Illegal plea for illegals' cash?

WASHINGTON — As Rep. Chris Cannon sat by, one of his aides urged any illegal aliens listening to a Spanish-language radio talk show to funnel money into his campaign by giving it to U.S. citizens who could donate it legally.

However, federal law not only bans political donations from foreign nationals, it also bans such funneling through citizens, too — and the solicitation or receipt of it.

Still, Marco Diaz, an aide to Cannon, R-Utah, told Radio Unica in Spanish on May 22, "If you are undocumented you must find, we welcome this money, but you have to find someone who is legal in order to donate money."

Cannon aides say Cannon later in the program tried to clarify that illegal immigrants could not legally donate directly or indirectly to him, but a tape of that portion of the program could not be located. Others dispute that Cannon made such clarification. But the talk show host supports Cannon's version.

A program listener gave a partial tape and transcript of the program to the campaign of Matt Throckmorton, who is challenging Cannon in next week's primary.

Throckmorton's campaign was going to have an attorney evaluate whether violations occurred.

Throckmorton said the apparent plea for donations from illegal aliens "really bothers me. It was pretty brazen." He said others have sent the information along to the Federal Election Commission in hopes it will investigate.

Cannon aides complained about the timing of disclosures to the press. "This has been floating out there for two or three weeks, but suddenly before the (primary) election, it comes up now," complained Joe Hunter, Cannon's chief of staff.

He said Cannon was too busy with congressional business to comment on the matter.

Focusing on illegal immigration helped Throckmorton survive the Utah Republican Convention and surprisingly forced Cannon into the June 22 primary. He and outside groups have criticized Cannon for pushing "temporary guest worker" bills that would allow illegal aliens to earn citizenship.

The listener who provided the tape to the Throckmorton campaign, Steve Staker, is a former federal prosecutor. He said his wife likes to listen to Spanish-language radio in Salt Lake and she taped the Cannon program for him. "When I listened to it, my suspicions were aroused," he said.

After some research, he found that federal law bans the sort of solicitations mentioned on the program, so he provided his tape plus transcripts and translations of parts that concerned him to Throckmorton and the press.