Andre Carson's Dirty Money

U.S. Rep. Andre Carson raised more money from Democratic activist Marla Stevens than any other Democratic politician. Stevens and her partner gave more than $25,000 to Carson's campaign committee before the FBI caught up with the pair and charged them with stealing $6 million from Aviva (formerly Indianapolis Life Insurance Co.). When this flap arose last year, Carson, through a congressional spokesman, denied knowing the two women despite their long history of supporting his grandmother, U.S. Rep. Julia Carson, and Marla's history of spreading defamatory information about Carson's political opponents.

This blog chronicled Carson's nationwide quest during the 2008 special election to raise an unprecedented amount of money in the 7th congressional district race at a record pace. Carson criss-crossed the country raising money from every special interest group and lobbyist imaginable. He even allowed CAIR, an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal government's investigation of groups tied to raising funds for radical Muslim terrorists, to host a fundraiser for him in D.C. Carson was forced to return at least one contribution when it was discovered that one of the contributors was linked to Muslim terrorists.

An equally unlikely fundraiser for Carson is a former top aide to former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. According to That's My Congress website, Tim Rupli, a lobbyist for payday lenders and other banking interest groups, hosted a fundraiser at his D.C. townhouse on March 24 of last year for Carson. "Rep. Andre Carson was the beneficiary of a fundraiser at the Rupli townhouse, for which his campaign committee did not pay expenses," the public interest site reports. "Rep. Carson is a member of the House Financial Services Committee that Tim Rupli is paid to lobby on behalf of banks, credit card corporations and payday lenders." Almost 37% of the fundraisers with which Rupli feted members of Congress involved members of the Financial Services Committee.

Carson has also accepted $10,000 from House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel's National Leadership PAC. Rangel is the subject of multiple investigations by the House Ethics Committee, largely due to his failure to report income he earned on various income-producing properties. According to the Washington Examiner, a company that donated $1 million to a school in New York that will bear Rangel's name received lucrative tax breaks from Rangel's tax law-writing committee. Rangel has even been accused of using his official government stationery to solicit campaign contributions.

Don't expect our Indianapolis media to examine Carson's campaign contributions. If something involves a conservative, Republican politician like U.S. Rep. Dan Burton or U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, the news media is all over the story. When it comes to examining Carson, the news media applies the standard one would expect to be applied to a special needs child, which essentially means he gets no scrutiny at all.