925 MTS,SPLIT
UNITS,PLANTA DE 15 KILOS,CISTERNA,TERRAZA,DOBLE
MARQUESINA, BAR EQUIPADO
Inf-
787-281-0585 787-649-3990
FBI VISITA LIDERES PPD
Por ELNUEVODIA.COM 17 DE OCTUBRE DEL 2007
Agentes federales visitaron anoche los hogares de dos altos dirigentes
del Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), confirmó hoy el director ejecutivo
de la colectividad, Aníbal José Torres.
A preguntas de un reportero, Torres respondió que agentes del Servicio
de Rentas Internas federal (IRS) y del Negociado Federal de
Investigaciones (FBI) llegaron a su casa con aparentes intenciones de
interrogarlo. Sin embargo, según dijo, él remitió cualquier asunto a su
abogado.
Aníbal José Torres, director ejecutivo del
PPD (WKAQ)
“Yo me imagino
que ellos fueron con la intención de hacerme algún tipo de
interrogatorio”.
Agregó que los agentes visitaron también al comisionado electoral de
la Pava, Gerardo "Toñito" Cruz.
Poco después de las 11:00 a.m., en entrevista con la misma emisora,
Cruz confirmó que comparecerá mañana temprano ante el gran jurado federal
que investiga supuestos donativos ilegales a pasadas campañas del
gobernador y presidente del PPD, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, a cambio de
contratos con el gobierno.
El pasado 4 de octubre, el ex asesor de Acevedo Vilá para asuntos
económicos, Gustavo Vélez, fue entrevistado por agentes del FBI quienes
pesquisan si La Fortaleza intentó influir indebidamente a favor de las
Empresas Santana para obtener la administración de la cafetería del
Colegio de Justicia Criminal de la Policía, en Gurabo.
Además, se espera que el presidente de la empresa MN Aviation, José
Maldonado, comparezca hoy ante el gran jurado que investiga los donativos.
Mientras, en agosto pasado, El FBI y el IRS allanaron la distribuidora
de alimentos Panamerican Grain, donde un agente dijo cerca de las cámaras
de televisión que buscaban documentos relacionados con aportaciones a campañas
del mandatario.
RESIDENCIAMIENTO
La Constitución del Estado Libre
Asociado de Puerto Rico establece las reglas
legales relativas al residenciamiento.
ARTICULO III DEL PODER LEGISLATIVO
Sección 21. Procesos de residencia.
La Cámara de Representantes tendrá
el poder exclusivo de iniciar procesos de
residencia y con la concurrencia de dos terceras
partes del número total de sus miembros formular
acusación. El Senado tendrá el poder exclusivo de
juzgar y dictar sentencia en todo proceso de
residencia; y al reunirse para tal fin los
Senadores actuarán a nombre del pueblo y lo harán
bajo juramento o afirmación. No se pronunciará
fallo condenatorio en un juicio de residencia sin
la concurrencia de tres cuartas partes del número
total de los miembros que componen el Senado, y la
sentencia se limitará a la separación del cargo.
La persona residenciada quedará expuesta y sujeta
a acusación, juicio, sentencia y castigo conforme
a la ley. Serán causas de residencia la traición,
el soborno, otros delitos graves, y aquellos
delitos menos grave que impliquen depravación. El
Juez Presidente del Tribunal Supremo presidirá
todo juicio de residencia del Gobernador.
Las cámaras legislativas podrán
ventilar procesos de residencia en sus sesiones
ordinarias o extraordinarias. Los presidentes de
las cámaras a solicitud por escrito de dos
terceras partes del número total de los miembros
que componen la Cámara de Representantes, deberán
convocarlas para entender en tales procesos.
ARTICULO
IV DEL PODER EJECUTIVO
Sección 10. Destitución del
Gobernador.
El Gobernador podrá ser destituido
por las causas y mediante el procedimiento que
esta Constitución establece en la Sección 21 del
Artículo III
HECHOS
El FBI está
realizando investigaciones en Filadelfia por
donativos recibidos por el licenciado Acevedo Vila
mientras era Comisionado Residente de Puerto Rico
en Washington del 2000 al 2004.Las cuantías de
dichos donativos y las personas que las brindaron
son motivo de reportaje periodístico a
continuación;
EL PAÍS,
Wednesday,
October 25, 2006 FEATURES / 5
MARTIN
DELFÍN,
Madrid
US prosecutors eye Puerto
Rico’s cash
FBI sifts through thousands of
dollars of
political donations given to
island’s governor
The USJustice Department is
conducting a high-level criminal inquiry into the
political finances of the governor of Puerto Rico,
focusingon a group of influential cash
contributors from Philadelphia who authorities
believe may have received fat government contracts
in exchange for donations.Four of Gov. Aníbal
Acevedo Vilá’s closest aides were called before a
federal grand jury last Thursday to answer
questions concerning whether they knew or had met
any of the political contributors now under
investigation, according to the governor’s chief
of staff, who was among those subpoenaed to give
testimony.
Together,six of Acevedo Vilá’s top
aides have appeared before the grand jury in
recent weeks.FBI agents in Philadelphia and Puerto
Rico are looking into whether big cash
contributors, including the owners of two dental
clinics and an energy consulting firm, violated US
election laws by giving money to Acevedo
Vilá’scampaign committee organized for the 2000
race when he ran for a seat in the US Congress as
Puerto Rico’s non-voting delegate. At issue is a
flood of contributions that came from Philadelphia
and were given to Acevedo Vilá, a Democrat, after
he won the congressional race and was preparing
for a 2004 run for governor. In all, the governor
raised some $180,000 in the Philadelphia-New
Jersey area alone.
On Monday, a US government
investigator close to the inquiry confirmed to EL
PAÍS that officials in Acevedo Vilá’s
administration are targets in the investigation.
“There were some questionable dealings by some
members of the governor’s cabinet that we are
looking at,” said the source, who asked not to be
identified for this article because investigators
are not authorized to comment publicly about
ongoing inquiries. “The inquiry is an important
one because it not only involveswhat happened in
Puerto Rico but in the tri-state area
[Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey]. There is
also the issue of ‘straw contributions’—supposedly
made by people who have told us they didn’t make
those contributions,” said the investigator, who
declined to confirm or deny whether Acevedo Vilá
himself is a target.
The controversy is the latest in a
string of payoff scandals that have rocked this US
commonwealth in the Caribbean in recent years. The
Justice Department has already prosecuted and sent
to prison on corruption-related charges more than
a dozen former officials from both the
statehood-advocate New Progressive Party (PNP) and
the pro-commonwealth Popular Democratic Party (PPD),
of which AcevedoVilá is a member. Even as this
latest inquiry unfolds, two former high-ranking
PNP officials close to former Gov. Pedro Rosselló
(1993-2001) are on trial in US District Court for
an alleged $2.4 million kickback-for-contracts
scheme in the building of a $375-million emergency
water pipeline.
But the campaign money trail
extends beyond the Caribbean. Among the cash
contributions the US government is sifting through
are those made by influential dentists Drs. Robert
M. Feldman and Cándido Negrón of
Philadelphia.Feldman served as finance chairman
for Democrat Bob Casey, who is engaged in a bitter
race to unseat currentRepublicanUS Senator Rick
Santorum of Pennsylvania in the upcoming midterm
elections on Nov. 7.
Investigators are also looking
closely at money given by Judith Lynn Mondre and
her energy management firm Mondre Energy, Inc.
Under US law, contributors can only give
individual candidate committees up to $2,000 per
year. But a search on the US Federal Elections
Commission website showed that Mondre made
individual contributions to Acevedo Vilá’s
congressional campaign totaling $3,000 in three
different amounts on November 13, 2002 — two years
into his term as the island’s resident
commissioner in the US House of Representatives.
Mondre employees are also listed
as contributors. Mondre, who has been listed as
one of Pennsylvania’s top 50 female businesswomen,
has also given money to Casey and US Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In 2002-2003, Puerto Rican native
Negrón gave $7,000 but the Acevedo Vilá committee
returned $5,000. Feldman also made donations
totaling $4,000 in February 2002 —$2,000 of which
was also returned. In all, Acevedo Vilá raised
about $180,000 in Philadelphia- New Jersey area,
according to the FEC.
While it is not uncommon for
contributors to donate money to campaigns after
the election to help pay off debts, federal
investigators want to know what benefit, if any,
this group of Philadelphia fundraisers could have
received by giving cash to someone who does not
represent them and, by law, has no voting
privileges on the floor.
The governor has denied
authorizing contracts or favors in exchange for
donations. “As each day passes, the more they
look, the less they are going to find,”
AcevedoVilá told the Puerto Rican daily
Primera Hora
on
Sunday.
But the grand jury’s search isn’t
over. Last Thursday, its members ordered Jorge
Silva Puras, the governor’s chief of staff, to
turn over by November 2 a barrage of electronic
mail messages and government contracts with
businesses owned by Negrón, Feldman and Mondre.
“The governor need notworry,”Silva
Puras told reporters after appearing before the
grand jury. “I have seen absolutely nothing that
leads me to believe that something illegal
occurred.”
But to other observers, the
situation is indeed serious. “Under such a scheme,
not only were the donations illegal but also other
serious crimes were committed in the process, such
as filing false reports in a federal agency,”
Carlos Romero Barceló, a former governor who lost
the resident commissioner race to Acevedo Vilá,
wrote in a web page column.
FBI
papers portray how fund-raiser became a power
player
Robert M. Feldman was the go-to guy. Not
charged, neither is he forgotten.
By Carrie Budoff
Inquirer Staff Writer
When Democrat Bob
Casey Jr. needed money for his gubernatorial race,
there was one man he couldn't do without:
fund-raiser extraordinaire Robert M. Feldman.
Casey wasn't the only Feldman fan. Short and
courtly, with a taste for expensive suits and
power lunches at the Palm, Feldman also raised
millions for other politicians, such as Gov.
Rendell, Mayor Street, and former New Jersey Gov.
Jim McGreevey.
No longer. Ever since Feldman got entangled in
an FBI investigation into Philadelphia corruption
and another in Puerto Rico, he has lived in exile
from the political world he once walked as a king.
Casey, for one, still calls Feldman "a very
good friend," but takes pains to point out that
Feldman is playing no role in his campaign for
U.S. Senate.
Feldman has become an issue in the race anyway.
Casey's opponent, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum,
is airing a TV ad that, without naming Feldman,
refers to him as Casey's "handpicked finance
chairman" and notes he was under federal
investigation.
Feldman has not been charged with any
wrongdoing, and appears to remain under scrutiny
only in Puerto Rico, where federal authorities are
investigating his role in campaign contributions
to the island's governor. Feldman has said he did
nothing improper.
Although his days as a kingmaker are on hiatus,
maybe permanently, a remarkably candid portrait of
Feldman's dealings has emerged from a court case
and FBI wiretaps of conversations with the late
dealmaker Ronald White. The documents had not been
previously made public.
Feldman could raise money at a fantastic clip,
$25,000 to $50,000 at a time, the bulk of it from
a small group of donors, reports show.
And lots of money flowed to Feldman, too,
thanks to his ability to open doors. Some donors
in his network paid Feldman more than $4 million
in fees to get them "in front of decision makers,"
Feldman said in documents in a civil lawsuit.
Feldman also sought deals for himself.
In a Sept. 24, 2003, taped conversation,
Feldman pressed White to cut him into a Penn's
Landing redevelopment project, saying he had yet
to reap rewards from his investment in Street.
"I've got nothing. I've raised a ton of money
for the mayor. I'm raising right now for him,"
Feldman said. "Maybe I should make this my 'big
ask.' "
Feldman, 59, of Gladwyne, declined be
interviewed for this article. His attorney, Henry
E. Hockeimer, declined to comment.
Casey says he has worked hard to make sure his
campaign contributions are proper; he says he
shouldn't be criticized for Feldman's legal
problems. Republicans are trying to "smear me any
way they can," he says.
Casey and Rendell say they had no clue Feldman
was getting paid as a consultant by donors, and
they were never personally lobbied by him.
"I was never aware of it," Casey said. "I don't
know about, nor should I know about, his private
business ventures."
A rapid rise
In a world where it can take years for a bit
player to become a big player, Feldman seemed to
come out of nowhere.
He was a high school dropout who pushed
himself, earning a GED and spending almost two
years at Trenton Junior College and the School of
Industrial Arts (now Mercer County Community
College) before leaving. He worked as an insurance
broker, then in construction. Eventually, he began
a managed-care dental company that sold plans to
labor unions and corporations.
When it came to political fund-raising, Feldman
rose quickly.
In a court statement, he identified himself as
finance chair for Democrat Mark Singel's 1994 race
for governor and then-Republican Barbara Hafer's
1996 state treasurer's bid.
Raising money for Democrat Marty Weinberg's
Philadelphia 1999 mayoral campaign, Feldman went
head to head against fund-raising powerhouses such
as State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.) - often
beating them.
"I had never seen him before. I had never heard
of him before," said Ken Smukler, a Philadelphia
political strategist who met Feldman on Weinberg's
campaign. "The guy goes gangbusters in raising
money."
Political players spent a lot of time trying to
figure out what made Feldman tick. The consensus:
It wasn't really ideology, or even business.
"He likes to be perceived as being important
and being in the inner circle of whatever
candidate he picks," said consultant Howard Cain,
a longtime political operative for Fumo. "He likes
to be courted by candidates and acknowledged. It
may be simple as that."
After Weinberg lost, Feldman moved seamlessly
into Street's mayoral campaign, as finance
cochairman.
Soon, Casey came calling for help in the
governor's race.
"I knew he was a really good guy and a great
fund-raiser, and I had a lot of work to do to
raise money," Casey said. "It was pretty simple."
Feldman had built significant fund-raising
muscle, and he began to exercise it. One example
came in 2001, when Feldman served simultaneously
as top fund-raiser for gubernatorial campaigns in
two states - Casey's in Pennsylvania and
McGreevey's in New Jersey.
As usual, Feldman's network of donors sent
hundreds of thousands of dollars to assist both
men, records show.
This time, $250,000 donated to Casey was sent
across the Delaware River into New Jersey.
The donations came in two installments, in
March and October 2001, and were distributed to
four political committees supporting McGreevey,
finance records show.
The money transfers are striking because of
their size and timing; in 2001, Casey was
struggling to raise money for a primary fight
against the better-financed Rendell.
Casey aides said it was a strategy: They hoped
to generate good will in New Jersey so money would
flow back to Casey.
Through the May 2002 Democratic primary, New
Jersey donors gave $1.2 million to Casey and
$885,000 to Rendell, records show.
Casey says he's now fuzzy on the details.
"I do remember we contributed to him or
committees that were supporting him," Casey said
of McGreevey.
Casey matched Rendell's fund-raising, but still
lost the primary. Soon after, Feldman became one
of Rendell's four finance cochairmen.
Providing access
Feldman's ability to deliver $25,000, $50,000,
and sometimes $100,000 donations, seemingly with
ease, confounded his rivals. The beneficiaries
marveled at it.
"He was one of those guys who didn't do a lot
of posturing or a lot of talking. He just came in
with checks," said Shawn Fordham, Street's
campaign manager in the 2003 race.
Flashy - he and Ron White rode chaffeured
Mercedeses with their initials imprinted on the
license plates - but also intensely private,
Feldman rarely talked about his consulting
business, political associates say.
In newly filed court documents, Feldman gave
some details about his life as a top political
dealmaker.
At least five firms, whose principals formed
the foundation of his fund-raising network, paid
Feldman to "primarily help with meetings, access."
"Say I am having lunch with someone and I may
have three consulting clients," Feldman said in a
court statement. "If the person that I am meeting
with would have some interest in any of my
clients, I would mention them.
"It is not time-consuming."
The five firms that paid Feldman as a
consultant put $636,000 into Casey's gubernatorial
campaign, $546,000 into Street's campaigns between
1999 and 2003, and $230,000 into Rendell's
campaign in 2002, records show.
The most detailed disclosures concern
Investment Management Advisory Group, or Image, a
politically active Chester County investment firm
to governments and nonprofits.
Feldman began consulting for Image in May 2000,
earning more than $1.2 million through 2003, court
documents show.
His compensation spiked in the months after
McGreevey took office, rising from $30,000 in
January 2002 to $187,000 in August 2002, court
documents show. At that time, Image's government
portfolio expanded as the firm won more than $4
million in work from the McGreevey administration,
according to news reports.
It was Feldman's business partnership with
White, the Philadelphia lawyer indicted on
corruption charges, that attracted FBI scrutiny.
Together they raised money for Street and
McGreevey, and tried to generate deals for
themselves and people in their fund-raising
network.
It didn't always run smoothly.
In that September 2003 taped conversation,
White told Feldman that there was no more room in
the Penn's Landing deal. White went on to protest
that he was delivering for their "whole network,"
mentioning Image and Hill International, a Marlton
construction company.
"Whatever you needed, I went in and asked for.
For you," White said. "We got a lot."
"Me?" Feldman said.
"Well, your people," White said.
Not good enough, Feldman replied.
"When I raise money, they got to help me,
too... so that I can continue to raise money,"
Feldman said.
Executives from Image declined to comment; Hill
executives failed to respond to interview
requests.
For more than a year after the FBI probe went
public, Casey stood by his man, keeping him on as
chairman of his 2004 state treasurer's race. Casey
says he didn't give Feldman a role in his U.S.
Senate campaign.
Casey says Feldman's legal woes aren't the
reason.
"When you run for federal office, it is a
different process, a different system," Casey
said.
Feldman has donated just $1,000 in the U.S.
Senate race - to Santorum, in 2003. Santorum later
gave the money to charity.
An
ongoing FBI investigation into the campaign
finances of Puerto Rico's governor, Anibal
Acevedo Vila, has renewed the controversy around
Feldman.
Authorities suspect that tens of thousands of
dollars from Philadelphia-area donors in 2002 were
"straw contributions" to avoid finance limits.
Feldman has said he did only one Vila fund-raiser,
and was not involved in any improper
contributions.
Some of
the checks under scrutiny were raised by Feldman
and his business partner, Candido
Negron, who was also generous to Casey ($192,000)
and Rendell ($75,000) in the 2002 governor's race.
Feldman stopped fund-raising a year ago, and
has turned his focus to real estate, among other
ventures. He enjoyed being indispensable to
candidates, but was wounded by news coverage of
the City Hall bug probe, close friends say.
He no longer receives the adoration on display
at a 2001 dinner, when a cast of heavyweights -
Casey, Street, White, McGreevey, Hafer - paid
tribute to him.
From the podium, Street described their close
relationship, joking that anybody who could get
his wife "to come to an event on a Saturday night
- that's a special person."
Fordham, the mayor's aide, said recently that
he couldn't recall the last time Street and
Feldman had spoken.
Lucrative Consulting
Work
Robert M. Feldman performed consulting work for
at least five firms that paid him more than $4
million combined between 1999 and 2003, according
to court documents. This is a partial list of
clients and government work they have received,
although in some cases it is unclear what role, if
any, Feldman played in getting that work.
Investment Management Advisory Group (Image)
Fees: More than $1.2 million.
Work: Image, a Chester County investment
firm, received more than $4 million in New Jersey
and $2.8 million from the Pennsylvania Turnpike
Commission in the last five years for investment
contracts and other work.
Hill International
Fees: $1 million.
Work: Hill, a Marlton construction
company, won a $9.3 million contract in 2001 to
tear down abandoned buildings under Mayor Street's
Neighborhood Transformation Initiative; other
clients include Philadelphia International Airport
and the National Constitution Center.
Parkway Corp.
Fees: $100,000.
Work: After Street took office, Parkway
received a $1.5 million annual contract, renewable
for four years, to staff airport information
booths.
The Goldenberg Group
Fees: Unknown.
Work:Feldman said he had assisted the
Blue Bell development firm, which has been
involved in a number of large Philadelphia
projects, on "a variety of things from access to
potential partnerships, bringing them acquisition
sites."
Doral Dental
Fees:More than $1.8 million
Work:Doral had contracts with two of
Philadelphia's managed-care plans: Keystone Mercy
Health Plan and Health Partners of Philadelphia,
as well as a Pittsburgh-based plan, UPMC For You
Inc.
SOURCE: News reports; court documents
Phila. ties in probe of Puerto Rico race
The FBI suspects some donations to the
island's governor were bogus. Local fund-raisers
are under scrutiny.
By Carrie Budoff, John Shiffman and Mark
Fazlollah
Inquirer Staff Writers
FBI agents are focusing on campaign
contributions solicited by two Philadelphia
fund-raisers as part of their
corruption investigation into Puerto Rico's
governor, sources said.
Authorities suspect that tens of thousands of
dollars in checks to Gov. Anibal Acevedo
Vilá's campaign fund were "straw
contributions" - donations made in the names
of Philadelphia-area secretaries,
administrators, and one office worker's
mother - to avoid finance limits.
Some of the checks under scrutiny were raised
by dentist Candido Negron and his business
partner, Robert Feldman, once a top
Democratic fund-raiser who is still a focus
of the City Hall pay-to-play probe here.
In
interviews with The Inquirer, two people
whose names appear on campaign filings as
contributors said they never made such
payments.
For example, $5,000 in checks supposedly came
from Bernice Owens, a 71-year-old Germantown
woman. Her daughter Viola worked in an office
for Negron. But the daughter said her mother
didn't have anything to do with it.
"It was done through him," Viola Owens said
in an interview, referring to Negron. "It's
under investigation. I can't discuss it."
Acevedo Vilá's reports also show that the
campaign later refunded $136,000 - $68,500 of
it to Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents
who were listed as contributors.
The campaign agreed to make refunds in a
settlement with the Federal Election
Commission, which said some contributors
violated limits.
But three people who are listed as receiving
refunds say they never got any money back.
They told The Inquirer they had been recently
interviewed by the FBI. Agents are asking
contributors whether they really gave the
money - and whether they ever saw refunds.
Acevedo Vilá has denied any wrongdoing. The
funds were raised for his campaign committee
when he served as Puerto Rico's nonvoting
delegate to Congress. That campaign raised
nearly $800,000 between 2001 and 2004 - about
$180,000 from Pennsylvania and New Jersey
residents.
Attempts to reach Negron this week - through
calls to past attorneys and associates, plus
a visit to his last known address in
Villanova - were unsuccessful.
Feldman's attorney, Henry E. Hockeimer Jr.,
said Feldman organized one fund-raiser and
had no further involvement with Acevedo Vilá.
Hockeimer said Feldman has no business ties
in Puerto Rico.
Acevedo Vilá, elected Puerto Rico's governor
in 2004, told local media he had no
professional or personal relationship with
Feldman, of Gladwyne.
Pedro T. Alvarez, a lawyer for the campaign
committee, said "the policy of the committee
was to return whatever was in excess" of the
legal limit.
Alvarez said he couldn't vouch for what
happened after the checks were mailed. "There
was nothing false about the report," Alvarez
said.
FBI agent Harry Rodriguez, a bureau spokesman
in San Juan, said he could not confirm or
deny the existence of any investigation. But
he added: "The FBI has specific jurisdiction
to investigate violations of federal
campaign-finance laws, such as illegal,
excessive corporate and straw contributions."
Feldman once was the go-to money man for many
top Democrats, including state Treasurer Bob
Casey Jr., Gov. Rendell, Mayor Street, and
former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey.
After taking a lead in two of Casey's
previous campaigns, Feldman is no longer
fund-raising, for Casey in his run this year
against Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) or for
anybody else, Hockeimer said.
Feldman also had close ties to Ronald A.
White, the Philadelphia power-broker indicted
in the City Hall pay-to-play case. White died
of cancer before last year's trial.
During the City Hall corruption
investigation, Feldman and Negron were
recorded on FBI wiretaps. In one call, White
and Negron spoke on Feb. 20, 2003, and
discussed Negron's trips to Puerto Rico and
to Washington for Acevedo Vilá's 40th
birthday.
White and Negron discussed possible
partnerships, including airport and dental
deals. White and Negron laughed about how
much money they could make, according to a
source.
Feldman, meanwhile, helped Negron raise money
for campaigns - including a February 2002
event for Acevedo Vilá at the Wyndham
Philadelphia at Franklin Plaza.
Feldman and Negron, business partners in
DentalMatrix USA, a dental-services company,
cohosted the Acevedo Vilá event, raising
about $60,000.
Hockeimer said his client met Acevedo Vilá
when the candidate visited Philadelphia prior
to the February event.
"Mr. Feldman's role in this minor fund-raiser
was to cohost, and he personally invited a
limited number of individuals, some of whom
donated money, some not."
Nearly $40,000 came from donors who were
listed as employees of Dental One, another
Negron company.
Eight people, including six Dental One
employees, listed their address at a
clapboard Ridley Park apartment house once
owned by Salvatore Avanzato, described on
finance records as Dental One's chairman.
Avanzato referred questions to his attorney,
who declined to comment.
Christopher T. Mallozzi, who was listed in
campaign-finance reports as a Dental One
psychologist from Darby, supposedly
contributed $4,000. In a phone interview,
Mallozzi said he did not contribute the
money, nor did he work as a Dental One
psychologist. He said he was an
administrator at another Negron firm until
last year.
The FBI also interviewed Arnold Katz, a
prominent King of Prussia insurance broker.
He said he told agents that Feldman had
invited him to a 2002 fund-raiser and
suggested he donate. Campaign records show he
gave $5,000.
"Bob called me and asked me to attend a
fund-raiser," Katz said. "I contributed
because he asked me to."
Katz said the agents also asked whether the
Acevedo Vilá campaign had returned money to
him. The campaign reported in its FEC filing
that it returned $2,000 to Katz.
"I told them I didn't get any money back,"
said Katz, who for years has been a regular
contributor to Republican and Democratic
campaigns.
"I know when I get money from a candidate,"
he said, emphasizing that money typically
goes just one way - to candidates. "I did not
get money."
AQUI ESTAN LOS CONTRIBUYENTES Y EL
MAYOR ES EL QUE ESTA MENCIONADO EN LA PRENSA. ESTA
INFORMACION ES DEL 2003, CUANDO EL ERA EL
COMISIONADO ""AUSENTE"" EN WASHINGTON. AHI
ESTA LA FAMOSA ""DENTAL ONE"" DE FELDMAN Y NEGRON.
LO DEMAS ES HISTORIA,
HOW TO READ THIS CHART: This chart lists the top donors to this member of Congress during the election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.
Typically, members of Congress draw their contributions from two main sources: PACs and lobbyists who give because of the member's position on key congressional committees, and local companies, unions and other organizations from their home district. Challengers tend to rely more heavily on home-state donors, since most PACs put most of their dollars behind incumbents.
NOTE: All the numbers on this page are for the election cycle and based on Federal Election Commission data released electronically on Monday, May 16, 2005.
Help! The numbers don't add up...")
Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.
The
FEC