Recently writer and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza was sentenced to eight months confinement in a San Diego community confinement center (a half way house) as well as pay a $30,000 fine, serve five years’ probation and to a day of community service for each week during his probation. This was after pleading guilty, in May, of breaking federal campaign finance laws. The government had sought a 16 month prison sentence. Mr. D’Souza had two of his friends each, make a $10,000 (maximum amount allowed) donation to the Senate campaign of Wendy Long in a race against Kirsten Gillibrand the seat that had once been held by Hillary Clinton and then he reimbursed them for their donations. Mr. D’Souza described Mrs. Long as a friend from their college years that he was trying to help in her faltering race for the Senate and grew frustrated that he couldn’t do more and made an “error of judgment.” The questions arise as to why the government was seeking such a strong sentence for such a low level offense and why he was being investigated in the first place.
A brief history of Mr. D’Souza as it pertains to the current Administration including the President: In September 2010 his book The Root of Obama’s Rage, looked at Barack Obama’s history and writings in an attempt at understanding how President Obama viewed the world. Shortly before the 2012 election his film 2016: Obama’s America, was released about Mr. D’Souza’s portrayal of how the country would look if the President won reelection. Finally, during this past summer, he released his movie and book America: Imagine the World Without Her, taking on the Progressives general outlook that from the founding, throughout it’s history and still in present day that America is a force for evil.
When this came to light, questions started being asked as to why Mr. D’Souza was being investigated by the FBI in the first place. Especially with the IRS targeting of Conservative groups seeking non-profit status, the wire taps on AP reporters and Fox News’ James Rosen and the hacking of Sharyl Attkisson’s computer among other strange examples of targeting of those investigaing President Obama’s Administration. It came to the point where Sens. Chuck Grassley, Jeff Sessions, Mike Lee, and Ted Cruz sent a letter to the FBI seeking answers. To my knowledge no answer was ever given.
The next question is why were they seeking such a harsh sentence including sending Mr. D’Souza to prison for a simple election violation while issues such as the Clinton’s Chinese connection were never fully investigated. When the judge was presented with the fact that no one has faced such harsh punishment for a violation of this magnitude, he agreed with the defense and granted Mr. D’Souza the much lighter sentence. It should be noted that the lead prosecutor in the case, Preet Bharara, is considered my many as the top choice to replace Eric Holder as Attorney General.
markE watkins 