GOP to file fundraising complaint against Obama campaign

The Republican National Committee will file a complaint against the Barack Obama campaign for alleged fundraising irregularities, according to the Washington Post:

A lawyer for the Republican National Committee today said the party will ask the Federal Election Commission to look into the source of thousands of small-dollar contributions to the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama.
...
At the heart of the RNC complaint is a federal fundraising rule that lets campaigns accept donations under $200 without itemizing the names and addresses of the donors on its campaign finance reports. The rule was intended as a matter of practicality -- it did not seem reasonable to ask a campaign to gather that information from every five-dollar donor.

But the Obama campaign has raised more than $200 million this way, a staggering sum for donations that will not be subjected to outside scrutiny.

Obama campaign aides said today that a number of steps have been taken to safeguard against foreign or illegal contributions coming in in smaller increments. The measures include: requiring donors to present a passport at fundraising events held for Americans overseas, ending contributions to the Obama Store from contributors with addresses outside the U.S. or its territories, and requiring donors to enter a U.S. passport number when contributing via the Americans Abroad page.

Apparenlty Newsweek's Michael Isikoff is also questioning possible donor fraud and the use of fake names with his article, "Obama's 'Good Will' Hunting" by headlining, "Funny Money: Prompted by FEC auditors, the Obama campaign returned donations from unnamed sources." Isikoff wrote:

This summer, watchdog groups asked both campaigns to share more information about its small donors. The McCain campaign agreed; the Obama campaign did not.

NewsMax.com is all over this story:

Two apparently fictional donors using the names "Doodad Pro" and "Good Will" gave Obama more than $11,000 in increments of $10 and $25, according to Newsweek.

Other news accounts suggest that roughly 11,500 donors who gave a total of $34 million to the campaign may be citizens of foreign countries, who are not allowed to contribute to U.S. elections, the RNC said.

"We see a lack of control, a lack of willingness on the part of the Obama campaign to ask relevant questions," Cairncross said.

On September 29, NewsMax.com wrote, "Secret, foreign money floods into Obama campaign," with Kenneth Timmerman writing:

More than half of the whopping $426.9 million Barack Obama has raised has come from small donors whose names the Obama campaign won't disclose.

And questions have arisen about millions more in foreign donations the Obama campaign has received that apparently have not been vetted as legitimate.

It caught the attention of the Associated Press and others and is a growing story as more express concern over foreign donations to an American presidential campaign.

Cross-posted at SixtyFour81.com