McCain fundraising scandal?

The McCain campaign's fundraising has been subject to some heightened scrutiny lately and the findings seem to indicate some blatantly illegal practices.

First, earlier this week the press took notice of some very large contributions from Hess Oil executives... and their staff,

Alice Rocchio is an office manager at the New York headquarters of the Hess Corp., drives a 1993 Chevy Cavalier and lives in an apartment in Queens, N.Y., with her husband, Pasquale, an Amtrak foreman.

Despite what appears to be a middle-class lifestyle, the couple has written $61,600 in checks to John McCain's presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee, most of it within days of McCain's decision to endorse offshore oil drilling.

At a June fundraiser, the Rocchios joined top executives at Hess Corp. — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Hess, his wife, Susan, his mother, Norma Hess, and six other officials in giving a total of $313,500 to a joint McCain-RNC fundraising committee, Federal Election Commission records show...

The Rocchios donated $4,600 to McCain's campaign in February and another $57,000 at the June fundraiser.

Alice Rocchio, reached at the office, confirmed that she registered her '93 Chevy in February, but said that she "absolutely'' used her own money to make the donations.

Moments later, she asked a reporter: "Are you done with your questions?''

So a decidedly middle-class family decides to make their first ever political contributions in the amount of $61,000 to the McCain campaign and the RNC. Nothing suspicious about that at all.

Moving on today we find out about more funny business,

The bundle of $2,300 and $4,600 checks that poured into Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign on March 12 came from an unlikely group of California donors: a mechanic from D&D Auto Repair in Whittier, the manager of Rite Aid Pharmacy No. 5727, the 30-something owners of the Twilight Hookah Lounge in Fullerton.

But the man who gathered checks from them is no stranger to McCain -- he shuttled the Republican on his private plane and held a fundraising event for the candidate at his house in Delray Beach, Fla.

Oh my.

UPDATE: Steve Benen has more.