The “nonpartisan” Organizing for Action is using the president’s twitter account. How is that not a violation of their 501 (c) (4) status? They’re selling access to the president. The site’s URL is Barackobama.com, and they recently made the decision to not disclose their donors, which seems to be fine with the D.C. watchdog community. Under Bush, this conduct would’ve drawn vociferous reactions from the political left, but Obama has the left and the media cowed.
Aaron Blake reported for the Washington Post on March 22, that the OFA was going to share the president’s Twitter account.
Multiple outlets, including the Washington Post, reported last month that Obama might appear at quarterly meetings with Organizing for Action’s top fundraisers — something Republicans and watchdog groups criticized as the kind of pay-for-play politics that Obama has in the past decried. Facing tough questions, the White House at the time emphasized that the group, despite being an outgrowth of Obama’s 2012 campaign, was independent.
But in another example of the often-blurry lines between politicians and independent outside groups, Obama has effectively begun sharing his eponymous @BarackObama Twitter account with the group, and he will continue to tweet on it, according to an Organizing for Action spokeswoman.
Organizing for Action says it now controls the account, which has nearly 29 million followers and previously served as Obama’s personal and campaign account. The bio for @BarackObama says “This account is run by Organizing for Action staff. Tweets from the President are signed -bo.”
Organizing for Action spokeswoman Katie Hogan confirmed that the feed will continue to feature Obama’s tweets, as it did when it was run by his campaign.
Blake wrote that some have argued “the new group amounts to an unaccountable slush fund for the White House.” Furthermore, even the liberal Democrats on the ethics beat are crying foul:
Melanie Sloan, the head of another watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Obama might even be breaking the law.
“By outsourcing President Obama’s tweets, the White House might well be violating the Presidential Records Act, which requires preservation of presidential records,” Sloan said.
The president could be breaking the law – someone alert the media?
