Free Republic

Since funding a lavish half-million-dollar party to celebrate the election of Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III about 18 months ago, officials at the Bowie-based Path to Greatness have continued to raise thousands of dollars from donors while counting Mr. Baker’s wife as a trustee, an arrangement that critics say opens up another avenue for special interests to curry favor with his administration. Under Internal Revenue Service rules, such nonprofit organizations are not required to make public the names of donors, though officials did so in response to a request by The Washington Times. The list reveals dozens...

The New York Times has a front-page story today on a political giver named James Robert Williams, who has no visible means of support, but is very generous to both parties and to politicians of different stripes. From the article: ...one government watchdog group called the pattern of donations extremely troubling. Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, said, "In more than 15 years of investigating political corruption, I've never seen a more suspicious set of facts." According to the story by reporters Raymond Hernandez, Alison Leigh Cowan and Jo Craven McGinty, Williams lives in a...

If you believe the Democratic Party, Bain Capital is nothing but a bunch of vampire capitalists. They outsource jobs to other countries, close steel mills and take lollypops from little babies. According to Open Secrets, during the present election cycle these Democratic Party candidates took a total of $340,750 from Bain, its lobbyists and employees. Even the Obama re-election campaign took money from Bain Capital. So if the Democrats believe Bain is so evil, why are these candidates taking their money? Note: The Barack Obama contributions are not from open secrets but directly from the FEC here and here. Candidate...

My parents are donating daily to these people. My father has Parkinson's & is SO worried about 0bama ruining the country that he donates to nearly everything he gets. Fortunately, my Mom gives the mail to me and I select (with her approval) which ones are forwarded, saving them a pile of money & more mail that is caused by each donation. Today I have FOURTEEN of them!

When people say Thursday's Supreme Court ruling was a big win for President Obama, the Romney Campaign must shake their heads just a little bit. Since the ruling, Team Romney has raked in $5.5 million. That money isn't coming from big time donors at fundraisers, but is made up of 55,000 separate donations, with 65 percent of those people donating for the first time. These numbers come after Romney outraised President Obama in May, spent less and Obama seems to be draining his war chest quickly. Just one month after the start of the general election campaign, Mr. Obama has...

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has raised $4.6 million since the Supreme Court ruled that President Obama's healthcare law is constitutional. Romney started raising funds immediately after the decision, and in a message to supporters Friday morning his campaign spokeswoman said he had raised $4.6 million from 47,000 donations. This morning, the Romney campaign had raised $4.3 million less than 24 hours since the court's ruling. "As of this morning, we have raised $4.3 million with 43,000 donations online," spokeswoman Andrea Saul said early Friday. "The Supreme Court may have found ObamaCare constitutional, but it remains just as disastrous for job...

I hope this is not an improper request. But since the Silver Star Families of America was practically born on FR I wanted to make a request for donations. We have had so many requests for our food coupon books to give to homeless vets that go to V.A. Medical Centers that we have run out of funds. Also our Chaplain run Prayer Blankets for our Hospice vets program is in the red. The mission of the Silver Star Families of America is to remember, honor and assist the wounded, ill, injured and dying of our Armed Forces from all...

Via the Washington Free Beacon, Jimmy Kimmel mocks the Obama wedding registry fundraising idea with a spoof ad. “On the campaign website, it says, “a campaign donation goes a lot farther than a gravy bowel (sic),” Kimmel said. “Not if you love gravy it doesn’t. Without a gravy bowl where else am I going to keep my gravy?”

Looks like all those Obama fanatics that gave and gave and gave some more in 2008 aren't feeling it this time around: In 2008, more than 550,000 gave more than $200 to Barack Obama, entering their names in the longest list of individual donors ever seen in American politics. That list was a snapshot of the hope Obama inspired in a cross sections of liberals, young professionals, African-Americans, and Democrats who saw in him a generational and historic moment. But now, as Obama struggles to keep pace with his 2008 fundraising clip, that list offers a cross-section of Democratic...

In 2008, more than 550,000 gave more than $200 to Barack Obama, entering their names in the longest list of individual donors ever seen in American politics. That list was a snapshot of the hope Obama inspired in a cross sections of liberals, young professionals, African-Americans, and Democrats who saw in him a generational and historic moment. But now, as Obama struggles to keep pace with his 2008 fundraising clip, that list offers a cross-section of Democratic disappointment and alienation. According to a BuzzFeed analysis of campaign finance data, 88% of the people who gave $200 or more in 2008...

European nations are not doing enough to fight corruption and bribery, according to an annual report released on Wednesday (9 May) by the Council of Europe (CoE). In the EU alone, corruption costs an estimated €120 billion annually. The CoE's group of states against corruption (GRECO), which acts as a peer review system producing reports and recommendations on different aspects of each member's efforts to fight corruption, says members need to increase transparency of political funding. In April, GRECO requested Italy to clean up its act, citing a gross lack of transparency throughout its party funding structure. "The control performed...

Fraud found in Obama’s online donationsBy Neil Munro - The Daily Caller – 5 hrs ago President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign has hundreds of thousands of eager, low-dollar donors — and a tiny trickle of unwilling, defrauded donors. The latest example comes from David Newman, who found a $15 charge, dated May 6, from the “Obama For America” campaign on one of his debit cards. Newman had supported Obama in 2008, but “I didn’t sign up to say ‘Do this every three months or every three years when you need money,’” he told The Daily Caller. “This is completely 100...

We're just a few days away from the 2nd Quarter 2012 FReepathon! I may be a bit different because I don't hate 'em. Although it's disheartening that not everyone contributes in a timely, generous manner to keep the 404 away from America's exclusive website for Conservative Activism, FReepathons are a time for FRiends from all over the world to unite in a common cause for good. There's a lot of camaraderie, good clean humor and some fun graphics in the FReepathon threads. It's a chance for many of us to get to know our fellow FReepers better. Plus, it's always...

HOCKESSIN, Delaware - In a sign that his campaign is in need of fresh funds, Newt Gingrich on Monday began charging $50 to have a photograph taken with him following a campaign speech to Republican County groups here in the northernmost part of the state. It was the first time the former House speaker has charged those attending one of his public speaking events to pose for a photograph with him. Lately, a member of his campaign staff has been snapping photographs of any interested attendee and later posting them online at the campaign's website, newt.org. On Monday night, those...

So much for serving the homeless. The Bloomberg administration is now taking the term “food police” to new depths, blocking food donations to all government-run facilities that serve the city’s homeless.In conjunction with a mayoral task force and the Health Department, the Department of Homeless Services recently started enforcing new nutritional rules for food served at city shelters. Since DHS can’t assess the nutritional content of donated food, shelters have to turn away good Samaritans. For over a decade, Glenn Richter and his wife, Lenore, have led a team of food-delivery volunteers from Ohab Zedek, the Upper West Side Orthodox...

I received this in my email just now. I've never donated to Mitt Romney so I don't know how he reached me. Republican voter rolls? Below is unredacted except for the name. "Yaelle," I wanted to take a moment to let you know about a chance to meet up for lunch. This won’t be just any lunch, though. I’ll be bringing the winner out to California to grab a bite with me at one of my favorite burger places. Donate $5 to be automatically entered for the chance to join me for lunch in California. I know there are a...

The Associated Press and other mainstream media are so biased in favor of President Barack Obama that they should register with the Federal Election Commission as Obama super PACs, Rush Limbaugh says.

During her comments, she said “by the way we’re asking people to contribute to us if they want to elect more reformers to Congress so we can do away with super PACs – we can do away with secret contributions.”