Republican pair apparently pose as communists to make Democratic donation

[GMDino]

They must have gone to the James LOL'Keefe school of subterfuge....

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/12/arizona-republicans-communists-democrats-donation-attempt?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet

Quote:Two young Arizona Republicans tried to make a donation to a Democratic congressman as members of the Communist party in an apparent attempt to tie him to the far left.


On Friday afternoon, two men who called themselves Jose Rosales and Ahmahd Sadia walked into the campaign office of first-term Democrat Tom O’Halleran with $39.68 and an urgent desire for the Northern ArizonaUniversity Communist party to be given a receipt for the donation.

The pair initially walked in to sign up to volunteer but had brought along a jar full of money that they wished to donate.
After being directed to a finance staffer, they were told to fill out paperwork. In doing so, they identified themselves as members of the Northern Arizona University Communist party. They made clear they were not an official group but were holding meetings. But they also insisted upon a receipt.

When told they get only an emailed receipt, Rosales immediately scratched out one email and wrote another. The entire process raised eyebrows among O’Halleran’s staff.

Lindsay Coleman, the finance director for the campaign, then drove to the local Republican field office to return the money. Almost immediately, the man who identified himself as Rosales appeared from a room inside the office and was identified as Oscar. He accepted the money from Coleman.

Speaking to the Guardian, Coleman identified the second man as a field organizer for the Arizona Republican party and said Ahmahd Sadia was not his real name. Neither the Arizona Republican party nor Wendy Rogers, O’Halleran’s Republican opponent for Congress, responded to requests for comment.

Making federal campaign contributions under a false identity is a crime. However, as a dirty trick, the attempt to smear opponents by linking them to unsavory political groups has a long history. In 1972, Roger Stone, then a young campaign staffer for Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign, sent a donation to Nixon’s anti-war primary opponent in the name of the Young Socialist Alliance. Stone went on to serve as Donald Trump’s longtime political adviser, a role he left early in Trump’s presidential campaign.

The rural Arizona district was narrowly won by both Donald Trump in 2016 and Mitt Romney in 2012. However, the non-partisan Cook Political Report classifies the race as Likely Democratic.