By Matt Hurley for the TIB Network:
Original Posting on 7/30 at 10:19AM
From ABC News:
Yesterday, we found out about an interesting delegate. Today, we are learning about the top donor to Kerry/Edwards:As Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards arrived in Boston today for the Democratic National Convention, so did the California man who is their single biggest contributor.What to make of this...
He is Stephen Bing, a wealthy film producer who, with little fanfare, has managed to steer a total of more than $16 million of his money to Democratic candidates and the supposedly independent groups that support them.
"To most of the people who track money and politics, they're like, who the hell is Steve Bing?" said Chuck Lewis, founder of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog organization.
Bing is perhaps best known for sparking a tabloid frenzy when he publicly expressed doubt that he was the father of actress Elizabeth Hurley's baby. (A paternity test proved he was indeed the father.) He repeatedly has refused to say why he is funneling millions of dollars to the Democrats.
Lewis thinks it is cause for concern.
"We can identify who the big donors are, but how much do we really know about any of them?" he said.
In fact, Democratic Party officials said they knew nothing about the man who law enforcement officials tell ABC News is Bing's friend and business partner — Dominic Montemarano, a New York Mafia figure currently in federal prison on racketeering charges.
Montemarano has a long criminal record and is known to organized crime investigators by his street name, Donnie Shacks.
"Donnie Shacks' main activity was murder. No question about it. That was his main function for the Colombo family and for organized crime in general. He was one of the top hit men in the New York area," said Joe Coffey, a former NYPD investigator.
On the one hand, this is kind of tabloid reporting. But it IS ABC News, not exactly the National Enquirer.
On the other hand, if this guy really is a mob figure of some sort; is there more to this story than meets the eye?
