Chris Wakim

From OpenCongress Wiki

Chris Wakim was the Republican candidate for the 1st Congressional district of West Virginia

Chris Wakim was a Republican candidate for West Virginia's First Congressional District running for the U.S. House of Representatives in U.S. congressional elections in 2006 against Democratic incumbent Alan Mollohan.

Biography

Wakim, "a graduate of West Point, was first elected in 2002 to the [West Virginia] House of Delegates, where he was known for advocating tort reform. A former investment banker in Chicago, Wakim owns a local strip mall on Wheeling Island on the Ohio River." [1]

Meet the Cash Constituents

Summary campaign contribution data from the Center for Responsive Politics on their Open Secrets WV-01 election profile page
Detailed campaign contribution data from the Federal Elections Commission for Chris Wakim

Controversy

"On his campaign website, Wakim says that he earned a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University in 1991 and that he is a Gulf War veteran. But his official Harvard transcript shows that he earned a master’s degree in extension studies with a concentration in government, and he never earned the requisite medal to be considered an official veteran of the Gulf War because he did not serve overseas," Jonathan E. Kaplan reported August 2, 2006, in The Hill.

GOP Campaign Support

Will Holley, "a former press assistant" for President George W. Bush, is Wakim's campaign manager. [2]

President Bush came to West Virginia in March 2006, "followed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert hosting a fundraiser in Parkersburg and Vice President Dick Cheney stumping in Morgantown." [3]

On June 17, 2006, Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) campaigned for Wakim in Wheeling, WV [4] and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) campaigned on July 5, 2006, for Wakim in Parkersburg, WV [5].

Fundraising: Swift Boat Connection

The web address for donations to Chris Wakim is that for Donation Report.com (plus an extension code for Chris Wakim).

The connection for DonationReport.com website arrives at a Login page—requiring both a User ID and Password—which belongs to eDonation.com, a member of The Donatelli Group, a fundraising company that has raised campaign funds for the Republican National Committee, Republican National Convention, Bush-Cheney '04 Inc., John McCain, the NRA [6], and an exhaustive list of Republican members of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as other political organizations. [7]

The Donatelli Group, using its "primary segment" Campaign Solutions [8], is associated with Creative Response Concepts, the public relations firm that advised Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the "organization that accused Kerry of inflating his Vietnam War record" during the 2004 presidential campaign. [9]

The Donatelli Group, which produced the RNC website [10], also created the SWIFTBOATVETSFORTRUTH.ORG website July 30, 2004, with Connell Donatelli Inc. (a.k.a. The Donatelli Group) as Registrant. Connell Donatelli Inc. was also listed as both Administrator and the Tech Organization for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth website. [11]