Former Director of Kansas Democrats indicted for pillaging millions from taxpayers

A former Executive Director of the Kansas Democratic Party was indicted today in Pennsylvania on numerous charges, most significant being using millions of taxpayer dollars for campaigning and running a political campaign out of official offices.

Brett W. Cott, 36, a top aide to Mr. Veon, who is accused of widespread corruption, including conspiracy in the bonus scandal and running an ongoing political operation out of Mr. Veon’s state office. “Brett Cott’s title on Veon’s staff was policy analyst, but according to numerous witnesses he was hired because of his campaign skills and was one of the lead promoters of the culture of using taxpayer funds for campaign purposes,” the grand jury said.

Mr. Cott was also heavily involved in keeping Ralph Nader off of the Presidential ballot in Pennsylvania in 2004, attempting to give John Kerry a better chance to carry the state, all the time using the people’s money to accomplish his goals.

The grand jury identified 36 state employees who were involved in the Nader ballot challenge, 29 of whom received state bonuses for 2004. Two years later, the same tactic was used to keep Carl Romanelli, a Green Party candidate, off the ballot for U.S. Senate. “Brett Cott assumed the laboring oar in organizing and orchestrating the operation,” the grand jury wrote.

The only break on this story in Kansas so far is a three line blurb from Kansas Public Radio.

According to the grand jury, Cott was not only involved in the scandal, but was a key player, orchestrating several efforts to keep thrid party candidates off the ballot and used taxpayer money to provide bonuses to campaign workers who never spent time doing anything productive for the people of Pennsylvania.

Not surprisingly, here’s what a friend had to say about Cott getting busted.

“He’s not the type of person who’s going to do something that’s wrong on purpose,” she said. “The guy goes to church every week. He’s a very strong, practicing Catholic, a God-fearing guy.“

Now, who does that remind me of??? Oh, right, our good gov, Chatty Kathy. But she doesn’t use taxpayer dollars to further campaign interests, like giving away dinners at the governors mansion and not reimbursing the state until forced to do so. Sounds like Cott should have taken a few pointers from the gov…