Campaign Contribution Limits? No Problem, Just Contribute Online
By Matthew Weaver on October 24, 2008 at 6:30 PM in Barack Obama, Campaign promises, Campaigns & Campaign Financing, John McCain, Public Finance
Obama reneged on his commitment to use public financing and has gone on to raise over $600 million dollars, including a reported $150 million just last month.
Obama claims that much of the record-breaking donations come from small donors, often via his Web site. The symbolism of both the size and number of those donations has taken on mythical proportions. However, it is very worrisome that Obama doesn’t share the details of how those Web donations are procured.
In fact, if the details are as suspected, Obama has found an “inventive” way to fund his campaign and to subvert campaign finance laws. (This week, regular NoQuarter reader Craig initiated a myth-breaking investigation, and his findings are being published widely, at least around the blogosphere. Links to the blog posts are listed at the end of my story.)
John McCain noted yesterday in an exclusive interview with Joseph Curl of the Washington Times:
Mr. McCain said Mr. Obama’s giant fundraising total — he announced this weekend that he raised more than $150 million in September — is going to produce “a scandal.”
His campaign and the Republican National Committee have released the names of all his donors, including those who have contributed less than $200. That’s not required by federal election rules, and Mr. Obama has declined to release his small-dollar donors, leading to speculation that some donors are trying to circumvent fundraising laws.
Some of Obama’s donors are trying?! It’s more that his donors are indeed circumventing fundraising laws. Consider how this works …
You can contribute to Obama’s campaign via his Web site in amounts from $5 to $2,300, in each instance. There appear to be no sensible checks in the submission form, and there’s only a simple note at the bottom of the page that states that an individual can only contribute up to $2,300 per election and that the contribution made on the Web site page “is designated for the general election.”
But, this reminder is virtually meaningless since no wording on the Web site page that states that donors must use their real names. Nor does the Obama donation page require that you confirm that you are using your real name.
In other words, in Barack Obama’s world, your decision to obey FEC (Federal Election Commission) laws is entirely voluntary.
Most alarming is that there appears to be NO mechanism on Obama’s donation page to ensure that the name of the donor matches the name on the credit card.
- Go to the Obama Web site to make a contribution.
- Fill in the form, even with bogus information—nothing asks for true or correct information.
- Enter a contribution from $5 to $2,300.
- Enter a credit card type, number, and expiration.
- Check the confirmation that you are legally eligible to make a contribution (i.e., that you are a U.S. citizen or legal resident, at least 16 years old, etc.). Again, nothing is required that you verify that you are using your real name.
- Submit the contribution.
- You will receive a thank you note. The note is quite simple: “Your donation has been processed. Thank you for your generous gift.”
This is campaign money laundering made easy. There is no validation that the name and address entered match the credit card’s information. Nor was the security code on the card requested.
Ignore the campaign aspect of this for a moment.
The Obama Web site is obviously set up to bypass common security checks: There is no Address Verification Check (the 3-4 digit number on your card). And there is no requirement to match your billing address, no City-State-ZIP code match.
Since none of these is verified by the Web site’s programming system, it is very likely that the site is a dream for anyone whose donation comes from another country. Foreign donors, merely by using their credit cards, can donate just as easily as U.S. donors. These are settings that the Obama campaign had to intentionally set up, and it is at odds with the well-established security precautions implemented by nearly all online merchants and many brick-and-mortar businesses.
If you consider that any time you make a purchase, you are asked for or are tested for these common security precautions and verifications, why are these simple requirements not in place on Obama’s campaign Web site?
As others have noted, McCain’s Web site does perform those security and identity checks. Further, McCain is transparent on all donations. Obama is not. Why? He simply wants the money regardless of source, regardless of amount, and without respect for any applicable laws.
What does this mean?
- If the Obama campaign relies on the form information, rather than the credit card billing information, then they are blissfully ignorant of who is contributing, under what name(s), and how much they are contributing through multiple instances.
- The Obama campaign does not appear to validate your card entry, leaving the onus to catch fraudulent use to credit card companies or card holders.
- The lack of requirements to use one’s real name and offer validation appears to allow contributors to send as much as they want in multiple, small amounts under multiple names.
- Further, since you can buy anonymous gift cards, you can truly donate as much as you want without respect to campaign limits.
This is an incredible way to subvert campaign finance laws and to launder unlimited amounts of money into the Obama campaign. It is therefore no wonder that Obama opted to renege on public financing!
Yes, as Senator McCain notes, this is a scandal in the making. Not just $150 million, but over $600 million!
So, Senator Obama, I have a few questions for you:
- Do you match donor names with names on their credit cards before processing transactions? If so, what percentage of those names match up? If not, why not? When and how are discrepancies caught?
- Do you check donor IP addresses for U.S. locations? If not, why not?
- Have you received more than $2,300 from any given credit card? How many and how much?
- How much have you received from gift credit cards?
- Do you match donor and/or credit card names and contact information to state and local voter registration lists? If so, how many match or don’t match? If not, why not?
- How many donor email or physical addresses are not valid when you send ot that automated thank you note or a follow-up request?
- For the sake of transparency, will you release all donor names, matching credit card names, contact information, IP addresses, and amounts contributed?
Special thanks to reader Craig who pointed out the problems with Obama’s Web site fundraising. Craig shared his findings with other bloggers who have also reported on the disturbing lack of identity verification on Obama’s Web donation page:
- “WHO IS JOHN GALT?,” Powerline blog, October 23, 2008
- “WHAT DID DELLA WARE?,” Powerline blog, October 24, 2008
- “The Obama scammer,” National Review Online (Mark Steyn), October 23, 2008
- “We Get Results,”
National Review Online (Mark Steyn), October 23, 2008 - “Not a Bombshell: Barack Obama’s Campaign Website Encourages Fraudulent Donations,” Ace of Spades, October 22, 2008
Cross-posted on my blog, The Independent View.
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By Sarah Palin (Release date: November 17. 2009)
Hmmm…..very suspicious, matthew. who is giving and why they are giving in such nos. is very suspicious.
Matthew -
Please send this as a “newstip” to FOX News. I would go ahead and send to the other networks as well although we all know that’s probably a lost cause.
But - send to Sean Hannity too. Just think it helps to have you, as author send it - with back ups from we readers as well.
Al1een, what happened here tonite? It looks like a couple of articles & a few threads have disappeared.
Whoa… what happened?
Sorry socialanni -
Just getting back here. At this time, 5:39, I’m not noticing missing articles/threads - it could have happened, but I’m just basing it on my memory of what was posted a bit ago.
Larry had a couple of posts up earlier, about bo’s Hawaii trip & these threads were a lot longer. Looks like server trouble maybe. Anyway, 3am here, I think I can finally sleep. Thanks for getting back to me!
socialannie - WOW! I never saw those at all so look forward to reading them. I know Susan did mention NQ’s need for more servers as they keep growing by leaps and bounds - therefore, I always try to donate when i can as I think I might lose it without my NQ connection and knowing that at least there are some others “out there” who think along the same vein.
All great questions. It smacks of Organized Crime.
And considering the Combine politics BO was hatched by…
If it smells like a skunk in labor it is definitely BO’s child.
Great read. I am wondering if one subtracts all donations that BO has recieved AND reported what percent of his donations are not transparent and therefore suspect?
Can the DOJ do any forensic audit?
i stumbled upon this site by accident. will u ppl never stop? i voted for Obama and donated the maximum amount. i wouldnt have even realized that i had reached the maximum but went i clicked on the submit key the last time i tried to contribute, i was given an error page telling me so. that was after the fact that i checked that my donation met all donation requirements. i cud have checked it anyway and clicked submit and if i hadnt already met the limit it wud have indeed gone thru but i know that all contributions are sorted thru and every effort is made. it’s not that difficult, if u knew anything about software you would know this and all that suspision that all on here are writing about wud realize it was for naught. and i assure u that if john mccain had raised this much money none of u wud be complainiing or questioning who, where , why it came from. I think u can just look at the total number of ppl who voted, the new voters that took part and the amount by which Barack WON the presidency and get ur answer. the people have spoken now its time to move forward and try to pull our country out of the mess that the bush administration has created by in incompetence to govern and to tell the truth. so, if you want to help ur country, cut the whining, join dividedwefail.org and let’s get to work. if u want to talk about suspicious things going on and downright illegal ones, why don’t u all spend your time in the past…the past 8 years. you’ll have plenty to whine and write about it u want to really worry about lies and deceit and cheating.
DO NOT TRY IT OUT. NOT ONLY WILL YOU CONTRIBUTE TO OBAMA, YOU WOULD BE COMITTING FRAUD.
Sorry, for the caps. Just wanted to warn you. Enough people have tested it.
DAMN!
.
Berg’s lawsuit DISMISSED
.
What means anything anymore? I mean, seriously, what really means anything? We are about to elect a man who is not a natural born citizen of the United States. No one cares. This has been proven. This is not smearing. Our Constitution has automatically been made invalid.
Disapointing news!
On what grounds? Is there a link?
Sorry, saw the link too late, but thanks for it, typical.white.person.
He expected this. He will appeal the case.
It is a wonder that the MSM is turning a blind eye to this investigation for when Obama turned down public financing he was scolded by many editors for this action. Campaign finance reform was a pet issue these editors had championed years past.
It is a sick relationship with the Obama campaign - you start out with flirtatious emails and one compromise leads to another until you ultimately find yourself doing a raunchy porn video that gets widely distributed on the internet.
EyesOpen - ROTFL!!! What a hilarious, but spot on analogy.
When I donated to Hillary’s campaign, I had to provide the security code on the back of the card. Looks like Obama’s two biggest selling points in the primary were a crock of shit. It was all about “just look at all those new Democrats Obama has registered, and all that money from small donations”. Now we are learning that the DNC gave the nomination to Obama for registering Mickey Mouse and letting him donate with a stolen credit card. What a damned mess.
I never doubted that he was cheating like crazy. Frankly, he blew up a decade’s effort in controlling campaign costs.
Now and forever forward, the one with the biggest bucket of money wins the game.
Disgusting, isn’t it?
And this is from the Democrats.
In the future, any Democrat who tries to play the Republican is buying your vote card will be a laughing stock of everyone.
GOOD ARTICLE…
more problems for Barry…and the minions…
ttp://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/10/obamas-contri-1.html
Obamas Secret Campaign Cash: Has $63 Million Flowed from Foreign Sources?
Sunday, October 19, 2008 6:28 PM
By: Kenneth R. Timmerman
As Barack Obama reaped a stunning $150 million in campaign donations in September, bringing his total to more than $600 million, new questions have arisen about the source of his amazing funding.
By Obamas own admission, more than half of his contributions have come from small donors giving $200 or less. But unlike John McCains campaign, Obama wont release the names of these donors.
A Newsmax canvass of disclosed Obama campaign donors shows worrisome anomalies, including outright violations of federal election laws.
For example, Obama has numerous donors who have contributed well over the $4,600 federal election limit.
Many of these donors have never been contacted by the Obama campaign to refund the excess amounts to them.
And more than 37,000 Obama donations appear to be conversions of foreign currency.
According to a Newsmax analysis of the Obama campaign data before the latest figures were released, potential foreign currency donations could range anywhere from $12.8 million to a stunning $63 million in all. With the addition of $150 million raised in September, this amount could be much more.
When asked by Newsmax about excess contributions, Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said that contributions already identified as excess had been returned and that those the campaign was just learning about either through news accounts or from the Federal Election Commission will be returned.
Every campaign faces the challenge of screening and reviewing its contributions, LaBolt said. And we have been aggressive about taking every available step to make sure our contributions are appropriate, updating our systems when necessary.
But many of the donors Newsmax canvassed said they had never been contacted by the Obama campaign or seen any refunds, even though their contributions went over the limit months ago.
In all, Newsmax found more than 2,000 donors who had contributed in excess of the $4,600 limit for individuals per election cycle.
Such donations, if not returned within 60 days, are a clear violation of federal campaign finance laws.
Lisa Handley, a stay-at-home mom from Portland, Ore., recalled giving $4,600 to the Obama campaign by credit card, contributions she made because I love Obama, she said.
According to FEC records, however, she gave an additional $2,300 to the campaign, putting her over the limit.
The Obama campaign reported that it had redesignated the excess money, which could mean that it had contributed it to a separate party committee or a joint fundraising committee, which have higher limits.
But if that happened, its news to Handley. No one ever contacted me to return any of the money or told me they were redesignating some of the money, she said.
Ronald J. Sharpe Jr., a retired teacher from Rockledge, Fla., appears in the Obama campaign reports as having given a whopping $13,800.
The campaign reported that it returned $4,600 to him, making his net contribution of $9,200 still way over the legal limit.
But theres one problem with the Obama data: Sharpe doesnt remember giving that much money to the Obama campaign in the first place, nor does he recall anyone from the campaign ever contacting him to return money.
At the end, I was making monthly payments, he told Newsmax. The Obama campaign records do not show any such payments.
Many donors refused to answer questions about the political campaign contributions appearing in their name when they learned that the caller was from a news organization.
John Atkinson, an insurance agent in Burr Ridge, Ill., refused to discuss his contributions, which totaled $8,724.26, before numerous refunds.
Atkinson and others gave in odd amounts: $188.67, $1,542.06, $876.09, $388.67, $282.20, $195.66, $118.15, and one rounded contribution of $2,300.
Sandra Daneshinia, a self-employed caregiver from Los Angeles, made 36 separate contributions, totaling $7,051.12, according to FEC records. Thirteen of them were eventually refunded.
In a bizarre coincidence, those 13 refunded contributions for varying amounts such as $223.88 and $201.44 added up exactly to $2,300, the amount an individual may give per federal election.
Also giving in odd amounts was Robert Porter, an accountant for the town of Oviedo, Fla. Porter gave a surprising $4,786.02 to the Obama campaign.
In all, Newsmax found an astonishing 37,265 unique donors to the Obama campaign whose contributions were not rounded up to dollar amounts. That amounts to more than 10 percent of the total number of unique donors whose names have been disclosed by the Obama campaign to the public.
Of those, 44,410 contributions came in unrounded amounts of less than $100. FEC regulations only require that campaigns disclose the names of donors who have given a total of $200 or more, so that means that all these contributors were repeat donors.
Another 15,269 contributions gave in unrounded amounts between $101 and $999, while 704 of the unrounded contributions were in amounts of more than $1,000.
Campaign finance experts find the frequent appearance of unrounded contributions suspicious, since contributors almost invariably give in whole dollar amounts.
One expert in campaign finance irregularities offers a possible explanation.
Of course this is odd. They are obviously converting from local currency to U.S. dollars, said Ken Boehm, the chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center.
The overwhelming number of large dollar contributors and even small donors are in even dollar amounts, he told Newsmax. Anyone who doubts that can go to FEC.gov and look through the campaign contribution data bases. You will not find many uneven numbers.
Boehm said he had rarely seen unrounded contributions in his 30 years as a lawyer doing campaign finance work.
Theres always the odd cat who wants to round up his checkbook, but they are very rare, he said.
Richard E. Hug, a veteran Republican fundraiser in Maryland who who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and spearheaded the successful 2002 gubernatorial race for Bob Ehrlich that brought in a record $10 million, told Newsmax that unrounded contributions were extremely unusual.
Ive never seen this in all my years of raising money for political candidates, he said. The first thing it suggests is foreign currency transactions contributions from foreign donors, which is clearly illegal.
Top Republican fundraiser Steve Gordon, who has raised $65 million for GOP candidates over the past 30 years, told Newsmax that such contributions in uneven amounts would be pretty unusual.
You might have a rounding process if there was some kind of joint event, but since all appears to be on the Internet, its pretty unusual. At the very least, it would need to be explored.
LaBolt attributed the uneven amounts to the online Obama store, which sells T-shirts and other campaign items.
Contributions made to the Obama store often produce totals that are not exact dollar amounts, he said.
But the campaign has never produced any accounting for proceeds from its online store, which virtually shut down several weeks ago after Newsmax and news organizations revealed that Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and other foreigners had made large purchases there.
The Republican National Committee has filed a complaint against the Obama campaign for accepting prohibited contributions from foreign nationals and excessive contributions from individuals, which incorporated reporting from Newsmax and other news organizations.
Their responses to FEC inquiries have often been inadequate and late, RNC general counsel Sean Cairncross told Newsmax.
The Obama camp claims to have 2.5 million donors in all. But until now, they have kept secret the names of the overwhelming majority of these money-givers. According to a Newsmax analysis, the Obama campaign finance records contain just 370,448 unique names.
Even accounting for common names such as Robert Taylor or Michael Brown, which can signify multiple donors, Obamas publicly known donor base is less than 20 percent of the total number of donors the campaign claims to have attracted. But the identity of the other 2 million donors is being kept secret.
As of the end of August, those secret donors have given an incredible $222.7 million to Obama, according to the FEC money whose origin remains unknown to anyone other than Obamas finance team, who wont take calls from the press.
While no exact figures are available, if the same percentage of potential foreign contributions found in the itemized contribution data is applied to the total $426.9 million the Obama camp says it has taken in from individuals, this could mean that Obama is financing his presidential campaign with anywhere from $13 million to a whopping $63 million from overseas credit cards or foreign currency purchases.
The sum of all unrounded contributions in the itemized FEC filings for the Obama campaigns comes to $6,437,066.07. That is the actual amount of money that appears to have been charged to foreign credit cards that the Obama campaign has disclosed.
If the same ratio applies to the unitemized contributions, which are again as large, then the Obama campaign may have taken as much as $13 million from foreign donors.
However, the donors who made those unrounded contributions gave a total of $31,484,584.27, meaning that as much as $63 million may have come from questionable sources.
Both presidential campaigns are required to submit detailed fundraising reports for September on Monday.
Calpundit add $.15
Daily Kos add $.01
EdCone.com add $.13
Eschaton add $.18
The Hamster add $.04
Instapundit add $.03
pandagon.net add $.07
Political Wire add $.09
Seeing the Forest add $.02
Talk Left add $.11
Talking Points Memo add $.22
Yellow Dog Blog add $.36
Hillary is 44 add $.44
You’d be forgiven if the above list doesn’t make any sense to you. But in the old, pre-ActBlue days, the easiest way to make sure your blog got “credit” for driving donations was to have your readers append a certain amount of cents to every donation. $20.01, you know it’s from Kos. $20.22, it’s from Talking Points Memo, and so on.
If you go to his website and you’re an American working in, say, Spain, you donate 50 US dollars by credit card and the bank will convert it to Euros. You can’t donate 40 euros and have it come out weird in dollars. If you send them a check or money order, it will be in US dollars, and you usually tell them the amount you want the check for, not throw a bunch of money at the clerk and see what it comes out to. The only case I can think of is some sort of event where people donate local cash, which doesn’t seem awful likely.
Also, I don’t see anything suspicious there even IF the money did come from overseas. Expatriates are Americans and have just as much right to donate to presidential candidates as any other American.
Obama’s on-line contribution system revealed the loop-holes in our system.
There’s no question that his donations are illegal.
What does it matter, I say.
He blew out fair election principles.
He blew it out.
He’s a snake.
Why is this a surprise? That sounds like classic Chicago crook behavior to me.
He has no respect for the process. He’ll do ANYTHING to win.
I’ve abandoned “hope” of seeing any kind of useful “change” from him. In fact, I “believe” he’s just a lying, cheating power-hungry politician. His line of BS has a snappy beat, but it’s the same old huckstering, lies and thuggery that we’ve seen from politicians like George Bush. Short on knowledge, long on bullying.
God, or any other deity, or none at all, Save America.
What worries me most? I think he is about to win due to the dramatic economic news.
Nothing more.
And that means…..no change.
I am not feeling discouraged because of McCain. He may not win, but the message is strong, and it’s obviously supported.
But I am a bit down in the dumps over the willingness of people to just “flip’ the government in a kind of “hail-Mary” shot.
That’s why Bush got his war. It was that pent-up sense of retribution. I don’t care what anyone says now. The public was behind Bush in initiating this war. The public has a HUGE part to play. It irritates me to no end to see the public now blame the politicians. Good grief, I watched as solid long-time senators got voted out for voicing their objections.
The public asked for this dang war.
And they are asking for it again, in my opinion.
“Save us….”
With no real investigation of the issues.
It is the bad part of Democracy, I guess.
Yes, he has done anything to win since he began his career, and once in power, he will do anything to protect his power. I am afraid. Get out there and convince everyone you meet that they need to get enthusiastic about the mcCain ticket.
It seems like the point is, that an audit is needed. Whether it will happen before the election is almost moot, because people are already voting.
Re, Obama going to visit his grandmother, I had the same hit as Larry except I recollected that the family already went recently. Maybe that was the purpose. however, his visit does reinforce my view that every time something “icky” is about to happen Obama, takes a trip and lets others work the problem out.
http://roofingbird.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/wheres-the-money/
It seems like the point is, that an audit is needed. Whether it will happen before the election is almost moot, because people are already voting.
Re: Obama going to visit his grandmother; I had the same hit as Larry, except I recollected that the family already had gone recently. Maybe that was the purpose. However, his visit does reinforce my view that every time something “icky” is about to happen, Obama takes a trip and lets others work the problem out.
http://roofingbird.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/wheres-the-money/
Sorry, it just wasn’t loading. Remove the first duplicate comment at your leisure.
You are funny! to process a credit card transaction the name must match the credit card….or the transaction will not process. Imagine if it were so easy! There would be so much more credit card fraud. But nice try. I’m with you on gift cards, I have little experience there. but as far as the IP addresses…..citizens and permanent residents have the right to make the contribution while a foreign country….so you can’t actually limit that. As a donor under the $200 mark you have the expected privacy of not having people find out that you supported the campaign. That can be important. One of my clients has a very public position and made a contribution over the limit to the republicans…and gets much grief from people who do not support the republicans.