I have come across, (in the Japanese language), the directing of Japanese in Japan (foreign nationals/small contributions) to stateside contribution websites for the HOWARD DEAN FOR PRESIDENT campaign.
The post is from mid-August, but is still up. You will need a font/browser and Japanese language comprehension capabilities to understand the solicitation. This report follows research provided to FREE REPUBLIC in August 2003 [ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/953876/posts ] also exposing the DENNIS KUCINICH campaign (which is still openly soliciting in Japanese FOREIGN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS), on the internet in Japan. This also follows Matt Drudge's recent expose on some Democrat candidates engaged in this questionable practice. My translation synopsis follows below:
Very impressive work. How do you say "You da MAN!" in Japanese?
Speak no ill of Howard Dean before July 29 2004. May nothing come between now and his acceptance speech!
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2003/december/1216_moveon_scandal.shtml Brewing MoveOn Scandal Over Foreign Contributions Involves Dean, Clark Campaigns
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
December 16, 2003
Liberal online political group MoveOn.org as well as two major Democrat candidates for president are in the midst of a brewing scandal over potentially improper online contributions received from European citizens who have been encouraged to send money to the group to help defeat President George W. Bush in next year's elections.
In an article posted last week in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, the headline read, "Now you have the chance to leave your mark on Bush."
The story tells Europeans that they have "a chance to defeat [Bush] -- even if you are not an American."
"One dollar for every European citizen would raise more money than the entire official Bush campaign budget for his election in 2000," the website proclaims. "Compare this price to the cost of having Bush in the White House."
The article goes on to describe the alleged mistaken positions held by the Bush administration that now warrant the financial assistance of the world community. European citizens were solicited by the website to give money to what is described as the "politically independent" group MoveOn.org in an effort to help defeat Bush and bring about a regime change in the United States in 2004.
Criticizing his handling of foreign policy issues such as the war in Iraq and on terrorism since September 11, the newspaper concludes that Bush has been too aggressive as president. While they admit on the website that there are legitimate problems that Bush needed to address, they say that he has been unable to handle the pressure of going after the Taliban or capturing Saddam Hussein. The Swedish article was published several days before Hussein's subsequent capture by coalition forces on December 13.
Interestingly, the article discloses that one out of every three members belonging to MoveOn.org are non-Americans, or 680,000 of the estimated 2 million members.
The article ends by stating that since this is a "globalized world," what happens in America greatly affects the rest of the world. As a result, Europeans and other non-Americans should go about trying to make changes politically.
"For that reason, we urge financial support for MoveOn.org," the article concludes.
MoveOn.org responded to this Swedish push for contributions from Europeans by turning them down because some of them might be illegal contributions. Even the donations that would not be considered unlawful have supposedly been rejected because of the perception that may make MoveOn.org look like it is working with Europeans to change the political landscape of the United States.
"To avoid even the appearance of impropriety, we are not going to take contributions from overseas," stated MoveOn.org founder Wes Boyd to The Washington Post over the weekend.
As a result of this denial of funds, the Swedish website removed their appeal to Europeans to send money to MoveOn.org since the group "no longer accepts contributions from non-U.S. citizens/permanent resident aliens."
Nevertheless, the Drudge Report revealed on Monday that MoveOn.org is bending that policy and has "apparently been reaching beyond American borders to generate cash revenue over the Internet."
Drudge cites two Democrat presidential frontrunners who are listed by name on several international fundraising websites asking for donations to be made directly to MoveOn.org. Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean were the two candidates listed on the websites requesting funds from foreign citizens.
On the official campaign website for Clark, there is a link to a website entitled "Canada for Clark" urging Canadians to give money to MoveOn.org.
"Non-Americans can't by law, give money to any particular candidate's campaign," the website proclaims. "But we can support pro-democracy, progressive American organizations like MoveOn.org, which do their best to spread the ugly truth about Bush and publicize the Democratic message."
There is a link on the CanadaForClark.com website for contributions to be made to MoveOn.org. Drudge reports that the top referrer to that website is the Official Clark for President website.
As for the Dean connection, a London-based website called Dean04Worldwide.com is encouraging non-Americans to participate in the 2004 election and help Dean win the Democrat nomination and defeat Bush. The website name servers are owned by a Portugal-based website called PromoHosting.com.
The Dean04Worldwide.com website provides detailed information about how to donate money to MoveOn.org since the Dean campaign is not allowed to accept contributions outside of the United States.
Talon News recently reported that Dean decided to forgo federal matching funds so his campaign would not be limited by legal restrictions.
"It is not clear how much money has been raised -- to date -- from foreign sources, but political websites from London to Portugal to Montreal are directing their citizens to stop the American president George Bush by donating to MoveOn.org," Drudge reports on his website.
The MoveOn.org website asserts that contributions to its organization are forbidden from "foreign nationals who lack permanent resident status."
Despite this policy against foreign money, MoveOn.org has appointed an International Campaigns Director named Eli Pariser. This 20-something political activist joined the MoveOn.org team after starting a petition website called 9-11Peace.org in reaction to the attacks on the United States in 2001.
Pariser's liberal leanings granted him favor with the founders of MoveOn.org. His primary role with MoveOn.org has been to develop ways to generate interest in American elections overseas, including developing innovative fundraising drives in other countries.
Yet, even former Vice President Al Gore, who has been the featured speaker at many MoveOn.org events over the past year, has expressed his concern about the group accepting international funds, Drudge reveals.
It is unknown how much money MoveOn.org has already raised from non-American contributors since the group's inception. However, a recent e-mail sent to supporters from MoveOn.org brags about their ability to raise $7.2 million in "small contributions from over 117,000 people" in the past six weeks.
Earlier this month, Talon News reported that MoveOn.org unleashed a massive $2 million anti-Bush advertising campaign designed to weaken his support in key states. The group has vowed to run continuous attack ads against the president over the next eleven months.
The best place to forward this information is to opinionjournal.com. The WSJ will run with this, no doubt.
That would get maximum exposure.
I am SURE they would post a link to this and write about it.
So this why he won't take public funds - he'd lose money.
Taking it illegally means his pool is unlimited.
With CIA checking out Saddam's money trail, Dean will get nailed (or probably just waiting to pop him).
