but offer no proof–zero, zip, nada. Just the usual nonsense.
Ad hominem makes for good drama but doesn’t prove much Hally.
hyo,
Word of advice: look up the definition of big words that you think may impress before using them so that you use them accurately instead of ending up looking like a fool.
Bigot may be a small word, but clearly you need to look that one up too.
Good luck.
It’s not a "big" word - why are you so angry by the way? I took the liberty of defining it for you below courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com. You referred to the original poster as a twisted bigot without addressing the contentions proffered. That is what ad hominem means…
Main Entry: 1ad ho·mi·nem Pronunciation: \(ˈ)ad-ˈhä-mə-ˌnem, -nəm\ Function: adjective Etymology: New Latin, literally, to the person Date: 1598 1 : appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect 2 : marked by or being an attack on an opponent’s character rather than by an answer to the contentions made
It’s ok keep it coming - the only way to beat denial is to call it out in every single place it rears its head. Here is some nice reading for y’all:http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/17/asia/lobby.php
Hahaha!! Ohmygosh, I haven’t laughed this hard for a while.
Sweatpea, look up bigot, then re-read your pal E’s first post.
Then ponder this statement of fact: "labeling foreigners ignorant is bigotry."
If you like filling in the blank, think about this one:
"Calling foreigners ignorant when you are one yourself is ____________."
What did you think of the article showing lobbying efforts and money to Congressmen to deny the Armenian Genocide?
Guys, what Kemal is trying to show here is this genocide issue is far from being discussed in international historical conventions where events of before, during and after 1915 can really be revealed. Instead this issue is highly politicized that history is being rewritten over and over again by politicians just to get concessions from Turkey time and again or to get votes from American Armenians.
Armenia can not even open its own Dashnak acrhives, or won’t, which will only support the fact that there is no genocide and even then puts a condition on opening the archives whereby it wants Turkey to open its borders (meanwhile this is a very nice bluff since it well knows that Turkey will not open its borders while Armenia is invading Azerbaijan). Everything here is related to money, land, economy or votes.
If you are after the truth only, then you should find unbiased documents for yourselves to read where you remove yourselves from this anti-Turkish propaganda painted by this hatred ideology.
Turkey, to contrary what the genocide supporters are so intensely trying to picture it as, is far from spending millions of dollars on these accusations. In Turkey, people are so ignorant about this issue (unfortunately we do not have a diaspora like Armenians). They lead their normal lives.
Turkey is not putting any economical pressure on countries not to pass this genocide legislation from their parliaments because it is this so-called ‘undeniable fact’ , western countries are using these accusations against Turkey to get concessions out of Turkey.
If Turkey was such a strong country economically as the Armenian Diaspora is trying to show it is, believe me it would not have this GDP per person, this high unemployment ratio or the most espensive oil price in the whole wide world.
Oh by the way, if you are being accused of a crime you did not commit in the first place, of course you are going to defend yourself.
Armenian Diaspora trying to rewrite history so intensely and giving leverage to some countries against Turkey and then Turkey coming and defending itself does not mean that there is a genocide. Many Armenians use this approach of, ‘Ooh Turkey is denying so there is a genocide’.
When you are held charges against for a crime you did not commit, you try to prove your innocence until you will be forced to accept that you are guilty out of torture. This is not denial. This is self defense. Denial is what Armenian Diaspora is showing by rejecting Turkish Goverment’s several attempts of discussing the events of 1915 on an international historical platform.
For today, the torture being applied on Turkey is not that extent but I fear one day Turkey will no longer be able to resist it.
Elif, the matter about the objectionable user name you pointed out has been taken care of. I also edited your comment to remove your explanation, so as to deny that commenter the attention they were seeking in the process of your explaining it.
Thanks Jason