Federal judge admits sending racist Obama email

By David Edwards

A federal judge on Wednesday insisted that he was not a racist even though he sent an email suggesting President Barack Obama’s mother had sex with a dog.

Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull, who was nominated by President George W. Bush,admitted to the Great Falls Tribune that he had sent the racist email from his courthouse chambers.

Cebull forwarded the email titled “A MOM’S MEMORY” from his official courthouse email address to six people. It was eventually forwarded to the Tribune. Cebull forwarded the email titled “A MOM’S MEMORY” from his official courthouse email address to six people. It was eventually forwarded to the Tribune.

“Normally I don’t send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching,” the email reads. “I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.”

“A little boy said to his mother; ‘Mommy, how come I’m black and you’re white?’ His mother replied, ‘Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!’”

Cebull agreed that the email was racist, but asserted that it was meant only as a private communication.

“It was not intended by me in any way to become public,” the judge explained. “I apologize to anybody who is offended by it, and I can obviously understand why people would be offended.”

“The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our president, but this goes beyond not being a fan,” Cebull continued. “I didn’t send it as racist, although that’s what it is. I sent it out because it’s anti-Obama.”

He said his record as the chief judge for the District of Montana proves that he is not biased against other races.

“I have never considered myself that way,” Cebull said. “This is a private thing that was, to say the least, very poor judgment on my part. … I did not forward it because of the racist nature of it. Although it is racist, I’m not that way, never have been.”

News Corp. gave $1 million to pro-GOP group

By Ben Smith

News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, contributed $1 million this summer to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the business lobby that has been running an aggressive campaign in support of the Republican effort to retake Congress, a source close to the company told POLITICO.

It was the second $1 million contribution the company has made this election cycle to a GOP-aligned group. In late June it gave that amount to the Republican Governors Association

he parent companies of other media companies such as Disney (which owns ABC) and General Electric (which owns NBC) have also made political contributions, but typically in far smaller chunks, and split between Democrats and Republicans.

In the past, News Corp. has also spread its donations between candidates of both parties. The huge gift to the RGA raised questions among some media critics about whether News Corp. had crossed over an inappropriate line for a media company. The second donation is likely to rekindle that debate – and to make both News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch and Fox News even more of a liberal target. In the past, Murdoch’s political leanings were considered to be pragmatic rather than strictly ideological. Although known as a conservative, he turned his right-leaning British papers behind Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair and flirted with support for Senator Hillary Clinton when she was a Democratic presidential candidate. But his political giving have been sharply aligned with the Republican Party this year.

Spokesmen for News Corp. and for Fox declined to comment on the chamber contribution, or on whether Fox chief Roger Ailes, a former GOP political operative, had a role in it.

After the News Corp. donation to the RGA became known in August, the company denied that Ailes was involved, and a spokesman told POLITICO at the time that the contribution was made to support the Republican committee’s “pro-business agenda.”

A spokesman for the chamber, J.P. Fielder, declined to discuss or confirm a specific contribution – the chamber is fighting to continue to keep contributions secret — but responded to a question about the Fox donation by characterizing the chamber’s agenda.

“What I can tell you is that the chamber has been and will continue to be engaged in the issue debate in this election cycle, focusing our efforts on educating voters about where candidates stand on policies that create jobs,” Fielder said.

Specifically, the chamber has said it plans to spend $75 million in connection with the 2010 election, and has so far has directed substantial amounts to Republican Senate candidates. As of Sept. 15th, the group had spent $6,747,946 airing more than 8,000 ads on behalf of GOP Senate candidates, according to a study from the Wesleyan Media Project.

That figure made the chamber the biggest spender on congressional races of any interest group, and the second biggest-spending national group after the RGA.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce operates a range of lobbying and advocacy programs, and News Corp. has in the past given even larger sums to it to support more general business advocacy, according to a second source close to the company.

Company officials wouldn’t comment directly on the purpose of this year’s contribution.

Does News Corp’s Donation To The Republican Governors Association Violate Its Own Company Policy?

By Amanda Terkel Yesterday, Bloomberg News reported that News Corp., the Fox News parent company run by Rupert Murdoch, donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association (RGA) in June. As Politico’s Ben Smith noted, “The company’s media outlets play politics more openly than most, but the huge contribution to a party committee is a new step toward an open identification between Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and the GOP.”

A look at News Corp’s own “Standards of Business Conduct,” however, raises questions about whether the $1 million contribution to the RGA violations company policy:

B. Dealing With Government Officials

Employees who have dealings with government officials shall conform to the following standards:

1. All employees who contact public officials must be familiar with the applicable lobbying laws and public disclosure requirements, particularly those laws or regulations pertaining to registrations or filings that must be made by the Company.

2. No payment shall be made to, or for the benefit of, any public official in order to induce or entice such official to: enact, defeat or violate any law or regulation for the Company’s benefit; influence any official act; or obtain any favorable action by a governmental agency or official on behalf of the Company.

3. Social amenities, entertainment and other courtesies may be extended to government officials or employees only to the extent appropriate and reasonable under applicable laws and customs. Gifts of greater than nominal value to, or lavish entertainment of, public officials are prohibited. No gifts in the form of cash, stock or other similar consideration shall be given, regardless of amount. Any gift about which an employee is uncertain should not be made without the prior written approval of the Company’s General Counsel. Any expenses incurred by a Company employee in connection with the matters discussed herein shall be accurately recorded on the Company’s books and records.

What’s not totally clear is the intent of News Corp’s donation. Was it to “induce or entice” a public official to “enact, defeat or violate any law or regulation for the Company’s benefit”? The only public response from the company so far comes from spokesman Jack Horner, who said, “News Corporation believes in the power of free markets, and the RGA’s pro-business agenda supports our priorities at this most critical time for our economy.”

The Democratic Governors Association told ThinkProgress that it has not received any donations from News Corp.

Update Dow Jones, a News Corp. company, prohibits company political contributions:

Many companies, for a variety of reasons, participate in the partisan political process, at various levels of government. As a publisher, Dow Jones has a different tradition. Dow Jones does not contribute, directly or indirectly, to political campaigns or to political parties or groups seeking to raise money for political campaigns or parties, and Dow Jones does not and will not reimburse any employee for any political contribution made by an employee. All news employees and members of senior management with any responsibility for news should refrain from partisan political activity judged newsworthy by their senior editor or in the case of senior management, the Chief Executive Officer. Other political activities (including "issue oriented" activity) are permitted, but should not be inconsistent with this code.

Update Time Warner has given the DGA $35,000 and the RGA $25,000. Both organizations have received $105,000 from GE (the parent company of MSNBC).

Update The Washington Post reports, "A seven-figure donation is not a first for Murdoch; he gave $1 million to the California Republican Party in 1996."