For Christs sake people, get a fucking grip. I'm all in favor of campaign finance reform, hell I've been screaming about it for years, but this is sheer partisan idiocy.
Oh noes! Democracy is being undermined by the little people! Run for the hills! I'll give a crap about prepaid credit cards being used for low dollar donations when I see John "Finance Reform" McCain reject 527 group "advocacy" ads. How many "untraceable" donations would it take to match a $25,000 contribution to Freedoms Watch? How about a $10,000 donation to the DNC? Campaign financing is totally screwed and it is largely because of the argument that "money == speech". I disagree with that point of view. Regardless, there is lots of work to do but starting with pre-paid credit cards for small dollar donations? For fucks sake, get a little sense of perspective here. Judah On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 1:35 PM, Michael Dinowitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > As Gruss brought up the very important point of foreign campaign > contributions, I wanted to follow through. The ability to accept numerous > 'small' contributions could (could, not does) allow for the same problems > and more. This is becoming more of an issue as more things become digital. I > can see a billionaire candidate in the future being able to show a 'popular' > financing of his campaign using a small staff, a huge wallet and some > digital transactions. And that's not counting foreign and/or illegal > contributions. Campaign financing reforms are needed NOW...or else. And this > is an American issue, not a rep/dem one. > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102803413.html > > Contributions Reviewed After Deposits > > By Matthew Mosk > Washington Post Staff Writer > Wednesday, October 29, 2008; A02 > > Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is allowing donors to use largely > untraceable prepaid credit cards that could potentially be used to evade > limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a > contributor's identity, campaign officials confirmed. > > Faced with a huge influx of donations over the Internet, the campaign has > also chosen not to use basic security measures to prevent potentially > illegal or anonymous contributions from flowing into its accounts, aides > acknowledged. Instead, the campaign is scrutinizing its books for improper > donations after the money has been deposited. > > The Obama organization said its extensive review has ensured that the > campaign has refunded any improper contributions, and noted that Federal > Election Commission rules do not require front-end screening of donations. > > In recent weeks, questionable contributions have created headaches for > Obama's accounting team as it has tried to explain why campaign finance > filings have included itemized donations from individuals using fake names, > such as Es Esh or Doodad Pro. Those revelations prompted conservative > bloggers to further test Obama's finance vetting by giving money using the > kind of prepaid cards that can be bought at a drugstore and cannot be traced > to a donor. > > The problem with such cards, campaign finance lawyers said, is that they > make it impossible to tell whether foreign nationals, donors who have > exceeded the limits, government contractors or others who are barred from > giving to a federal campaign are making contributions. > > "They have opened the floodgates to all this money coming in," said Sean > Cairncross, chief counsel to the Republican National Committee. "I think > they've made the determination that whatever money they have to refund on > the back end doesn't outweigh the benefit of taking all this money upfront." > > The Obama campaign has shattered presidential fundraising records, in part > by capitalizing on the ease of online giving. Of the $150 million the > senator from Illinois raised in September, nearly $100 million came in over > the Internet. > > Lawyers for the Obama operation said yesterday that their "extensive > back-end review" has carefully scrubbed contributions to prevent illegal > money from entering the operation's war chest. "I'm pretty sure if I took my > error rate and matched it against any other campaign or comparable > nonprofit, you'd find we're doing very well," said Robert Bauer, a lawyer > for the campaign. "I have not seen the McCain compliance staff ascending to > heaven on a cloud." > > The Obama team's disclosures came in response to questions from The > Washington Post about the case of Mary T. Biskup, a retired insurance > manager from Manchester, Mo., who turned up on Obama's FEC reports as having > donated $174,800 to the campaign. Contributors are limited to giving $2,300 > for the general election. > > Biskup, who had scores of Obama contributions attributed to her, said in an > interview that she never donated to the candidate. "That's an error," she > said. Moreover, she added, her credit card was never billed for the > donations, meaning someone appropriated her name and made the contributions > with another card. > > When asked whether the campaign takes steps to verify whether a donor's name > matches the name on the credit card used to make a payment, Obama's campaign > replied in an e-mail: "Name-matching is not a standard check conducted or > made available in the credit card processing industry. We believe Visa and > MasterCard do not even have the ability to do this. > > "Instead, the campaign does a rigorous comprehensive analysis of online > contributions on the back end of the transaction to determine whether a > contribution is legitimate." > > Juan Proaño, whose technology firm handled online contributions for John > Edwards's presidential primary campaign, and for John F. Kerry's > presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2004, said it > is possible to require donors' names and addresses to match those on their > credit card accounts. But, he said, some campaigns are reluctant to impose > that extra layer of security. > > "Honestly, you want to have the least amount of hurdles in processing > contributions quickly," Proaño said. > > Sen. John McCain's campaign has also had questionable donations slip > through. > > Dan Pfeiffer, Obama's communication's director, said that "no organization > can fully insulate itself from these problems. The McCain campaign has > accepted contributions from fraudulent contributors like 'A for You,' > 'Adorable Manabat,' 'The Gun Shop,' and 'Jesus II' and hundreds of anonymous > donors." > > But R. Rebecca Donatelli, who handles online contributions for the McCain > operation and the RNC, said security measures have been standard in the GOP > nominee's fundraising efforts throughout the campaign. She said she was > "flabbergasted" to learn that the Obama campaign accepts prepaid cards. > > "Yes, a gift card would go through the same process as a regular credit card > and be subject to our same back-end review," the Obama campaign said in its > response to questions about the use of such cards. > > Campaign finance lawyers said there is a long history of debate within the > FEC about how to ensure that donors use their own credit cards. > > Election lawyer Brett Kappel said the FEC has never grappled with the > question of cash cards. "The whole system is set up for them to accept the > payment, then determine whether it is legal or not. And if it's not, send it > back. That's what the statute requires," he said. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:277338 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
