Defense Contractors Created Fake 'Society of Young Women Scientists' to Make Illegal Political Donations

[Cicada 5]

Three former defense contractors in Hawaii have been charged with illegal donations to Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and one of her political action committees, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. The men worked for a company called Martin Defense Group, which changed its name from Navatek after a scandal involving covid-19 relief money in 2020.

Clifford Chen, Martin Kao, and Lawrence “Kahele” Lum Kee are charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., violating a ban on defense contractors donating money in federal elections, and, perhaps most damningly, donating money to Collins through a shell company called the “Society of Young Women Scientists and Engineers.”

The men allegedly used the shell company to donate $150,000 to a political action committee called 1820 PAC in 2019, according to the DOJ. And family members of the men were also used to help contribute tens of thousands of dollars to Sen. Collins, with the three executives reimbursing themselves through money that belonged to the Martin Defense Group.

Defense Contractors Illegally Donated to Sen. Susan Collins: DOJ

Three men have been charged with illegally funneling money to the reelection campaign of Sen. Susan Collins.

gizmodo.com

 

[SilentPony]

Oh no! Not Susan Collins, she was always such a hypothetically stand-up person! She could have voted for a lot of different bills that would have helped Americans! I can't count the number of times she could have been helpful.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I feel like China sometimes has the right idea with executions being on the table for bribery crimes

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I feel like China sometimes has the right idea with executions being on the table for bribery crimes

For a long while I've advocated for it being made an act of treason for accepting a single private dollar while serving in a government position.

If we really wanted to get serious, we'd apply one charge of treason per dollar accepted.

 

[ObsidianJones]

Once again, I'm forced to ask why do we need politicians?

I mean, we're basically voting people in to screw us over and get rich for betraying us.

 

[SilentPony]

Once again, I'm forced to ask why do we need politicians?

I mean, we're basically voting people in to screw us over and get rich for betraying us.

In theory the idea of governing and international diplomacy should be conducted by professionals. Im a culinary student, my sister is a video game programmer, and both of my parents are in IT. We know jack shit about US/South American trade. Likewise we can't tell the difference between an Idaho potato and a Oklahoma potato, so we probably shouldn't be in the department of agriculture.
Governing and politics should, in theory, be as specialized at being a doctor or lawyer, and the bar to entry should be just as high. A doctor who retires doesn't just get to shift over to being a lawyer, and a lawyer who wants a better career can't just run to be a ship's captain. Politician should be the profession of statecraft and governing, not just tv celebs.
Bill maher has an okay editorial on celeb politicians:

Spoiler

 

[Agema]

In theory the idea of governing and international diplomacy should be conducted by professionals. Im a culinary student, my sister is a video game programmer, and both of my parents are in IT. We know jack shit about US/South American trade. Likewise we can't tell the difference between an Idaho potato and a Oklahoma potato, so we probably shouldn't be in the department of agriculture.
Governing and politics should, in theory, be as specialized at being a doctor or lawyer, and the bar to entry should be just as high. A doctor who retires doesn't just get to shift over to being a lawyer, and a lawyer who wants a better career can't just run to be a ship's captain. Politician should be the profession of statecraft and governing, not just tv celebs.

How very Platonic. And yet as the UK has experienced, people doing a degree specialised for politics such as the notorious Oxford Uni PPE course and then spending years in politics climbing to the top has still left the country run by incompetent, lightweight dilettantes. That's the funny thing about the Socratic dialogue where he defends the concept of a professional politician: Socrates wins the argument of course, and yet everyone can kind of see that he is wrong.

If I think there is a problem with elected politicians, part of it is the nature of political parties - that candidates are effectively put forward for public choice by party machineries than can relatively easily be captured by cranks and extremists. Next that high level politicians are grotesquely unrepresentative: overwhelmingly rich elites from a very limited number of backgrounds (usually law and management/finance) who often have little concept of what most of the people of the country live like, or much empathy for them.

Although in practice, it should be understood that political parties these days tend to be run by party operatives, not politicians. For all that the top decision-maker is an elected amateur, strategy and policy is more created by people who are theoretically experts, whether appointed special advisors or civil servants.

 

[SilentPony]

SNIP

I'm reminded of this scene from Yes Prime Minister: