OT From My Inbox


Subject: Fw: GO Maureen... I've been asking the exact same thing for a while now....


Maureen Dowd, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, became a columnist
on The New York Times Op-Ed page in 1995 after having served as a correspondent in the
paper'sWashington bureau since 1986. She has covered four presidential campaigns and served as White
House correspondent. She also wrote a column, "On Washington," for The New York Times Magazine.
& nbsp;
Ms. Dowd joined The New York Times as a metropolitan reporter in 1983. She began her career in
1974 as an editorial assistant for The Washington Star, where she later became a sports columnist,
metropolitan re porter and feature writer. When the Star closed in 1981, she went to Time magazine.

Born in Washington D.C. , Ms. Dowd received a B.A. degree in English literature from Catholic
University ( Washington , D.C. ) in 1973.

WHERE DID OBAMA'S MONEY COME FROM???????
Subject: New York Times Editorial
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: June 29, 2008
Go to Columnist Page


Certainly the most interesting and potentially devastating phone call I have received during
this election cycle came this week from one of the Obamaâ's campaign internet geeks. These are the
staffers who devised Obama's internet fund raising campaign which raised in the neighborhood of $200
million so far. That is more then twice the total funds raised by any candidate in history and this
was all from the internet campaign.

What I learned from this insider was shocking but I guess we shouldn't be surprised that when it
c omes to fund raising there simply are no rules that can't be broken and no ethics that prevail.

Obama's internet campaign started out innocently enough with basic e-mail networking, lists
saved from previous party campaigns and from supporters who visited any of the Obama campaign web
sites.

Small contributions came in from these sources and the internet campaign staff were more than
pleased by the results.

Then, about two months into the campaign the daily contribution intake multiplied. Where was it
coming from? One of the web site security monitors began to notice the bulk of the cont ribution s
were clearly coming in from overseas internet service providers and at the rate and frequency of
transmission it was clear these donations were programmed by a very sophisticated user.

While the security people were not able to track most of the sources due to firewalls and other
blocking devices put on these contributions they were able to collate the number of contributions
that were coming in seemingly from individuals but the funds were from only a few credit card
accounts and bank electronic funds transfers. The internet service providers (ISP) they were able
to trace were from Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries. One of the banks used
for fund transfers was also located in Saudi Arabia.

Another concentrated group of donations was traced to a Chinese ISP with a similar pattern of
limited credit card charges.

It became clear that these donations were very likely coming from sources other than American
voters. This was discussed at length within the campaign and the decision was made that none of
these donations violated campaign financing laws.

It was also decided that it was not the responsibility of the campaign to audit these millions
of contributions as to the actual source (specific credit card number or bank transfer account
numbers) to insure that none of these internet contributors exceeded the legal maximum donation on a
cumulative basis of many small donations. They also found the record keeping was not complete
enough to do it anyway.

This is a shocking revelation.

We have been concerned about the legality of bundling contributions after the recent exposure of
illegal bundlers but now it appears we may have an even greater problem.

I guess we should have been somewhat suspicious when the numbers started to come out. We were
told (no proof offered) that the Obama internet contributions were from $10.00 to $25.00 or so.

If the $200,000,000 is right, and the average contribution was $15.00, that would mean over 13
million individuals made contributions? That would also be 13 million contributions would need to
be processed. How did all that happen?

I believe the Obama campaign's internet fund raising needs a serious, in depth investigation and
audit. It also appears the whole question of internet fund raising needs investigation by the legis
lature and perhaps new laws to insure it complies not only with the letter of these laws but the
spirit as well.

IS IT RIGHT FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO HAVE AN INVESTMENT IN WHO BECOMES OUR NEXT PRESIDENT??? IF
YOU ARE IN AGREEMENT WITH THIS, PLEASE PASS IT ON.




Regards,

Rich Koerner,
Time Electronics.
www.timeelect.com

Specialists in Live Sound FOH Engineering,
Music & Studio Production,
Vintage Instruments, and Tube Amplifiers
.

Relevant Pages

  • Where did B.Os Money Come From....????
    ... OBAMA'S TROUBLING INTERNET FUND RAISING ... Obama's campaign internet geeks. ... monitors began to notice the bulk of the contributions were clearly ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Where did B.Os Money Come From....????
    ... OBAMA'S TROUBLING INTERNET FUND RAISING ... Obama's campaign internet geeks. ... monitors began to notice the bulk of the contributions were clearly ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Where did B.Os Money Come From....????
    ... OBAMA'S TROUBLING INTERNET FUND RAISING ... Obama's campaign internet geeks. ... monitors began to notice the bulk of the contributions were clearly ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: who is barack obama?
    ... OBAMA'S TROUBLING INTERNET FUND RAISING ... Obama's campaign internet geeks. ... Small contributions came in from these sources and the internet campaign ...
    (rec.martial-arts)
  • Re: who is barack obama?
    ... OBAMA'S TROUBLING INTERNET FUND RAISING ... Obama's campaign internet geeks. ... Small contributions came in from these sources and the internet campaign ...
    (rec.martial-arts)