DNC Shared Its Donor Appointment List With White House

New details have emerged about a possible “pay-to-play” scheme that surfaced in the Democratic National Committee documents released by Wikileaks last week.

DailyCaller: The Democratic National Committee’s national finance director sent a White House official who handles personnel matters a list of Democratic donors that the DNC hand-picked for appointments to federal boards and commissions.

The Daily Caller reported earlier this week that Jordan Kaplan, the DNC finance director, sought guidance from his colleagues on what donors to choose for federal appointments. Names were collected, and a spreadsheet entitled “Boards and Commissions” was created.

(RELATED: Leakes DNC Documents Show Plans To Reward Big Donors With Federal Appointments)

Following up on that report, OpenSecrets, the blog of the Center for Responsive Politics, which monitors political spending, found an email from Kaplan to Amanda Moose, a special assistant to the President for presidential personnel, which appears to show coordination about the appointments between the DNC and the White House.

“For your review,” Kaplan wrote to Moose in an April 26 email which had the “Boards and Commissions — Final” spreadsheet attached.

As TheDC reported, most of those included on the list are major Democratic party donors. Most have donated to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. None contributed to Bernie Sanders.

“That is unethical, if not illegal,”Ken Boehm, the chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, told TheDC earlier this week of the apparent DNC quid pro quo.

One entry on one iteration of the DNC donor spreadsheet is telling as it suggests that one party donor expressed his desire to someone at the DNC about an appointment to the U. S. Postal Service’s board of governors.

Next to the name of Democratic donor David Shapira is the acronym “USPS.” The CEO of Giant Eagle, Inc., a supermarket chain, Shapira was nominated by Obama to the USPS board of governors last year. The pick was blocked by Congress, however.

TheDC emailed Kaplan asking whether Shapira specifically asked anyone at the DNC to be nominated again for the USPS position or if DNC officials assumed that he would want that position given his previous nomination.

The finance chief did not respond. DNC communications director Luis Miranda did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Other emails contained in the Wikileaks trove show that Kaplan and Moose likely discussed donor appointments over the phone.

Scott Comer, the DNC’s finance chief of staff, informed Kaplan on April 28 that he had missed a call from Moose. Kaplan asked for the number.

On May 3, Comer emailed Kaplan again saying that Moose wanted to set up a time “for a 20-minute conversation.”

In a comment to OpenSecrets, White House spokesman Eric Schultz denied that donors are given roles in the administration because of their political donations.

“Being a donor does not get you a role in this administration,” Schultz said, adding “nor does it preclude you from getting one.”

“We’ve said this for many years now and there’s nothing in the emails that have been released that contradicts that.”

The Obama administration has been accused of providing plush federal jobs — including appointments to federal boards and ambassadorships — for major Democratic and Obama donors.

As a presidential candidate in 2007, Obama specifically said that political patronage would be eradicated from his administration.

“The cynics and the lobbyists and the special interests have turned government into a game that only they can afford to play,” he said at the time. “They write the checks and you get stuck with the bills. They get the access when you get to write a letter. The time for that politics is over.”

As OpenSecrets notes, none of the donors picked by the DNC have been appointed to federal spots since Kaplan provided the spreadsheet to Moose.

Moose did not respond to TheDC’s request for comment.

Yup, there is more of course.

DWS Donor Convicted of Wire Fraud Relating to Horse Murder Not Allowed to Give to DNC

Hacked emails show George Lindemann Jr.’s past eliminated him as a DNC donor

FreeBeacon: A major donor to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.) was forbidden from giving to the Democratic National Committee due to a past conviction on three counts of wire fraud following his electrocution of a horse to collect an insurance payout.

George Lindemann Jr., a Miami-based real estate developer and son of billionaire New York investor George Lindemann, was vetted earlier this year as a possible donor to the committee and to attend an event with President Barack Obama, according to an exchange contained within the latest batch of hacked DNC emails released by Wikileaks.

Clayton Cox, the DNC’s regional finance director in Florida, Georgia, and the Midwest, asked for a background check into Lindemann Jr. on May 9.

The same day, Chadwick Rivard, a senior research and compliance supervisor for the DNC, returned an extended report into Lindemann Jr.’s checkered past.

Lindemann Jr., a former equestrian who had Olympic aspirations, hired a man named Tommy Burns in 1990 to kill his horse, named “Charisma,” by electrocution so he could cash out on an insurance policy worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The insurance company ruled that the horse had died from natural causes. The plan had temporarily worked, as he was issued the $250,000 policy for the horse’s life.

However, federal investigators later uncovered a conspiracy between Burns and another person, named Barney Ward, to kill numerous horses for money. The practice allowed the horse’s owner to then collect the insurance policy, as Lindemann Jr. had done.

Burns provided information to the FBI on Lindemann Jr. It was discovered during this process that a man named James Druck had taught Burns how to electrocute horses to cash in on the insurance payout. Druck was the father of Rielle Hunter, the former mistress of John Edwards, who was born Lisa Druck.

During the trial, Lindemann’s defense argued that the $250,000 insurance payout did not matter to Lindemann Jr. given his family’s net worth. A U.S. attorney later described Lindemann Jr. as a “a very wealthy kid that has a toy that he doesn’t like or gets mad at and throws it on the floor and stomps on it.”

Lindemann Jr. was convicted on three counts of wire fraud in 1995 for his role in Charisma’s death. The judge presiding over Lindemann Jr.’s case ordered him to pay $500,000 in fines and $250,000 in restitution. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison, the maximum sentence.

Alan Reed, another DNC compliance officer, responded to the email chain saying, “I vote fail….again.”

Wasserman Schultz, who recently resigned as chair of the DNC following the release of the Wikileaks emails, accepted tens of thousands in donations from Lindemann Jr. to her leadership PAC and campaign committees in recent years.

Lindemann Jr. gave a $5,000 donation to Democrats Win Seats PAC, the leadership PAC of Wasserman Schultz, in February 2014. More than a year later, in April 2015, he contributed another $5,000 to the PAC.

Additionally, he gave $2,600 to Wasserman Schultz’s primary campaign in 2014 and added another $2,400 to her general election. He also combined to give $3,500 to the Democratic Executive Committee of Florida that year.

Lindemann Jr. donated $2,700 to Wasserman Schultz’s primary in 2015 and contributed $2,700 to her general, the maximum amounts allowed by law per election.

Lindemann Jr. has donated to both political parties throughout the years. He had failed previous background checks from the committee.

Wasserman Schultz’s office did not return a request for comment on the donations by press time.