Via a Twitter tip – this is an interesting Ben Smith Politico item from August 2008 – right square in the middle of Obama’s first presidential campaign season.
If he wanted DOJ to go after Conservative groups then, would it really be a stretch to think he followed through on those desires once he was elected POTUS?
In fact, we now know the IRS did basically the very same thing peremptorily. By suppressing conservative groups through persecution, it never got to a point where DOJ would have to prosecute.
Hmm: August 26, 2008 Obama camp: Prosecute Simmons
Obama general counsel Bob Bauer today sent a second, sharper letter to the Justice Department, directly attacking the Dallas billionaire funding a harsh attack ad, Harold Simmons.
“We reiterate our request that the Department of Justice fulfill its commitment to take prompt action to investigate and to prosecute the American issues Project, and we further request that the Department of Justice investigate and prosecute Howard sic Simmons for a knowing and willful violation of the individual aggregate contribution limits,” he wrote.
He called the groups activities “patently illegal.
“Bauer made the case that Simmons group fulfilling its a real nonprofit charter because it hasnt spent any money on anything other than attacking Obama.
The American Issues Project released a statement responding to the letter.
“Having failed in its attempts to get our legal, factual and fully-supported ad off the air, Barack Obamas campaign now wants to put our donors in prison for exercising their right to free speech,” said Ed Martin, the groups president. “These over-the-top bullying tactics are reminiscent of the kind of censorship one would see in a Stalinist dictatorship, with the only difference being that those guys generally had to wait until they were in power to throw people who disagreed with them into jail.”
via Obama camp: Prosecute Simmons – Ben Smith – POLITICO.com.