College GOP group fundraising may be ripping off seniors

[xray s]

Hey...it looks to me that these guys are just praticing to be salemen for social security privatization con games and private market medicare insurance scam artists...

http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-538630.html

By Ben Evans : The Herald-Sun
[e-mail]
Oct 29, 2004 : 9:24 pm ET

DURHAM -- Local and national GOP officials are distancing themselves from a Washington, D.C.-based college Republican group that has used aggressive and misleading tactics to raise millions of dollars from elderly people.

Meanwhile, a top state official on aging said she would address the group's fund raising at the next meeting of the N.C. Senior Consumer Fraud Task Force so that more families are aware of the issue. She said the pattern of its donations -- with seniors repeatedly giving money several times in the same day or week -- raised questions about the group's tactics....

...the College Republican National Committee has received at least 87 percent of its North Carolina donations from people who list their occupation as retired. Most of those contacted by The Herald-Sun were in their 80s....

Because the CRNC solicits under different names, such as the National Republican Task Force and the National Republican Victory Campaign, many seniors have donated to the group repeatedly, often several times in a single day or week. Many had made more than 50 donations since January, sometimes totaling thousands of dollars.

When asked about their giving, many of them had little understanding of how much they had donated or where their money was going. The group's high-pressure mailings, which often play on senior citizens' emotions, suggest that the money would help re-elect President Bush and other Republicans. But according to the Center for Public Integrity, which monitors campaign spending, the CRNC has spent at least 83 percent of its proceeds since 2000 on direct mailings and other fund-raising expenses.