Some College Republicans regret donors were "misled"

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002096448_republicans20m.html

By Jim Brunner and David Postman
Seattle Times staff reporters

Some College Republicans say the national group's fund-raising tactics have "regretfully misled senior citizens" and want to immediately sever ties to the company that runs its direct-mail campaign.

Critics on the board of the College Republican National Committee worry the group could suffer "irreparable damage in the press, and leave the organization open to future litigation," according to a resolution prepared for a board meeting today in New Orleans.

... The group's top donors are overwhelmingly elderly and include people who made hundreds of donations throughout the year in response to the constant solicitations that arrived in their mailboxes. Some of those donors said the letters were misleading and that the high-pressure tactics led them to give more money than they could afford.

... Some donors believed their money was going to President Bush's re-election campaign or other Republican efforts.

Instead, it went to the College Republicans, with nearly 90 percent being spent for direct-mail vendors and postage, according to records filed with the IRS. The bulk of the vendors' share was paid to Response Dynamics and four other firms that list Kanfer as a corporate officer.

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They would do it again, and probably will, and they'll be more covert and careful not to get caught next time.

It's becoming more clear by the minute that today's Republicans, in general, CANNOT be trusted.

Isn't it scary to think of all the rethugs-in-training there are right now, who will be ready to assume the reins of power in a few years?

somehow I don't think that this will happen but one would think that that would e the 'ethical' thing to do.

In the Nixon years, under the leadership of Morton Blackwell, the College Republican National Committee became a school for dirty tricks. Karl Rove, Lee Atwater, Roger Stone, and Terry Dolan were all prominent figures in the early 70's.

In the Reagan years of the early 80's, the group produced Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed, and Jack Abramoff. (Abramoff, although less well known, has a long history of dubious ventures and is currently at the center of the Indian casino gambling scandal in which Tom DeLay is also embroiled. See http://www.mollyivins.com/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1800)

In 2001, the College Republican National Committee turned itself into a 527 and began scamming little old ladies, using the same direct-mail firm as both Gary Jarmin (long-time Moon supporter and power in the Christian Right) and another right-wing organization of which Abramoff is a director.

These sort of scam tactics have been at the heart of right-wing methodology since 1970, and it is completely disingenuous of the College Republicans to attempt to distance themselves now.

I'm betting it got skimmed by the people at the top. That said, they are proving themselves to be true republicans.

Wonder how sorry they would have been if noone had brought this up?

Of course people like this would never try to steal an election and hack the vote.

One of the poll watchers on election day claimed she was a Libertarian, but as the day went by and she realized that we were doing a good job, she started to talk about her son in school who started a Young Republican's group (may have been high school.) He and his group received accolades for organization; while the Democratic group, she said, was very disorganized.

Now I know what they're doing in those schools. It's all about fund raising at all cost. What I told the poll watcher seems ever more poignant. I told her that I was sure there were honest Republicans, but that I just never met one.

No wonder the College Republicans on campus have so much money. What immoral jerks.

nt

:kick:

It sounds like they're more bothered by the prospect that "the group could suffer 'irreparable damage in the press, and leave the organization open to future litigation,'" than they are that people may have actually been hurt.

Very typical of Republican thinking. The ends justify the means, the means only become a problem if they begin to interfere with the ends. No real sense of ethics there whatsoever, only a concern that they may appear unethical.

I cannot wait for this era of personal responsibility comes to an end!

Unfortunately "the end" appears to be Armageddon - because of the fricking war juggernaut these idiots have devised and foisted upon us.

What more can we do, dammit?

= RICO RICO RICO...

I found only one campaign donation by a "Ronald Kanfer" over the past 26 years....and it is perhaps one of the paltriest I've ever seen.

have a look
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=VA&last=Kanfer