California developer sentenced for illegal political donations

James Tong with his lawyer outside of the Alameda County courthouse.

A real estate developer was sentenced to 15 months of funneling tens of thousands of illegal contributions to the congressional campaigns of US Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-CA.
James Tong, 74, of Fremont, California, was sentenced Jan. 24 by U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar of the Northern District of California.

A federal jury convicted Tong on Oct. 8, 2019, of two counts of making contributions to a federal campaign in the names of other individuals.

According to the evidence presented at trial, in 2012 and 2013 Tong made $38,000 in conduit contributions to the initial and reelection campaigns of Swalwell who was running for the US House of Representatives.

Swalwell, a former Alameda County prosecutor and Dublin City Council member, sought the 2020 Democratic nomination for president but in July he dropped out of the presidential race.

In a statement issued Friday, Swallwell said: “Justice was served today for a campaign supporter of mine who violated the law. From the moment I was notified that my campaign was a victim of fraud, I assisted the FBI to obtain the records they needed to conduct their investigation. All the donations to my campaign, in this case, were subsequently donated to local charities.”

Tong provided envelopes of cash to his bank manager and another business associate and directed them to give the cash to individuals in the community, who then used Tong’s cash to write checks in their own names to the campaign for Swalwell.

Tong leveraged financial obligations and the implied loss of business opportunities to induce his bank manager and business associate to distribute cash in the community to be donated. The network of straw donors included dozens of conduits, including at least one foreign national who was not eligible to make donations to federal elections.

Tong also directed his middlemen to conceal the scheme by instructing the straw donors not to deposit the cash; and he later directed one of the middlemen to withhold information from the FBI after he was interviewed.

As part of the sentence, Judge Tigar found that Tong obstructed justice when he told his middlemen to not deposit cash given to them. Judge Tigar also sentenced the defendant to a one-year period of supervised release and a $380,000 fine. 

Kamala Harris stands out in second night of Democrats' debate

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Sen. Kamala Harris did well in the second night of the Democratic debate.

ANALYSIS

Everybody thought that Sen. Bernie Sanders would attack the frontrunner former Vice President Joe Biden, but Biden was caught flatfooted when the attack came from good friend Sen. Kamala Harris.

Unlike the previous night, in this set of 10 Democratic candidates there was a clear cut winner and that was the Indian American from California.

On the topic of the state of race relations, Harris outshouted her peers  talking over each other and demanded to be heard. She looked directly at her friend Joe Biden and with the slightest of tremors in her voice. 

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“I do not believe you are a racist,” Harris said as she looked past Sanders directly at Biden. “And I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground. But I also believe, and it is personal, and I was actually very — it was hurtful, to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing.”

"And you know," she continued, "there was a little girl in California, who was a part of the second class to integrate her public school, and she was bused to school everyday. And that was little girl was me."

Moments later, her engagement team tweeted out a photo of that "little girl in California."

Harris also scored points when the other candidates were trying to speak over each other, and like the only adult in the room, Harris spread her hands out and said,  "Hey guys, you know what, America does not want to witness a food fight. 

"They want to know how we're going to put food on their table."

The remarks were followed by loud applause, including from several of the other  candidates.

On immigration, Harris said with emotion and conviction: “I will release children from cages, I will get rid of the private detention centers and I will ensure that this microphone that the President of the United States holds in her hand is used in a way that is about reflecting the values of our country and not about locking children up.”

Applause broke out when she used the word "her."

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Andrew Yang almostg disappeared in the Democrats debate.

Andrew Yang seemed stiff and a little awed for the moment, being the first Asian American man to be on a presidential debate stage on national TV.

When the subject veered from the economy, he seemed uncertain and out of his element. Of all the candidates who clamored to be heard, Yang held back, (poltely) did not interrupte and as a result, he had the least airtime of the ten candidates on stage. Even feel-good guru Marianne Williamson spoke up more even as the twitterverse couldn't understand what she was talking about.

Yang has already qualifed for the next debate in July. He's got to learn to be more assertive and not speak so fast when explaining how he would fund his Freedom Dividend, giving  $1000 a month to everyone over age 18. He needs to let his words sink in like he's speaking to fifth-grader.

Here's how Google saw the debate:

Biden had the most time speaking because he was always being attacked and under debate rules, he's allowed to respond to the criticism.

Below, because of Harris dominating performance, she was the subjectline being searched across most of the country.

As the debate progressed and Harris scored point after point, interest among the online watchers grew. Willlaimson's also had a good showing but that's deceptive. A little searching will show that most of traffic was due to the online jokes about her responses..

Other observations from the debate:

• The Thursday debate had the oldest candidates of Sanders and Biden, the youngest represented by South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigeig and California's Rep. Eric Swalwell. At times, Biden and Sanders looked and sounded like two grouchy old men.

• The generation gap was never so clear marked by Swalwell quoting Biden who said in a California speech that it was "time to pass the torch." Swalwell used the line effective. “If we’re going to solve the issues of automation, pass the torch," the California lawmaker continued. "If we’re going to solve the issues of climate chaos, pass the torch. If we’re going to solve the issue of student loan debt, pass the torch. If we’re going to end the gun violence for families who are fearful of sending their kids to school, pass the torch.”

• Swalwell tried to kneecap Buttigeig when the South Bend mayor said that he failed to resolve the recent racial divide in his town, exacerbated by the shooting of a black man by a white officer who had turned off his camaera. Swallwell shouted from across the room, "You should fire the police chief!"

• The three women apparently learned from the first night's debate and didn't hold back when the men tried to take over the conversation. Harris, Williamson and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand  repeatedly tried to butt in in order to get stage time. 

• Yang chose to not wear a tie which the commentators couldn't help but point out as if he had committed a serious breech of protocol and wasn't serious about running for president. Personally, I think the importance of the tie is overblown.

• Harris deft attacks vs. Biden also sends an image of what she might do when confronting the similarly aged Donald Trump.

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