Lord, how we shall miss the big-bosomed comedy stylings of Michele Fiore, former Nevada state assemblywoman, former member of the Las Vegas City Council, former Republican primary-losing candidate for a congressional seat (depriving her of the opportunity to stake her claim to nuttiest blonde in the GOP caucus years before Marjorie Taylor Greene captured the title for life), former Cliven Bundy groupie, and as of Thursday, formerly never convicted of multiple white-collar felonies carrying potentially decades of prison time.
But there is a first time for everything — first kiss, first cigarette, first soliciting funds for a statue of a police officer killed in the line of duty and then blowing that money on personal stuff like rent and plastic surgery and your daughter’s wedding — and so now, barring a successful appeal or some hilarious “Orange Is the New Black”-style hijinks behind bars, we have perhaps seen the last of Fiore after a jury found her guilty of six federal counts of conspiracy and wire fraud. She had pleaded not guilty, natch.
Fiore was serving on the Las Vegas City Council in 2019 when she started collecting funds through both a charity she had founded and her political action committee for what she claimed would be a statue of Alyn Beck, a member of the Las Vegas PD who was ambushed and killed along with his partner while they were eating lunch in a restaurant back in 2014. She allegedly did this despite knowing that a private company was already funding the statue as part of a park it was building in a planned community.
From January of 2019 to February of 2020, Fiore allegedly transferred donations as they came in from her campaign accounts to her daughter’s bank account. The funds were then withdrawn in cash. Prosecutors say the dates of these big withdrawals lined up with Fiore making “large personal purchases.” And while Nevada law allows a person to use leftover campaign funds for a different purpose like donating to a charity, it apparently does not allow that person to spend those funds on injections of lip filler.
Fiore’s daughter, Sheena Siegel, who was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the original indictment, took the stand at one point to claim that she had used the money for various events and expenses for the charity. Then prosecutors started asking her specific questions about some of those checks, and Siegel clammed up and invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. So the jury then was ordered to disregard all of her testimony. Boy, is visiting day at whatever prison Fiore winds up in going to be awkward.
And this isn’t even the first time Fiore has been caught with her hand in this particular cookie jar. Back in early 2020 — again, right around the time she was soliciting and spending funds for the Beck statue — she was accused of paying her daughter’s catering company $109,000 out of her PAC over 18 months for what she called “advertising” and “special events.”
So farewell, Michele Fiore. We will always have the laughs. Also we will always have that terrible no-budget movie you starred in a decade ago with … Erin Gray? From TV’s “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” and “Silver Spoons”? That Erin Gray?
Well. That and a dollar will get you some toothpaste at the prison commissary.
[AP]
Wonkette will never blow your donations on Michele Fiore’s daughter’s wedding. That’s the Wonkette promise.
The movie post is up, tonight we are watching 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐎𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐇𝐢𝐥𝐥. Drop by and play the find Axl and Jasper game!
The coolest thing just happened. I have ordered all new white appliances for my very dark kitchen (no window) which had white cabinets, but also 20-year-old black appliances. I don't like that combination, plus the old fridge has a top freezer which means I can't reach things in the refrigerator section that are at floor level. So the stove arrived 2 weeks ago and is a delight to use, and the new dishwasher has arrived at the store, but the dishwasher can't be installed until I get a plumber to run a water line installed for the ice maker because the line has to run behind the dishwasher. I got quotes from 3 plumbers, and the cheapest was $425. Ouch!
BUT...I am giving the old appliances to the nephew of a coworker of my realtor who flips houses because Habitat ReStore can't come and pick them up due to lack of staff. He came today to take away the dishwasher, and when I told him about the plumbing quotes, he said "I'll do it for you for $200." And I said OH KAY! He also installed the door stop on my front door (at no extra charge), which has tension hinges so the door never stays open when I have bags of groceries to bring inside. He did not charge me for that.
Now wasn't that a nice surprise? Charles Butler, you are a fine human being and I am glad to know you. He will come back to get the old black refrigerator when the new one arrives in 2 weeks.
Nobody stocks white appliances anymore, so I had to order them. Everyone wants stainless steel. I just prefer white because stainless steel magnetically attracts every cat hair in the house and requires constant cleaning. Also, I just don't care for that commercial look. Give me white every time. Also, old dishwashers are NOISY!!!! I got a super quiet one.