Years ago, Robertson was forced to reimburse $400,000 to his own charity. He claimed that he was collecting this money to pay for planes to fly relief goods to Rwandan refugees in Zaire, when he was actually using the money to ship over equipment for his diamond mining business. “We’re going to be having to watch more and more of these hypocrites who say one thing to the public, but then end up doing another thing in reality,” remarked Gonzales about shady charities and oil companies that seek to exploit the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. [1]

“Please take a moment,” Horowitz with his newly-found compassion pleads, “to click the link below and make the most generous contribution you can to the American Red Cross.” Click on the link to give money on Horowitz’s site and you will not see a link to the American Red Cross’s donation page or any of its approved collectors. On the web page is a form to fill out name, address, and credit card information and various suggested amounts that go up to $5,000 dollars. Located at the bottom is not a mailing address for the Red Cross or their toll free number (1-800-HELP-NOW) but one sentence: “Paid for by the Center for the Study of Popular Culture. All contributions are processed through an encrypted, dedicated, secure server.” The CFSPC, a right-wing foundation Horowitz co-founded to fund his reactionary attacks on reparations, the anti-war movement, and now, as Bill Berkowitz has recently pointed out, immigrants. Horowitz’s organization is not only paying for the fees it is supposedly accruing by supposedly collecting money for the American Red Cross, but the CFSPC paid ten percent of its over $3 million budget to Horowitz in 2003 according to the own organization’s IRS forms. [4] Horowitz’s CFSPC is alleging that they are paying for the collection of the donations, but who is doing the collecting?

The link for Horowitz’s collection web page is here. Type in just www.donationreport.com, and you will arrive at eDonation.com: a password-protected website that describes itself as a member of The Donatelli Group.

Hockaday Donatelli Campaign Solutions is a political consulting firm that is “the primary segment of the larger Donatelli Group, which includes an Internet fundraising site, eDonation.com.” [5] HD Campaign Solutions have worked for the campaigns of Republican candidates such as George Bush and John McCain and many state Republican Parties. [6] “We bring a breadth and depth of knowledge and experience not found in any other Republican voter contact and communications firm,” Campaign Solutions’ website boasts. While the American Conservative Union, the Oregon Restaurant Association, and the National Pork Producers Association are present in Campaign Solution’s list of past and present non-profit clients, the non-partisan American Red Cross is nowhere to be found.

Brandy Baker is a writer and activist living in Baltimore. She was a contributor to CounterPunch’s book, Dime’s Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils. She is also a contributor to Plastic Sugar Press’s upcoming book: Yellow Fever: Searching for Meaning in Supporting the Troops. She can be reached at: deliciouspekingduck@excite.com.

[1] www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/09/1411237.

[5] www.campaignline.com/webedition/page.cfm?pageid=401&navid=51