As El Somnabulo said yesterday, this Tigani story is HUGE. The News Journal has a story out today showing the links between Tigani’s illegal donation scheme and Joe Biden’s 2008 presidential run.
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign received a total of $64,300 on the three dates that federal prosecutors say Christopher Tigani ordered his employees to write checks and later reimbursed them. Several of Biden’s donors identified themselves on campaign finance reports as employees of N.K.S.
A key day was Dec. 17, 2007, when prosecutors say “Committee A” received six checks from N.K.S. employees and their spouses. Of the 25 people running for president in late 2007, Biden was the only candidate who received donations on that date from N.K.S. employees. Only Biden received a contribution on that date of $1,000 or more from a Delaware donor.
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In December 2007, Kravetz said, a staffer with “Committee A” sent an email to a Tigani employee listing 13 N.K.S. employees and the amounts each had donated, noting they could still legally donate more, either as an individual or with a spouse. The next day, donations from six N.K.S. employees were made to the campaign. Each had appeared on the list sent by “Committee A,” he said.
Now this doesn’t mean that Joe Biden or his campaign did anything wrong. However, I’m sure it doesn’t want to be linked to a man who just pled guilty to campaign donation violations. I still think the real target is Minner since there seems to be much more of a quid pro quo relationship.
I think Jason is right that Tigani’s main motivation was to feel like a big-time player, and he no doubt was for a time. Big-time players can’t help but want to flex their muscles sometimes and perhaps that’s what we’ll see with the land deal.
Other politicians who received donations from Tigani (and say they will return them) are Jack Markell ($15,200), Matt Denn ($3000), Sen. Dave Sokola ($2400), Rep. Robert Walls ($3000), Rep. Melanie George ($1775).