Edwards labor 527 in part funded by elderly widow of heir to Mellon fortune

I would think riding these *stories* into the ground would at least give monumental saddle sores. :rofl:

:sarcasm:

:rofl:

Vote Hope
http://www.votehope2008.com/

Obama's supporters get around money limit

Lance Williams, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/08/08/MN9JREV751.DTL&type=printable

I've received three pieces of mail from the SEIU for Edwards
I've received two pieces from Emily's List and two from AFSCME for Hillary
All of the Obama mail I've received has come from his own campaign

It is a union which can, within legal guidelines, support a candidate. If Obama wins the nomination, will you insist that he disavow union support and coordinated campaign strategy?

*crickets*

Alliance for a New America is a 527 set up by SEIU locals and funded by who the hell knows, including "Oak Spring Farms." A "coordinated campaign strategy" between a candidate and a 527 is illegal. Unions have federal PACs in which they do coordinate efforts with campaigns where it is legal to do certain things like GOTV and phone banking. Alliance for a New America is not a federal PAC, but a 527, and it cannot coordinate with a campaign.



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/us/politics/27donate.html?ref=politics

Show me where it even hints that there was suggested coordination between the Edwards campaign and an not yet organized 527...

"From: David Rolf
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 6:27 PM
To: Rickman Jackson; redacted; redacted; Tom Woodruff; Anna Burger; Josie Mooney; redacted; redacted; redacted; redacted; Alice Dale, Kristy Sermersheim; Dana Graham; redacted; redacted; redacted; redacted; redacted; redacted; redacted; redacted; Gary Smith; redacted; David Rolf; redacted; redacted

Cc: Stacy Pederson
Subject: SEIU for Edwards conference call

This email provides the notes from today’s “SEIU for Edwards,” meeting, a summary of decisions, and an announcement of our Saturday phone call. Skip to the end for the call-in numbers for Saturday if you were at the meeting and don’t need the summary. And also note everyone’s email addresses above, for future communications.

At today’s “SEIU for Edwards” meeting convened in Chicago upon adjournment of the IEB, we decided:

1) To spend this week moving the maximum number of states into a pro-Edwards position using the procedures adopted by the IEB. Our targets for an early round of endorsements are: AZ, AR, CA, CO, GA, IA, ID, KY, LA, MA, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NH, OH, TN, TX, WA, and WV. (A potential second round might include any from the above list that can’t move as fast as this week, plus OR, RI, CT, NV, and PA, depending on some state-specific factors).

2) To be prepared to roll out thse endorsement in a coordinated press strategy with the Edwards campaign next week, possibly as early as Monday.

3) To discuss with the Edwards campaign what specific sort of support they’d like to see from us, given our new state-based strategy. Tom Woodruff will talk to David Bonior; I will talk to Chris Cafe; Cathy Singer Glasson and I will visit the Edwards operation in Iowa on Wednesday.

4) To bring-on a full-time staff person to coordinate our efforts and plan the campaign. Payroll & legal structure will be determined by attorneys, but will not be on SEIU International payroll, since SEIU International is not making an endorsement at this time. People should move suggested names to Tom. W. There was general agreement that the campaign will likely involve fundraising, field work in early states, media in early states, and require full time staffing and a serious 527 legal structure for any communication beyond our membership.

5) To operate this group as an “SEIU for Edwards” steering committee, and to expand it to include local union executive officers from non-IEB locals that are pro-Edwards (for example, Missouri).

6) To meet again by conference call on Saturday, October 13 at 8 am PDT/11 am EDT. The call-in number will be the same as previous “SEIU for Edwards” calls” 1-866-285-7776 participant code 775000; host code 465874.

Talk to you then,

David Rolf"

Not only is there a Vote Hope 527 but there is also a Vote Hope PAC that, according to the Boston Globe is the first PAC set up specifically to elect a candidate.





I suggest Obama and his supporters remove the log from their eye.

They stopped. Obama didn't need to be confronted in the last week of the campaign by news media in order to do the right thing.

http://www.votehope2008.com/

Will you confront him now and ask him to disavow both the Vote Hope 527 and the Vote Hope PAC?

Months ago, I watched his news conference when he said told them off sternly, without prompting by the news media or by
other campaigns. He said, "If you want to help me, then join my campaign."

Obama HAS disavowed them and told his campaign not to have anything to do with them. In fact, the head of VoteHope
left the organization awhile ago. It's pretty much defunct.

Using rightwing blogs and tactics to smear Democratic candidates?

MSNBC's Robach compared pro-Obama 527 with discredited Swift Vets group

http://mediamatters.org/items/200706220008

Maybe you didn't read it?

There are two separate entities:

VoteHope 527 PAC is used to support local candidates and for voter registration drives - not in support of Obama. A 527 is prohibited by law to support a specific candidate in a federal election.

VoteHope federal PAC (not a 527) funds are intended for direct support of Obama and GOTV and they have every legal right to do it.

There are no Obama campaign staffers, current or former, attached to VoteHope in either case.

However, Obama months ago requested that his supporters not donate through VoteHope or any outside group, but directly to his campaign.

I am unaware of any attack ads produced by VoteHope. Perhaps you have links?

in acknowledging that they are two separate entities. More from the founder of both organizations:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200708090008

"A June 22 MSNBC.com article cited Vote Hope founder Steve Phillips on the differences between the two groups:

Phillips claims Vote Hope is going to keep the money it raises as a 527 separate from the money it raises as a PAC. Only the PAC money, he said, will be used in direct support of Obama for TV ads and get-out-the-vote efforts. On the other hand, the 527 money will be used to support local candidates "inspired by Obama" and for voter-registration efforts. "


I am unaware that The Alliance for a New America has run any attack ads on Obama. Perhaps you have links?

I am not criticizing Vote Hope. I am pointing out the hypocrisy of smearing Edwards with the existence of a active 527 when Obama's got one of his own.

Oooh ... this could get like the Brooke Astor story. Wonder if the old lady has any idea of where her money is going. Wonder if she is even compos mentis.

Oh, but we've got to save all the lawyers in this country (no, not the constitutional lawyers or the civil rights attorneys, just the personal injury lawyers!), because that is so the priority in times of perpetpual war and economic meltdown.

Nowhere in the article does it claim that Mellon donated $495,000. It quite clearly states that an organization with which her attorney is affiliated with donated the money. Hell, even Ben Smith writing on a rightwing political blog is being more honest than you.

The article also claims that Mellon was a close friend of Jackie Kennedy. A fact that the OP conveniently edited out.

I copied five paragraphs within the guidelines of DU and included the link.

Your citation:

"The $495,000 check came from Oak Spring Farms LLC, which has written large checks to groups associated with Edwards in the past. The New York Sun's Josh Gerstein reported last year that the company is linked to a lawyer who holds power of attorney for Mellon, who was then 96."



The original with the sentence from the same paragraph that you edited out in bold:

"The $495,000 check came from Oak Spring Farms LLC, which has written large checks to groups associated with Edwards in the past. The New York Sun's Josh Gerstein reported last year that the company is linked to a lawyer who holds power of attorney for Mellon, who was then 96. Mellon may be best known as a close friend of Jackie Kennedy's."

But I have no reason on this earth to edit out Jackie Kennedy :shrug:

It makes me despondent and slightly ill that you would title this post:

"Edwards labor 527 in part funded by elderly widow of heir to Mellon fortune"

A blatant falsehood that even the blog post does not maintain.

I don't think it is a falsehood, but an over interpretation on my part. The fact that the funding source shares the name of the farm owned by the woman and her lawyer wrote the checks, and both she and her lawyer are Edwards supporters, and similar funding went into One America PAC, does lend itself to the interpretation I made, but you are right, the article doesn't say that.

Doesn't change anything in the story.

As far as the story goes, there is no there there.

There is nothing in the text of the story that supports the title of this post.

And even the author of the piece (right wing blow hard Ben Smith of Politico) didn't stoop so low.

This wasn't her lawyer's money, it was her corporation's money.

It is a corporate contribution of some questionable provenance. It's doubtful Bunny is cognizant of how her company's money is being spent.

By the way, America One--the other 527 this corporation largely funded--is that supposed 'world hunger' group that commissioned the push-poll from Peter Hart Associates earlier this year, that got people so excited about Edwards' poll numbers.

Who, by the way, is now 97 years old

From the Washington Post, who seems to have done its homework on the corporation:





http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/12/28/527_group_supportive_of_edward_1.html

Just so I can reclaim my good name: upthread someone accused me of twisting facts to suggest that this was Rachel Mellon's money. It apparently is. The question remains whether a 97-year-old can adjudge such an expenditure.

If you look up Oak Spring Farms' company profile, you get the weird description that "ak Spring Farms Llc's line of business is farm real estate agency art gallery." Weird, agricultural real estate and art gallery. Hokay.

http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_fgtqg6

I imagine family will be interviewed about her state of mind and health. Forger is an extremely important attorney, very respectable fellow - *if* he were screwing around with an old woman's fortune, it would be surprising and an enormous scandal.