Posted on 10/08/2012 2:22:15 PM PDT by upchuck
A wireless company profiting from the so-called “Obama phone” giveaway program is run by a prominent Democratic donor whose wife has raised more than $1.5 million for the president since 2007.
Last week a video of a President Barack Obama supporter in Ohio claiming to have received a free phone from the president—“[Obama] gave us a phone!”—went viral, prompting media outlets to investigate.
Since 1985 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has operated a program called Lifeline, originally designed to provide free landline phone service for low-income individuals. The government subsidizes telecommunications firms providing the service, and those firms also pass on costs to customers via the “Universal Service Charge” on their phone bills.
The program expanded to include cell phones in 2008. That change has rapidly increased the cost to the federal government—$1.6 billion in 2011, up from $772 million in 2008. The number of Lifeline beneficiaries rose from 7.1 million to 12.5 million during the same period; cell phones account for roughly half of that 12.5 million.
One of the major providers of the free cell phones—3.8 million subscribers as of late 2011—is Miami-based TracFone Wireless, a company whose president and CEO, Frederick “F.J.” Pollak, has donated at least $156,500 to Democratic candidates and committees this cycle, including at least $50,000 to the Obama campaign.
Pollak’s wife, Abigail, is a campaign bundler for Obama who has raised more than $632,000 for the president this cycle, and more than $1.5 million since 2007. She has personally contributed more than $200,000 to Democratic candidates and committees since 2008.
The Pollaks hosted Obama at their Miami Beach home in June for a $40,000-per-plate fundraising dinner, and hosted a similar event with Michelle Obama in July 2008. The couple personally donated a combined $66,200 to Obama’s reelection effort that year.
Visitor logs indicate that Frederick and Abigail Pollak have visited the White House seven times. In 2009, the president appointed Abigail to serve on the “Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino.”
TracFone, a direct financial beneficiary of the Lifeline program, receives $10 a month for each subscriber in the form of federal subsidies. The company can make an additional profit selling extra minutes to Lifeline subscribers who exceed their monthly allowance of 250 prepaid minutes.
Read the rest of the article: http://freebeacon.com/obamaphones-profiting-obamadonors/
I was astounded last week when the news mentioned that 1 in 7 adults in Ohio has an Obamaphone.
This program has grown faster than food stamps.
If it were a pubbie trick, there'd be blood in the streets...
For dems, it's their way of "doin' business"...
Someone needs to go to jail for this....
A phone company CEO has as much right to give to a Republican as to a democrat. Let’s not be like the ignorant Left.
Just wait. If those phone numbers have mysteriouslynmade their way into the hands of the obama campaign for “get out the vote efforts” we’re toast.
Mr. Pollak can give as much money as he wants to any candidate of his choosing. Who cares?
My problem with this is the gvt looking the other way while fraud, graft and cheating completely take over the system (benefiting Mr. Pollak of course). Those who should be controlling the system clearly are not.
We all pay higher phone bills so Obama can reward his friends. Lucky for him none of the liberal debate moderators - or members of the MSM (especially the New York Times) will show the least bit of curiosity about this...
BIG GOVERNMENT IS CRONY SOCIALISM
Socialism Is Legal Plunder - “The Law” - Frederic Bastiat 1801-1850
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