I’ve been watching the news. Reading the headlines. Seeing politicians stumble over each other for the best soundbite, the perfect social media post. The House is up for reelection. A few Senate seats. Don’t forget the governor’s office. And by extension, the fights for Attorney General and Secretary of State – both of whom are, well, I won’t say it, but it isn’t polite.
Then I heard a couple names I wasn’t aware of. Eileen Laubacher and Manny Rutinel.
Laubacher is running in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. Never heard of her, so I asked my good friend Google. Got the sanitized version: lives in Littleton, retired from the Navy, ended up there sometime in the 1990s. No clue when she was born or where. What I did find out? She’s received over $4 million through ActBlue. Most of it in small donations. The kind that go under the radar.
I’m sure there’s nothing to see here. Just business as usual.
Which brings us to Manny Rutinel. He’s currently a member of the Colorado House of Representatives. One of those who was never elected, just “appointed” to fill a vacancy. We know a bit more about him. Nothing too exciting, except he also has over $2 million in small-sum donations via ActBlue.
Again, nothing to see here. Don’t get your knickers in a twist thinking there might be fraud going on.
Oh wait. President Trump has already ordered the DOJ to investigate ActBlue. The U.S. House has three committees that have subpoenaed them. Texas says “wait for me” and they’re probing too. ActBlue’s own records show they detected 22 “significant fraud campaigns” – half with foreign connections. In one 30-day window, 237 donations came from foreign IP addresses using prepaid cards. Their training manual told employees to “look for reasons to accept contributions” rather than flag suspicious activity. The entire legal team resigned amid whistleblower retaliation allegations.
But I’m sure it’s all fine.
This brings me to something else. A little thing called corruption.
In the 18th century, corruption was sort of a big deal. The Founders mentioned it 54 times during the Constitutional Convention. They set congressional salaries deliberately low. Public service should be a sacrifice, they said. These were the same men who’d risked their lives and properties just a few years earlier in that little Revolutionary War thing.
Today? Candidates spend millions of dollars to get a job paying less than $200,000 a year, then have to do it again every 2, 4, or 6 years. They aren’t public servants making a sacrifice. They’re public servants becoming millionaires in a few years. Nancy Pelosi went from $41 million to $115 million while in office. Mitch McConnell from $3 million to $34 million. Average member sees their net worth increase 114 percent.
The math doesn’t add up.
Unless corruption is the business model.
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