Did Brian Wahby Funnel $10,000 To Himself Through A Democratic Campaign Committee?

Exclusive: Live On Dana Radio right now.  Reference As first reported on 24thstate.com in all news reports.

I was looking through the campaign finance reports for the end of the year, and saw a startling report put out by the St. Louis City Dems for their end of year report.

In November of 2008, almost three weeks after President Obama's election, a Chicago businessman named Robert Wislow gave $10,000 to the Democratic Federal Campaign Committee, the PAC of the City Dems.  It's a large amount, and it's timing is strange, coming as it did after the election.

Robert Wislow is the CEO of US Equities.  He's a big Democratic donor from Chicago with ties to Rahm Emmanuel, Valerie Jarrett, Barack Obama, and...a former business partner of Tony Rezko.  Wislow was an early supporter of Obama, and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Chairman, and he's a friend of Mayor Daley in Chicago.  It's safe to say he's a Democratic whale.  He's spread his money around over the years, including donations to Emmanuel and Obama early in their careers, but his two largest donations by far came in 2008.  One was to the Obama Victory Fund. The other, was to Democratic Federal Campaign Committee of St Louis City.  Both were for $10,000.    So what is he doing giving money to St Louis Democrats?

  The end-of-year report gives us the answer.  One month after the check arrives from Wislow, the committee writes a check for exactly $10,000 to one Brian Wahby, the President of the City Dems, and a super-connected Democratic mover and shaker.  Wahby is big enough to own the coveted title of superdelegate for the DNC, and he is the at-large member for the DNC from Missouri.

So what does the document say?  It says Wahby was paid $10,000 to reimburse him for "election night party expenses."  That's a problem, because the itemization isn't particularly specific.  What were those expenses for?  $10,000 is a lot of money, and even if it was a deposit, why is it only paid off after a check in the exact same amount comes in from Chicago?

 Wahby will have to explain this.  He will need, in his hot little hand, a receipt for exactly $10,000, or a set of bills that add up to $10,000, and proof that he paid it back in 2008.

The mystery gets deeper, and more tragic, because the treasurer for the City Dems was none other than current State Senator Joe Keaveny, who replaced disgraced Senator Jeff Smith for lying about a campaign finance expenditure.  Now it's slightly, and I do mean slightly possible that this can be written off as a clerical error, but only if Wahby can produce a bill and a bank or credit card statement to the FEC.  There was a party at the Chase Park Plaza (in the Khorassan ballroom no less), but did Wahby put down a deposit of his own funds?  Was it a fixed fee?  Was it billed post-party?  Were there taxes involved?  Why are there no other expenses associated with the party?  

Even if he can procure some kind of receipt and proof he paid with his own money, Wahby is faced with the difficulty of explaining just how a donation came in from Wislow for the exact amount three weeks after the event.  Can Chicago businessman simply pay off the debts of campaigns, or more important, can they funnel $10,000 to an individual to pay off expenses? No.  No they can't.

Wahby is known for moving money around.   This Jake Wagman article from the Post Dispatch shows Wahby nonchalantly admitting he used the Missouri version of the St Louis Dems committee to pass money to Mayor Slay to the tune of $13,000.  But that was a campaign donation from a committee to a candidate.  It's quite another thing to solicit a donation or work up a pre-approved billing that runs from Brian Wahby through the Democratic Federal Campaign Committee back to a Chicago commercial real estate tycoon with business interests in St Louis. 

Wahby is a real mover and shaker in St Louis politics.  He is also a source of controversy because he runs roughshod over his friends and his enemies.  Get the popcorn.  He's got some splainin to do.  

Comments

[Lars]

Great work dude. I heard you on Dana's show last night, thank you for your service.

[Doug Edelman]

Thought you'd be interested:

When I shared a link to this story with "Sweet Baby James", he replied back with this link for you:

http://bigjournalism.com/acary/2010/02/15/msm-ignores-the-chicago-way-corrupt-machine-that-spawned-obama-three-suicides/#more-24962