David Perdue: Are you operating a money laundromat?
by Bill Simon
According to the expense transaction records (an “expense transaction” being any data entry for a payment to an entity) for the David Perdue Campaign for U.S. Senate filed with the FEC (FEC.Gov), the Perdue campaign has spent a grand total of $254,132 for ‘Website, Internet services, and ads.’
I downloaded the data and converted it to an easy-to-refer to PDF report, available here. For 98% of you, it’s pretty boring to read…which is why I am going to cut directly to what I consider to be the more questionable expenses.
Turn to Page 3 of 4 on that PDF I referenced above…and look down to the bottom two transactions shown: One is $20,000 in “IN-KIND INTERNET CONSULTING” paid on 9/30/2013 to Blake Perdue….and then a 2nd payment of another $20,000 also paid to David A. Perdue (i.e., the candidate).
I thought David Perdue was a “businessman” who was CEO of Reebok, Dollar General, etc.? When did he become qualified to perform $20,000 worth of “Internet Consulting?”
Those two payments are notable. But, they are not the most exceptional payments. There are two other payments to look at, and that is on Page 4.
Note the two payments, each of them being $87,500, paid to an LLC entity named Technilyze, LLC…for “Website Services.”
Here is Payment 1 to Technilyze from the DP Disclosure:
Here is Payment 2 to Technilyze from the DP Disclosure:
Two payments of $87,500 each add-up to a total of $175,000. That is a pile of money paid to ANYONE for “Website Services” for a U.S. Senate race. That is 69% of all money expended on DP’s Website/Internet costs. That’s more than what the lawyers charge! Something’s up here.
Besides the astronomical dollar amounts paid to Technilyze, LLC (because, there are other payments made on that 4-page report to other entities for Internet/Website expenses), the entity itself is what is ringing the “WTF bell” in PV-HQ.
According to the Ga SOS Website, Technilyze was formed on 12/23/2013…a mere 7 days before the first payment of $87,500 was paid to them. The 2nd $87,500 was paid on 2/25/2014.
The main Web domain for Technilyze was purchased on 12/19/2013 and is Technilyze.org. I say it is “main” because the address given for the purchase of Technilyze.org is the same address as what the $175,000 in payments were mailed to:
2212 Eagles Nest Circle
Decatur, GA 30035
As of today, if you visit http://www.technilyze.org, you get a blank page (if you use Chrome), and if you use IE or Firefox, you get this notice of it being parked on GoDaddy.com (a “parked” domain means it is not being hosted on an active website).
SO, no website exists that might explain what kind of “Website Services” the David Perdue campaign supposedly paid for. Surely a “Website Services” company would be able to build a Website for themselves…describing what services they offer, right?
As a side note…as of today, the three other TLDs for Technilyze also show GoDaddy.com parking for those domains:
So…Mr.-I-know-everything-because-I’m-the-greatest-businessman-EVER…what did you buy for $175,000 being paid to a company that cannot even produce its OWN website to promote its services?
Was this an injection of start-up capital (which, by the way, is an illegal use of campaign funds, DP) to help start a company that just formed on December 23, 2013?!
OR…is this a top-secret GOTV campaign, disguised as “Website Services?”
The DP campaign has many other bizarro transaction expense entries…beyond the Technilyze and the the $20,000 being paid to, or on David P. Perdue’s behalf…like 415 other “in-kind transactions” paid to the candidate. A lot of suspicious transactions…but the two $87,500 payments bear even more scrutiny as those dollar figures are beyond “reasonable” for just “Website services.”
Lucy, you got some ‘splainin to do….
