Correcting the record on Obama

By: | Inside NoVA
Published: July 05, 2008

On June 15, this newspaper published a letter by O.P. Ditch titled “Who gets money from Exxon/Mobil?” The writer republished information from the non-governmental, non-partisan Web site
OpenSecrets.org, which seemingly showed that Senator Obama had received $32,550 dollars in campaign funds from Exxon/Mobile. This amount was correctly listed as the second highest of any
Senator (the writer neglected to mention the number one recipient of “Exxon/Mobile contributions” is Republican Senator John Coryn). The writer then used this information to cast doubt on Senator
Obama’s stated policy of not accepting donations from lobbyists and PACs that do business with the federal government.

I decided to fact-check this by asking Senator Obama’s campaign staff for clarification. I contacted them on June 17 and received a response the very next day. Their response:

“Dear Ron,

Thank you for contacting us with questions about donations to Senator Obama’s campaign.

Senator Obama does not accept contributions from federal lobbyists, corporations or PACs. All donors are required to list their employer and occupation, and that data is made public under federal law.
Some private organizations use this data to track the contributions of people employed in an industry (or a profession or corporation), and then say that the “industry” has contributed. In fact, individuals
employed in that particular industry have donated.

Also note that people can donate in their own name only and may only use personal funds. It is against federal law for a company to give money to its employees in order for it to be donated to a federal
campaign.

Thank you again for contacting us.

Sincerely,

Obama for America”

I can only wonder why writer O.P Ditch did not perform this simple fact-check.

RON CHAREST

Dale City