Tim Johnson's Tainted Campaign Cash

What better way to start the week here at Tim Johnson Watch than with more of Mr. Johnson's ties to corruption?

Over at My Pet Goat, Mrs. Cake has been pulling together a veritable America's Most Wanted of Tim Johnson's campaign contributors. On September 30, she posted an annotated list of some of Johnson's big-money contributors and hints of what they might have been paying for. Please visit her site for the full list (and supporting links), which includes links to various influence peddlers and convicts, including now convicted Bob Ney (R-OH), now indicted Tom DeLay (R-OH), and the American Indian tribe associated with convicted Jack Abramoff (via John Boehner (R-OH) and Roy Blunt (R-MO)).

Since there's already so much out there connecting Tim Johnson to the country's and Illinois' most corrupt Republican officeholders, I'd like to focus on some of the corrupt individuals who've been contributing to his campaigns. The rogue's gallery assembled by Mrs. Cake is particularly impressive when one considers how few individual donors Mr. Johnson has (and how much he relies on PACs as his main source of funding). From her September 30 list:

Walter Bollinger
Total received: $1300
Employer was Unistat, direct-mail firm owned by Roger Stanley and involved in George Ryan scandal....

Stuart Levine
Total received: $2000
Has been indicted on charges of fraud, money laundering, and extortion....

Donald Udstuen
Total received: $1000
Udstuen was recently convicted and sentenced in connection with the George Ryan scandal

Quite an impressive list, to be sure, but Tim Johnson is not one to sit on his laurels. Mrs. Cake provided us an update Saturday:

This week, another one of Johnson's contributors made the news. Stuart Levine, who's given Johnson $2000, has officially been indicted in the TRS probes. Bill Cellini, a powerful Springfield Republican who was "Individual A" in Levine's indictment, has given Johnson $4000. Another Johnson contributor, Donald Udstuen, has already been convicted in connection with the Ryan corruption. [And, as TJW has reported, Johnson was a direct recipient of an extraordinary number of George Ryan's tainted "favors". --ed.]

But the fun continues. TJW will be reporting on more corrupt Johnson donors later this week. (And please don't hesitate to send tips to timjohnsonwatch AT yahoo DOT com.)