A new left-wing organization that wants
to help elect Barack Obama president is
sending letters to nearly 10,000 major
donors who contribute to Republican
causes, threatening them with potential
legal problems if they finance
conservative groups.
The nonprofit organization,
Accountable America, is even offering a
$100,000 reward for information that
leads to the criminal conviction or
fines of at least $10,000 for violations
of campaign finance laws or other
statutes by a conservative group,
according to The New York Times.
Accountable America is led by Tom
Matzzie, former Washington director of
the liberal activist group MoveOn.org,
and its research director is Judd Legum,
who served that role in Hillary
Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Matzzie called the organization’s
effort “going for the jugular.” He told
The Times, "We want to stop the Swift
Boating before it gets off the ground.”
The warning letter being sent to
potential donors “is intended as a first
step, alerting donors who might be
considering giving to right-wing groups
to a variety of potential dangers,
including legal trouble, public exposure
and watchdog groups digging through
their lives,” The Times reports.
If a conservative group do run ads
attacking Obama, Matzzie says his group
plans to run ads countering it exposing
the donors behind the anti-Obama
message.
Matzzie’s group has so far raised
only $200,000, but he said he hopes to
raise more than $500,000 by next week
and $2 million overall.
Republican strategist Chris
LaCivita doubts the group will succeed
in scaring off donors, saying “they’re
not going to be intimidated by some
pipsqueak on the kooky left.”
Matzzie previously headed the
Campaign to Defend America, which has
run ads against Republican presidential
candidate John McCain in Ohio and
Pennsylvania.
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