October 22, 2008 (LPAC) -- Senator Barack Obama's reported record-breaking fundraising is eliciting raised eyebrows on two grounds: First, since $42 million, or more than one-third of Obama's indivudal contributions for September, were undocumented under-$200 contributions, suspicions are being raised that this comes from large donors breaking big contributions into smaller ones, or that a significant portion comes from illegal overseas contributions.
Sources have told LPAC that "a lot of people will go to jail" for illegal fundraising for Obama -- but only after the November elections are past.
Second, as a Bloomberg wire story puts it: "Even as he condemns special interests and refuses money from lobbyists, Obama has followed a fundraising model created by President George W. Bush," enlisting over 500 people to "bundle" donations from friends, family and co-workers. The largest categories of "bundlers" are lawyers, including many who lobbied for the likes of Lehman Bros, AIG, and Fannie Mae, and the second largest is representatives of the so-called "securities and investment industry." Obama's biggest single source of campaign cash IS employees of Goldman Sachs and their families, who've contributed $739,521 through Aug. 31 -- even before the September deluge.
Today's Washington Post notes that in addition to the record $150 million that Obama allegedly raised in September, the Democratic Party has created a number of separate committees to rake in funds from donors who had "maxed out" with their $2300 to Obama and $28,500 to the DNC.
One such vehicle is the "Committee for Change," created in mid-July, which allows ultra-rich donors to route money directly into state party accounts, which will fuel field ops for the Obama campaign. An individual may give $65,500 per year to such party committees, in addition to contributions to individual candidates, under FEC regulations. Another such committee IS the Obama Victory Committee. These super-donors include Hollywood celebrities and wealthy families such as the Crown family of Chicago, which is known to have raised at least $500,000 for Obama.
Notably, only 1/4 of Obama's cumulative money comes from donors giving $200 or less -- which is less, as a percentage, than George W. Bush's 2004 campaign.
