Whacked PACs
Remember when I told you about the 22 year old frat boy, Zac Cossum, who was setting up phony Political Action Committees faster than jackrabbit with wheels?
Well, the long, slow arm of the Federal Elections Commission caught up with Zac but they throw letters at problems because they have a whole lot of paper but oh so little authority.
It seems that Zac’s PAC (hey, that almost rhymes!) where he claimed to be raising money for Donald Trump, managed to get $12,637 worth of damfools to send him money. How much did Trump get? So far, diddle squat. He shows he spent $1048.92 for “operating expenses” and we all know that Zac is an operator.
So the FEC wants to know where the $12,637 went. I’m gonna suspect Zac’s pocket but I might be wrong. Yeah, right.
Thanks to Alfredo over at the Dairy Queen for the heads up.
Perhaps Zac’s PAC was meant to emulate Donald Trump? Like the time when Trump took $258,000 from his “charity” to write a check for legal expenses related to one of his for profit businesses? We may have a future Secretary of the Treasury in our boy Zac, the way he handles money.
http://boingboing.net/2016/09/20/trump-used-258000-from-chari.html
1Well, I don’t know what Zac’s major is but he might soon be getting a lesson in criminal justice.
2Sounds like Zac’s learned from Donnie. He should be an apprentice sleazeball. At least he’s rooking money from people giving it to Trump, not from those actually trying to help people, the way Trump is rooking.
3I’d like to see Elizabeth Warren lambaste Zac the way she did the head of Wells Fargo. Wow! What a warrior for consumers.
4let’s hope the DOJ follows her recommendation to investigate and indict.
Zac is prettier than Trump.
5And yet, inexplicably, my “Mexicans for Trump” PAC has received almost zero donations.
6Loser must have slept through his days at Drumpf U.
7Not to worry, Its fair to con them that want to be conned.
8Sheep were made to be sheared.
Hay slipstream– Give it time and bigger ads.
Frat boy is in for a surprise. Its called a warrant! Its what comes after all those letters that go unanswered and even unopened. Hey, fratster! Not all the learnin’ takes place in school!
9That pic is worth a couple thousand words. It just screams honest, doesn’t it? Bwahahaaha…
10Rick – I think you’re right. This is a Tribute PAC. You know, like a Tribute band.
11Once upon a time, people took elections seriously.
12but would even that be illegal?
i looked into this myself a year or so ago … because there are basically no rules. i decided not to pursue it for the same reason. essentially guaranteed ethical slippery slope.
but as far as i could tell, zach could pay himself 100% of funds raised, as a salary for example, give none of the money to the group he says he is raising it for, and it would be perfectly legal according to TUS election law. the only question is how long he could continue to get contributors once it became known that he was keeping the money. but there again, he doesn’t appear to be required to tell them.
maybe i missed something, but based on this story it sure doesn’t sound like it.
13Trump supporters scamming Trump supporters.
It’s almost as if they were made for each other. Karma. Poetic justice.
Still illegal, because in America, even fools shouldn’t be scammed.
14JJ and y’all,
I’m not an accountant but there is an FEC Schedule H4 (DISBURSEMENT FOR ALLOCATED
FEDERAL/NONFEDERAL ACTIVITY)
http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00607283/1087557/h4
attached to good ol’ Zac Cossum’s PAC Form 3X ( CRIPPLED AMERICA, Summary) which shows almost ALL of the money that he received (Schedule A, more below) as getting spent.
http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00607283/1087557/sa
And what most of it was spent on is exactly what you might be thinking.
Lil buddy Zac has been a very very busy beaver livin’ high on the ol’ PAC hog. He managed to rip through $12239.40 in the reported quarter.
Most of it spent on (are you ready?): restaurants, fancy hotels, LIQUOR, CIGARS, and gas (presumably for his own vehicle). There are a few curious Walgreens items too, perhaps condoms? Maybe ol’ Zac has an intern?
There were a few fairly bigly amount disbursements that went to local ‘consultants’.
Both of those ‘consultants look really fishy to me, especially one “Ryan Cagney”, who lives close to Mr. Cossum in Kingwood-Woodlans (Houston). Who is also listed as a donor, and reveals that the company he actually works for is named “Tachyon Defense Systems / Defense Executive”.
So you figure it out, a “media/PR” type co., or one of those teabagger gunzRus emporiums?
Crony Capitalism at it’s best, eh?
About half of Zac’s PAC donors are listed as “Retired” on the Sch A’s, so he is rooking some really dumbass teabagger’s too.
Listing all the line items in detail is just too much, look at the links for details (Sched H4).
But I can’t resist listing (omit most of list): -just the first lines of them for your amusement, and they’re pretty well self-explanatory in the aggregate (I can’t hep it, used to fill out expense vouchers for myself and teams every month):
DISBURSEMENT
FILING FEC-1087557
Committee: CRIPPLED AMERICA
Payee: Kroger Gas Station
Payee: Torchys Tacos
Payee: Beavers Media
Payee: Omni Dallas
Payee: Home Depot
Payee: Hyatt Hotels Dallas
.
Payee: Down House Heights Restauarant
Payee: Ryan Cagney
Payee: Hyatt Hotels Dallas
.
Payee: Raising Canes
Payee: Reddit.com
Payee: Kim’s Liquor
Payee: The Dogwood
Payee: Cafe Adobe
Payee: Chipolte
Payee: Envanto.com
Payee: Kim’s Liquor
Payee: Torchys Tacos
Payee: Petty Cash for Houston Office
Payee: Venmo
Payee: Sw Fuel Services
Payee: Down House Heights Restauarant
.
Payee: Raising Canes
Payee: Little Woodrows
Payee: The Dogwood
Payee: Star Stop #53
Payee: Mo’s A Place For Steak
Payee: Black Walnut
Payee: Cash Withdrawl
Payee: Constant Contact
Payee: Wise Guys Pizza
Payee: Chickfila
Payee: Starbucks Inc.
.
Payee: Bank Refund for Dispute
Payee: Heights Cigar ($325)
Payee: Bank Fee
Payee: Office Depot
Payee: Midtown Bar and Grill
Payee: Skinny Ritas
.
Payee: Barnes and Noble
Payee: Walgreens
Payee: Marriott Woodlands
Payee: Katz Deli
.
Payee: Chipolte
.
Payee: Texans Grill
Payee: Torchys Tacos
Payee: Serious Cigars
Payee: Yard House
.
Payee: Torchys Tacos
Payee: Ryan Cagney
Payee: Los Cucos
Payee: Black Labrador
Total Disbursements This Period = 12239.40
[ “.” equals deleted items as gas/fuel stops, bank fees, etc. of less prurient interest, heheh ]
Dates run from 05/16/2016 to 06/30/2016, so Lil Ol’ Zac had hisself one whale of a time in about the last six weeks of the reporting quarter.
How would y’all piddle away $12K in 6 weeks? Hell, I’d like to try.
Man, this PAC scam sure sounds like ‘Easy Street’ to me, especially for a 20-something. Rake in $12K/qtr, spend $12K/qtr. $48K/yr for nothing (cue Dire Straights “Money for Nothing” up). Whatta racket opportunity.
I’m sure many of those places ring some bells for those of you in the Houston area (it’s all different from my long stretches working around there).
I gotta try some out sometime, Torchys Taco’s sounds good, eh?
Zac seems to have set up a HQ in the (Houston) Heights area, and frequents many Montrose area places too, sooo…not that there’s anything wrong with that.
(my ex actually worked (on Yale St., IIRC) and lived a while in the Heights, ~40 years ago; when I was on one of many Houston TDY’s we took a tour of the old ‘hood- ~25 years ago, interesting area)
15.