Who Paid for Barack Obama's Election?

A Matter Under Review with the Federal Election Commission

MUR 6142 - Request for Audit

Complaints to the FEC Regarding Campaign Contributions to Barack Obama

Database as Updated February 2012- Letter to the Federal Election Commission

February 25, 2012

Office of the General Counsel

Federal Election Commission
999 E. Street, NW

Washington, D.C.  20463

Complaint of Over Limit Contributions and Request for Audit - Obama for America (C00431445) and Obama Victory Fund (C00451393)

Update of 2008 Campaign Donation Exceedances of $4,600 Limit

(Supplemental Update to MUR 6142)

Dear Sir or Madam:

This is a supplemental update to complaint MUR 6142 regarding the over limit campaign contributions and other irregularities of the Campaign Finances of Obama for America (C00431445) and Obama Victory Fund (C00451393). As of the 2011 Year End FEC Report from Obama for America and the Obama Victory Fund, it is apparent that there has been little to no corrective action taken on our complaint.

We have continued to review the 2008 Campaign Finances of Obama of America for an accurate cross referencing of donors to the campaign and have updated it with the most recent filings for the 2008 Campaign, through the year end 2011.  A revised listing of donors over the 2008 campaign contribution limit (Table I.) is provided as an Excel file on the enclosed jump drive along with cross referenced itemized individual donor listings in an Access database file.

We can still identify 1,390 donors with totals over the limit of $4,600 for the two campaigns of 2008.  The total amount over the limit is still $1.84 Million. The cross referenced contributor database consists of 2.6 million records, types SA17A, SA18 and SB28A for individual itemized donors.  Contributor sums for each index are included.  $259 Million is still listed under Unitemized Donors.

The 2.6 million records of the database, cross referenced by review, consists of 679,474 individual donors.  Cross referencing the database records by name and zip code would result in an estimate of 733,278 donors. That approximates the error rate in the records as 7.7%, consisting of variations in name and zip code. Similarly, cross referencing by name and 5 digit zip code results in 703,610 donors approximating an error of 3.6%.  The cross referenced, by review, database has an estimated error of 0.2% for records whose association is questionable but cannot be determined from available information.

The campaign records still contain errors, omissions and obviously invalid information on donors.  One recently filed revision, FEC Report Number 753769, has over 400 records without any Campaign Designation.  There are 119 donors with contribution sums that are negative by more that the minimum reporting limit.  If there are refunds made, where are the records of the original donations?    

The number of revisions to the reports already appears to be excessive, with the Post General Report having five revision since it was first issued (Table II).  The Table II report numbers in BOLD are those used in this update.

                                             Table II.  FEC Reports F3P Issued

What explanation could there possible be for these continued irregularities?

The American People need an audit of the Obama for America (C00431445) and Obama Victory Fund (C00451393).  We are depending on the FEC to assure compliance with fair practices.  Please audit the Obama Presidential Campaign Funds.  Thank you for your time and consideration.                  

                                                                                    Yours Truly,

                                                                                    PUMA!

Database Last Updated February 2011

Contributors Over $4,600 - Revision Feb 2011

Database Updated of December 2009

Contributors Over $4,600 as of Dec 2009

Contributors Over $2,300

Duplicate Transactions

Negative Contributors and Mixed Categories

Analysis of Unitemized Contributions of $259 Million

$259 Million Unitemized Donor Listings From FEC Reports

This FEC Complaint was initiated in 2008 and the Obama Campaign has been doing nothing but juggling the books. 

The 2009 Analysis of Unitemized Contributions of $259 Million demonstrates how only about $40 million of the $259 million probably came from unitemized donors under the reporting limit.  The campaign actually itemized many of their contributions from under limit donors.

The donor records submitted to the FEC from the Obama Campaign are full of errors and omissions.  Initial estimates during the presidential campaign were approximately 15% as inaccurately reported.  The campaign has issued multiple revisions to the FEC reports submitted during the campaign but a high error rate still exists.  As of the end of 2011, the error rate of the campaign is estimated at 4% to 8%, too high for an accurate evaluation of the database.  The members of the PAC supporting this project reviewed and cross referenced records to bring the error rate down to less than an estimated 0.2%.

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