"A registered Republican until last month". Cashing in on fame of popular Obama....

[GreenTea]

The republicans will love this...Having Dems worried about making donations to Democratic candidates & progressive causes via the Internet...Fucking republicans!


Cashing in on fame of popular Obama
Unauthorized fundraising effort gives nothing to official campaign

The state chairman of the "Californians for Obama" campaign has raised thousands of dollars in donations through promotions ranging from celebrity-studded Mexican cruises to CD sales to campaign office "grand openings" in support of the popular Illinois Democratic senator and presidential candidate.

But the official presidential campaign of Barack Obama said Tuesday it was unaware of the activities of the entirely unauthorized Southern California-based fundraising efforts of Emmett Cash III -- a self-proclaimed former movie mogul who was a registered Republican until last month.

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton, after being informed by The Chronicle of Cash's Los Angeles-based fundraising activities, said the senator's camp Tuesday issued a stern warning "asking him to close operations."

Cash, a week after he earned media coverage and addressed supporters at a "Californians for Obama" campaign office opening in San Bernardino, insists he has done nothing illegal.

But critics say his independent efforts to parlay Obama's presidential drive into a fundraising bonanza illustrates an increasingly disturbing trend in political campaigns of the Internet age -- the proliferation of entrepreneurs who use technology to scoop up voter donations without official campaign sanction.

Cash's "Californians for Obama" boasted an official-looking Web site that was graced by a smiling photo of the candidate. The site pitched a star-studded Obama "Women of Power" cruise for 2,000 to Mexico that attracted donors like a 65-year-old woman from Compton (Los Angeles County), who said she has paid the $2,423 cruise fee believing the funds would help support her candidate.

But a Chronicle examination of the latest Federal Election Commission records on file for the organization for the reporting period ending June 30 shows that while Cash has raised nearly $10,000 this year, not one dollar has gone to the Obama campaign -- or any other political candidate.

Indeed, nearly two thirds of the group's 2007 funding has already been paid out either to Cash himself -- for listed expenses such as salary and travel and snacks -- or to his organization's accounting firm, Burbank-based Durkee & Associates. Other expenses include U.S. postage and signs, the records show.

Cash, reached Tuesday by phone in his Southern California offices, said he has never claimed his efforts are official or beneficial to the Illinois senator's campaign....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/25/OBAMA.TMP&tsp=1

[silverweb]

1. Nice scam.

I'm glad he was exposed relatively quickly and hope he receives prompt justice.

[LaPera]

2. I can see Rove & the republicans minds turning right now, how they can create more

of these bogus operations to take money away from democrats and at the same time keeping some from making donations on the Internet. This is truly pitiful!

[silverweb]

3. Isn't that the truth!

Let's hope that Dems are smart enough to check to make sure any money they pay out is through official campaign channels!

[Richard Steele]

4. I think their minds turned awhile ago, and this is one of the results.

Why else did this guy DROP his Repub credentials?
That isn't changing the scam at all, is it?

No, just removing connections that might point back to the
scam's actual origins.