[lbo-talk] Lather, rinse, repeat

[/ dave /]

College Republicans' tactics raise questions
WASHINGTON, D.C.

Carmen Bakken, 88, of Cambridge, Minn., proved her party loyalty this 
year when she got a stream of fundraising letters from the National 
College Republicans.

She sent 91 checks totaling $42,985.

Told of the extent of her donations, she said, "Oh, my goodness! I don't 
think I gave so much. I don't remember the name College Republicans. I 
thought what I gave to was a national Republican company."

Similar accounts from other senior citizens in Minnesota and nationwide 
have put Eric Hoplin, the St. Olaf College graduate who chairs the 
College Republican National Committee, on the defensive about its record 
$8 million fundraising this year.

Hoplin, 26, whose job was once held by top White House strategist Karl 
Rove, says he is looking into whether the committee's chief consultant 
misled and preyed on elderly people with a barrage of letter solicitations.

"We've come to discover that there are a few donors who have been 
confused, a few donors who have some form of dementia, who aren't 
entirely sure of the amount of money that they're giving -- and how 
often they're giving," Hoplin said this week.

Hoplin also acknowledged one source of that confusion: The College 
Republicans raise funds "using a lot of project names" -- letters that 
in the past neglected to mention his group at all.

Hoplin said that, after becoming the committee's executive director in 
2001, his "first reform" was to require that every solicitation identify 
the College Republicans.

He pledged in a phone interview to refund donations to any unhappy 
contributor and said about a half dozen have been reimbursed.

But Monda Jo Millsap, 68, of Van Buren, Ark., said she agreed, when 
solicited by phone and mail, to "lend" nearly $60,000 to the group, but 
hasn't gotten her money back.

"They were supposed to give it back, and I haven't heard nothing," she said.

Hoplin said he is looking into possible irregularities by the group's 
longtime consultant for direct-mail fundraising, Virginia-based Response 
Dynamics Inc. The firm and its subcontractors appear to have been paid 
at least $6 million for sending hundreds of thousands of direct mail 
solicitations, according to the College Republicans' disclosure reports 
to the Internal Revenue Service.

"If Response Dynamics is preying on old people, I'll put a stop to it," 
Hoplin said.

Ron Kanfer, president of Response Dynamics, said the firm has no way of 
knowing the ages of the recipients of its fundraising letters. He said 
the problem more than likely resulted from some people appearing on 
dozens of purchased lists of potential donors, possibly resulting in 
their being bombarded with solicitations within days. Kanfer said his 
firm has tried to eliminate duplications.

"Why would any client want to have the same person receiving these 
letters?" he asked. "It's not in anybody's best interest."

Elliot Baines, an 84-year-old retired metallurgical engineer from Vero 
Beach, Fla., said that he has received "as much as 20 pounds" of mail in 
a day, much of it appeals from Republicans. Baines gave the College 
Republicans $63,435 in 59 donations, some as high as $4,000. But since 
President Bush won reelection, he said, he's not bothered by the 
fundraising tactics.

In September 2003, two months after Hoplin began his two-year term as 
chairman, the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity reported that 
some elderly donors knew they gave to GOP groups, but did not realize 
that College Republicans were the recipients.

Hoplin said he "noticed that a few of our projects didn't mention the 
words College Republican National Committee," instead alluding to a 
bigger GOP cause. He said he ordered that changed to ensure that "all of 
the donors knew exactly where the dollars they were contributing were 
going."

But the Seattle Times, in an Oct. 29 story, said it obtained copies of 
more recent letters urgently soliciting donations and warning recipients 
that Bush would lose if they did not donate. The letters referred in 
large print to "Republican Headquarters 2004" or the "Republican 
Election Committee" and only identified the College Republican National 
Committee in fine print, the Times said.

Frances Offerman, 86, of Eden Prairie, sent in 36 checks totaling 
$1,814. "I don't remember giving that much," she said. "No, I don't 
remember addressing it to the college."

Kanfer said College Republican officials approved every letter.

Alison Eikele, a spokeswoman for the College Republicans, said 79 
percent of the group's revenue has been eaten up by the costs of 
fundraising consultants. The rest went for a campus recruiting drive 
that more than tripled membership to 150,000, for grooming new members 
to be foot soldiers in the Bush-Cheney campaign's get-out-the-vote 
effort and for dispatching 75 paid staff members to presidential 
battleground states this fall, Hoplin said.

One reason the elderly donors' unusual giving patterns surfaced is that 
the College Republicans are a tax-exempt 527 group named for a section 
of the federal tax code. While free of any limits on the amounts of 
donations they can accept, the 527s are required to publicly disclose 
all contributions, no matter how small.

In an interview before the election, Hoplin gave no hint of any 
fundraising issues. He said the CRNC received donations from 32,000 
people. Many of them give multiple times because they're excited to make 
"a political investment" in a new generation of Republicans, he said.

The Detroit Lakes native also took personal credit for starting a "major 
donors" program that raised $1 million from three wealthy givers, 
including Cincinnati financier and professional baseball team owner Carl 
Lindner, who contributed $375,000, and Dr. John Templeton, the famed 
Philadelphia conjoined-twins surgeon, who donated $400,000.

But after the election, Hoplin acknowledged that questions have 
surrounded the firm's fundraising since 2001. Dozens of senior citizens 
donated with extraordinary frequency this year.

Charles Hermann, 87, of Mounds View, wrote 256 checks totaling $10,789 
this year, sometimes making several donations on the same day, according 
to the Republicans' financial disclosure reports. Hermann could not be 
reached for comment.

Janet Roche, 73, of Richfield, wrote 111 checks for $2,854. "I prayed a 
lot," she explained, "and I just felt that was right."

http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5081925.html

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/  dave  /