Democrats' Allies Use Undisclosed Dollars to Target Republicans

[Omaha Steve]

Full story: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=amBhS3CZRRrE&refer=home



I'm also posting this in GDP.

Democrats' Allies Use Undisclosed Dollars to Target Republicans

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- A new group called Communities United to Strengthen America has opened 12 ``resource centers'' this year for the avowed purpose of educating citizens about issues such as health care and energy conservation.

It's probably no coincidence that all 12 are located in Republican-held congressional districts targeted by Democrats trying to recapture control of the House of Representatives in November's midterm elections.

Campaign-finance experts cite Communities United as an example of the type of nonprofit group that Democrats and their allies are creating to help their campaign, permitting unlimited and undisclosed donations from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals.

``It walks like a duck, it quacks like a duck,'' said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a Washington-based watchdog group. ``The IRS and FEC ought to find out if it is a duck,'' he said, referring to the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Election Commission, which determine whether Communities United should be classified as a so-called 501(c)(4) group, entitling it to tax-exempt status.

The chairman of Communities United is Gerald McEntee, 71, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union. The Washington-based union, with 1.4 million members, gives Democrats 97 percent of the donations it makes to political candidates.

Communities United's president, Larry Scanlon, is the union's political director, and the treasurer is Gail Stoltz, a former political director of the Democratic National Committee, said Communities United spokesman Harrison Schmitt.

Go Gerry. I'm a member of AFSCME local 251. I met him on the election trail in the fall of 2004. He was out stumping with the John Edwards troops. That included Bon Jovi and Leonardo DiCaprio. :-)