insiders tell Newsmax. The Obama $5, $10, or $25 with an equal amount
campaign paid one of them, Chase for a previous donor.
Paymentech, just over $2 million to
process its online transactions. Redistributing the
“We never discuss our relation-
ships with any of our merchants,
DISPOSABLE INCOME Gift cards provide
Campaign Wealth
or customers we work with,” James
donors anonymity with no paper trail.
Even when the campaign was
Wester, a spokesman for Chase dealing with real people, it had dif-
Paymentech, told Newsmax. Newsmax, asking not to be quoted fi culty keeping within the bounds
Newsmax asked whether Chase by name. of the laws that limit contributions
Paymentech had any security feature “It’s a lot of data. You’re talking 7 to $4,600. Take the case of Lisa
that would allow it to identify indi- million contributions,” he said. Handley, a stay-at-home mom from
viduals making contributions using The campaign itself is responsible Portland, Ore., who gave $6,900 to
gift cards, but Wester declined to for screening out fraudulent donors, the Obama campaign by credit card,
comment. not Synetech, he said. “I’ve been because “I love Obama,” she says.
But other industry analysts, doing this for 30 years, and this is That put her $2,300 over the
who asked not to be identifi ed, told as well-managed as any [campaign]. limit, a fact the FEC brought to the
Newsmax that processors could track It’s just huge. When it’s this big, any attention of the Obama campaign
gift cards and debit cards “only little thing becomes something more last summer.
by the numbers on the cards.” than it is.” The Obama campaign replied to
“There are no names asso- One of the biggest problems the the FEC notice, saying it had re-
ciated with these cards, so campaign faces is fraud, he said. designated the excess money, which
as a processor, you have no “It’s a colossal problem. They’re could mean that it had contributed
way of knowing who made paying the campaign with other it to a separate party committee or a
the transaction,” one indus- people’s money.” Individuals such joint fundraising committee, both of
“Making a
try analyst said. as “Doodad Pro” and “Good Will” which have higher limits. But if that
Anyone can go into a who made hundreds of contribu- happened, it’s news to Handley.
contribution supermarket or a drugstore tions to the campaign in excess of “No one ever contacted me to
in the name
and buy a batch of these the legal limits were not working for return any of the money or told me
of another
cards with cash, so there is the campaign, but for themselves, he they were re-designating some of the
no trace of the transaction, insisted. money,” she says.
person is he added. “It’s all fraud. They do it for kicks. Ronald J. Sharpe Jr., a retired
the only
“It’s like walk-around Or they’re testing the cards. The teacher from Rockledge, Fla.,
part of
money. They could be campaign doesn’t want this. Why appears in the Obama campaign
handing these things out on earth do they want to have all reports as having given a whopping
federal as perks” to newly regis- these messy little transactions? It’s $13,800. The campaign reported that
election law
tered voters or others, “and a colossal pain.” However, the cam- it returned $4,600 to him, making
that actually
there’s no way of tracing paign itself solicited many of these his net contribution of $9,200 still
who is using them.” “messy little transactions” in numer- way over the legal limit. Worse yet,
carries a Boehm tells Newsmax ous e-mails to supporters. Sharpe says he doesn’t remember
criminal
that contributions such For instance, just days before the giving that much money to the cam-
penalty.”
as these clearly are illegal. convention in Denver, campaign paign in the fi rst place, nor does he
“Making a contribution in manager David Plouffe sent an e-mail recall anyone from the campaign
the name of another person is the to supporters, asking them to “make ever contacting him to return money.
only part of federal election law that a donation of $5 or more before mid- “At the end, I was making monthly
GES
actually carries a criminal penalty,” night this Thursday, July
TY IMA
says Boehm. 31st, and you could go back- /
GET
The Obama campaign paid stage with Barack.”
Synetech Group Inc. of Charlottesville, After that, the cam-
CDIARMID
Va., close to $2 million to compile all paign ran several small
of the campaign contribution data donation drives, claiming /PETER MA
from online contributors, bundlers, to “match” donations of
telemarketers, campaign events, and
direct-mail campaigns, and process it
TROLLING FOR DOLLARS
for submission to the FEC. The sheer
Obama campaign manager
scope of the Obama fundraising jug-
David Plouffe actively
AP IMAGES / CREDIT CARDS
gernaut was “never contemplated by
encouraged donors to send
the FEC,” a company offi cial told
OUFFE/
in contributions of $5 to $10.
PL
52
NEWSMAX / DECEMBER 2008
0046-Cover Story SUNDAY.indd 5246-Cover Story SUNDAY.indd 52 111/10/08 5:37:42 PM1/10/08 5:37:42 PM
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