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Hess Employee Who Gave $28,500 To McCain Effort Is A Renter
Here's a bit more on Alice and Pasquale Rocchio, the couple who each gave $28,500 to the RNC-McCain fund on the same day that eight Hess Corporation execs and/or Hess family members gave the same.
As reported below, Alice is a Hess "office manager," and Pasquale is an Amtrak "track foreman." The two live in a middle class neighborhood in Flushing, Queens.
Martin Bernstein, a city assessor at the New York Department of Finance
Queens Assessment Office, has just confirmed to us by phone that the Rocchios rent their home.
Late Update: There's a bit of dispute over whether Flushing, Queens, should be described as "middle class" or "lower middle class." It turns out that the median household income in the Rocchios' zip code is $58,069.
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Guys, how are you going to get this story out to the wider outlets? This stuff is hot off the presses!
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
August 4, 2008 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't worry. The MSM types watch this place like a hawk. Not as important as the always-reliable Matt Drudge, mind you, but watched nonetheless.
The quesition is whether anyone in the MSM will view this as being important. After all, its not like these people were donating to Democrats.
August 4, 2008 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Looks like the Washington Post picked up the story.
August 4, 2008 4:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
You guys are having a good day.
August 4, 2008 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope the Rocchio's are on the phone with their lawyer.
August 4, 2008 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
My thoughts exactly, josephcast.
Wonder what the odds are that they're represented by a member of Hess' legal team?
August 4, 2008 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a bit sad: I'm pretty sure the Rocchios weren't sitting around asking themselves, "How can I help my big-oil bosses circumvent federal law to give tens of thousands of dollars to John McCain?"
But how's that campaign finance reform working out for Jimmy Mac, anyway?
August 4, 2008 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's why they invented testimonial immunity.
But it does make one feel kind of bad that these folks, who were probably assured by her bosses that this was all perfectly legal (but if anyone asks, its all your money, okay?), are about to have their lives turned upside down and inside out.
August 4, 2008 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
...worst case scenerio for McCain...he says he had no idea and gives the money to charity...at least it wasn't from the Chinese Government...Thank God.
August 4, 2008 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, worst case scenario for your boy goes something like this:
"Illegal Oil Co. Contributions Pour into McCain's, GOP's Tank After Pro-Drilling Stance"
Hess Oil Company executives are under investigation for alleged involvement in a criminal conspiracy to funnel illegal campaign contributions into the warchests of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain and the Republican National Committee. The allegedly illegal contributions came almost immediately after McCain and the Republicans came out strongly in favor of loosening restrictions of drilling on the OCS. The scandal comes as a particular embarrassment to McCain because campaign finance has been one of his signature issues and because of his harsh criticism of Barack Obama for opting out of the public financing system. Additionally, McCain and the RNC recently boasted of their stronger fundraising success in June and July after suffering months of lackluster performance that left McCain no option but to participate in public financing. Today's revelations are sure to result in increased, and possibly unwelcome, scrutiny of the sources behind the Republicans' recent burst of fundraising success."
Probably won't happen, because someone in the MSM would have to stand up, pull off the kneepads and look Mav the Mac in the eye, and, anyway, its not like these were contributions to Democrats, but as long as we're talking "worst case scenarios" and all . . .
August 4, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't feel too bad.
Trust me. You never know the extent of someone's willingness to go along with something.
August 4, 2008 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
So let's see... you're saying that people won't improve their mileage by doing so?
"You can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure..." www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/maintain.shtml
Which is a hell of a lot more good than a "gas tax holiday" as promoted by McCain...
ROFL
August 4, 2008 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha! Why save for a home when you can blow that loot on one big fat campaign donation to McMaverick? Something ain't adding up.
Great work, Greg.
August 4, 2008 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly! They don't need no stinking home as long as McCorpse is elected president!!
August 4, 2008 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, if they are renting, the chances of them being independently wealthy just went WAY down. Excellent story.
August 4, 2008 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
From your initial report when you spoke to Mrs. Rucchio did her defense seem canned?
August 4, 2008 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
They rent?
Yet they can afford a total donation of over fifty thousand dollars to a candidate?
I find this, um, implausible to say the least.
August 4, 2008 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
that fifty or should we say sixty thousand is post tax income. It is more like donating all your income from an 80,000 a year job.
August 4, 2008 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where did you read that was post-tax (aka 'net') income? I didn't see 'post-tax' anywhere. Wouldn't you like to see these people's tax returns?
August 4, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's easy, Steaming Pie. In order to have $57K left after paying income taxes, one has to earn about $80K. These contributions aren't tax-deductible, you know. :-)
August 4, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and y'all are outdoing yourselves today!
August 4, 2008 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is a really, really great story. Exactly the sort of story that should resonate with the average American. Great work. I would be shocked if this doesn't become a significant find.
August 4, 2008 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know. It's going to have to compete with the big, big story about Obama's comical, ridiculous suggestion that people will get significantly better milage if they their tires inflated and engines tuned up.
August 4, 2008 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
...which wouldn't be near as funny if he had anything else in his plan...well there's "Hope we invent something" and the tires...
August 4, 2008 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd link to his energy policy, but I know that Republicans can't read Democrat.
August 4, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
**LOL!
August 5, 2008 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, like we'll pay you $300,000 to invent a new car battery! What a joke! Er, wait a minnit...
August 4, 2008 5:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent point! Surely we don't want to rely on good ol' American ingenuity--nothing good ever comes of that.
August 4, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
**They gave the piddling $2300 limit (each) in the first quarter. These people have been at this for a while. Shades of Tom Noe, eh?
August 5, 2008 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg, you're moving like lightning on this -- I haven't seen TPM bulldog a story like this since the attorney firings. Do you have any outstanding calls to the FEC, Hess or the McCain campaign on this?
August 4, 2008 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg mentioned in his first post that neither Hess nor McCain's campaign had any comment.
Caught dead to rights and trying to think up a good excuse, I'm thinking.
And Greg - let me add to the chorus praising your work on this. Nice job.
August 4, 2008 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
O god, Greg - this is just awesome. Great fucking work!!!!!!
I am truly in awe - I wasn't just flinging that word around.
August 4, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
G-bomb and the F-bomb in the same post is just as bad as J-Bomb and F-Bomb...maybe with a small "g" it's acceptable...I'll need to go to the judges for a ruling...
August 4, 2008 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
You do that - I'm all a-tiptoe until I hear back.
It's just shocking how many Church Ladies hang around TPM.
August 4, 2008 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's annoying is someone supposedly of the military pretending that goddamn and fuck and such shocks his virgin ears.
August 4, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Frankly, that either word or any word still shocks anyone - hell, I'm delighted. Why do think people indulge in the first place?
;)
August 4, 2008 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Say what you will about him, no one with SFC in front of his name (who isn't a poseur) is going to be shocked by your language. Impressed by your command of the idiom, maybe.
August 4, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your douchebagginess knows NO bounds, "SFC" Wallace. Too bad you don't spend as much energy on something productive as you do shilling for criminals who no doubt could GIVE a sh*t about you and your "service" to the country. What a waste.
August 6, 2008 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent work, Greg. Please - PLEASE - follow this story to the Gates of Hell.
August 4, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
...but not if it leads to Pakistan!
August 4, 2008 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
In their defense, it is NYC, where more people than average rent. Still this whole thing stinks. But isn't it a problem for Hess and not McCain? Worst case scenario is he gives the money back.
August 4, 2008 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
It can only remove some of the sheen from McCain's aura of Mavericky Goodness.
That ain't a bad thing.
August 4, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fine with me.
That will be almost $60,000 McLame won't have to smear Obama with and if this story really becomes what it should, this should be Gigantic Trouble for Mr. Mavericky Campaign Finance Reform. It is also Gigantic Trouble for Mr. Mavericky "I'm not Beholden to Big Oil or Lobbyists - and yes I am lying through my teeth" McLame.
August 4, 2008 3:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yup. It also puts into question every one of those $28k gifts. To "save face", he may have to give all of the Hess money back.
August 4, 2008 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, but they live in a very middle-class part of Flushing. Plus her husband makes somewhere around $20/hr -- I think $19 and change was the last negotiated rate for track foremen on Amtrak -- so we know at least one of their incomes wouldn't support this kind of donation.
As for McCain, well, the optics are really, really bad. He flip-flops on offshore drilling, and then Big Oil starts breaking campaign finance laws (which JM made his "reformer" bones on) to give him tens of thousands of dollars. McCain has a history of cozy relationships with lobbyists and donors, so there's a connection waiting to be made here.
August 4, 2008 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
He flip-flops on offshore drilling, and then Big Oil starts breaking campaign finance laws (which JM made his "reformer" bones on) to give him tens of thousands of dollars.
AND THIS IS THE STORY THAT SHOULD BE NEWS TOMORROW!
Sorry for shouting. This isn't about the individual couple, it's about McCain and Hess Oil potentially breaking campaign finance laws right after McCain reverses his position on off shore drilling.
August 4, 2008 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd love to believe it's so. But I'd be willing to bet $56k that the MSM will ignore it completely, or at best brush it off. Remember, association, no matter how tenuous, only matter if one party is black.
August 4, 2008 3:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jonathan Martin has it posted.
And says "The optics don't look good, at first blush".
Paraphrased.
August 4, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
CT - I think this one will have some legs. It's too juicy for the MSM to pass it up.
It's not always about bias, you know. It's about filling time, mostly, and the MSM are lazy.
:)
August 4, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd love to believe it's so. But I'd be willing to bet $56k that the MSM will ignore it completely, or at best brush it off. Remember, association, no matter how tenuous, only matter if one party is black.
August 4, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
yeah, JZ, but that is always your attitude, so - around and around we go.
;)
August 4, 2008 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
You guys are on fire today!!
I'm thinking these Hess people aren't too bright... I mean, *everyone* knows you're supposed to parcel out shady money moves - $5K here, then maybe $6K next month, etc., etc.
August 4, 2008 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anybody writing this up should mention that our Third Amendment came as a result of the abuses by the King's Hessians.
August 4, 2008 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wish there were a way to dump leaflets about this story all over the rally in Sturgis this evening!
August 4, 2008 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where it becomes a problem for McStrange is the timing between his reversal on offshore drilling and the donations. If a substantive line can be drawn connecting those dots he's in a world of hurt!
August 4, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I absolutely agree, all this needs to be tied back into the timing of McCain's sudden complete backing of off-shore drilling. That's where the national story will be.
August 4, 2008 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder how much other oil-connected interests also donated too.
August 4, 2008 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, that would be $2mil.
August 4, 2008 9:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just for reference I checked some internet salary calculators for Amtrak Track Foreman: http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-Amtrak/l-flushing/q_1-track+foreman/l_1-new+york
Looks like about $45,000 / year, so this donation is probably like 80% of his after tax salary.
August 4, 2008 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's a Foreman III.
A General Foreman makes about $61,000-$70,000 a year.
However, even assuming Pasquale Rocchio makes that much pre-tax, $28,500 would still be like 40% of his pre-tax income. That's a massive contribution for someone who rents his home.
August 4, 2008 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink