Posted at Scrutiny Hooligans:

Marina Bolshakova is the wife of Boris Bolshakov, former Minister of Foresty and KGB leader. The couple are partners with Charles Taylor in the Bank of Ivanovo, and Mrs. Bolshakova is administrator of the funds appropriated by Charles Taylor. In this photo she stands with a Russian student.

Stolen wholesale from Shuler's website. Go here to donate to the Shuler campaign.
Asheville, NC – Heath Shuler, candidate for Congress in North Carolina’s 11th District, today condemned the earmarking of U.S. taxpayer dollars by Charles Taylor to send Russian students to college and demanded answers from Taylor on the program.
“Helping students from Western North Carolina should be Charles Taylor’s top priority, not using American taxpayer funds to educate students from Russia,” said Shuler. “It is ridiculous that at a time when so many working families in North Carolina are struggling to send their children to college he is using their tax dollars to send Russians to college.”
An article published today in The Hill pointed out that Taylor has used Congressional earmarks to the Small Business Administration to send, “Russian students to eight North Carolina schools.” (The Hill, July 19,2006)

“There is no possible way Charles Taylor can excuse using our tax dollars to send Russians to college, after he voted for the largest cut to federal student aid in history just last year by slashing $14.3 billion from federal student loans over five years,” continued Shuler. (HR 4241, Roll Call Vote #601, 11/18/2005)
Shuler also expressed concern over the fact the Russian coordinator of the program, Marina Bolshakova, is a partner in Taylor’s Russian bank.
“Residents of the 11th District and taxpayers across America deserve to know the full extent of the relationship between Charles Taylor, Marina Bolshakova, and her retired KGB husband. When these three people own a bank together and are using our tax dollars, we need to know what is going on. This relationship didn’t pass the smell test before, and the odor is only getting stronger.”
Shuler demanded answers to the following questions:
* How much taxpayer money has been used on this program? * Shouldn’t we ensure every American can afford to attend college before we use taxpayer money to send foreigners to college? * How many of these students, educated at American taxpayer expense, now work at Taylor’s Russian owned Bank of Ivanovo? * How are these Russian students selected to be educated with American tax dollars? * How many North Carolina small businesses could have been helped if these funds had not been used to send Russians to college? * Wouldn’t casting a “No” vote on CAFTA have been a more effective tool for “correcting international trade imbalances” than this program?"

You can reach Charles Taylor at (828) 251-1988
You can write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Use BlueNC's fancy LTE sending machine or just look up your hometown paper's website or mailing address. This is a good time to call into radio shows and keep this story on people's radar. It's an illustrative portrait of the way Taylor does business.
The campaign is on. If you're going to be a part of it, now's the time to get started. Thanks to everyone who helps!

...read complete post at Scrutiny Hooligans