Democratic PAC and MoveOn Using OWS As Fundraising Tool

Not a day goes by that I don't get several emails from various Democratic Party offshoots asking me to sign a petition to show my solidarity with the OccupyWallStreet movement.  But lately they've been getting bold, blatant and crass: they're using OWS as a gimmick to make money for their causes and candidates (same thing). Plenty of them are also selling OWS merchandise, such as shirts and caps.

This one just came from Jim Dean of Democracy for America, the nation's largest fund-raising PAC. It was founded by Jim's brother Howard, former chair of the DNC:

 Karen -
A couple weeks ago I met up with some DFA members in New York City to join Occupy Wall Street. It was a powerful day for me.
The people on the ground there in New York are fearless. They're standing up to big moneyed interests and giving a voice to working families. They're facing down threats from the mayor and the police to shut them down and they keep going -- marching during the day and sleeping outside in the park at night.
They've inspired a movement that has spread from New York to Los Angeles to Atlanta and hundreds of other cities across the country.
The best part is -- they're winning this fight. Big corporations and their allies are scared and they're fighting back. That's why we need to make sure that these folks have everything they need to keep this occupation going.
When I was there, I met some of the medics on the ground and they told me that they were in dire need of aspirin, bandages and other basic medical supplies. I've been told by some of our members in New York that they still need blankets and sleeping bags. Please contribute $10 right now to keep Occupy Wall Street going.

And here is just one of many coming my way from that Obama White House veal pen extraordinaire, MoveOn.org:

Dear MoveOn member,

In a few short weeks everything's changed. America is finally talking about how our economy is rigged to advantage the wealthiest 1% over the rest of us.

Thanks to the bravery of the protesters down on Wall Street, real change is now possible. So we all need to drop what we're doing and go on offense.

In addition to providing all the support we can to #OccupyWallStreet, at MoveOn we're scrambling to launch a huge campaign to make Wall Street pay. We're organizing mass meetings in hundreds of cities. We've hired filmmakers to tell the stories that the mainstream media are ignoring. We're turning up the heat on the banks by helping people move their money. And we're helping organize two major national days of protest in November.

Together, we can make sure this momentum keeps building. But this all takes money—for materials, coordination, tech, and supporting thousands of volunteers. This is the moment. Can you chip in $15?

OWS participants, angered by MoveOn's apparent co-optation of the movement, circulated a petition demanding that it back off and butt out. Here, posted this afternoon, is MoveOn's official reply:

Hi there, (demeaning salutation much?)

I received the petition you signed regarding MoveOn's stance toward Occupy Wall Street and wanted to respond. We've been in lots of conversations lately about this, and we take your concerns very seriously -- so I wanted to take a minute to share our thinking. We have and will continue to give a lot of thought to the best way to stand in solidarity with this growing movement while being clear that we are not Occupy Wall Street, and have no desire to direct, control, or speak for it.

MoveOn is a grassroots organization with five million members. In the past few weeks, our members overwhelmingly expressed support for Occupy Wall Street and encouraged us to do whatever we can to help Occupy continue to grow, spread, and succeed. That's been our mandate: to help our members help wherever they can.

Many individual MoveOn members have chosen to join their local occupation. Others have gone down to their local occupations and provided material support. In cities like Chicago, Sacramento, and Columbus MoveOn members have started petitions calling for an end to arrests and evictions of Occupy protestors from city parks. And many MoveOn members are just grateful for the work Occupy Wall Street has done to draw attention to a system that's not working for 99% of Americans.

Because we've gotten lots of questions about what MoveOn is, where our funding comes from, what we stand for, and what our relationship to Occupy Wall Street is -- and because there are a number of straight-up falsehoods floating around -- we collected the answers to those questions in one place. From that page, you can also let us know if you have other questions that we should answer. I encourage you to check it out here:

www.moveon.org/owsfaq.html/

Thanks for letting us know what you think, and for your work to build Occupy Wall Street.

--Justin Ruben Executive Director MoveOn.org

(Note: the link provided in the email doesn't work. Hmmm.)


Oh, and about that DNC. President Obama has already shared mucho millions he's been raking in from Wall Street -- so what do they want with us?

Final Note: OWS is accepting donations of money, food, clothing, blankets, etc. at its own site.  No parasites, leeches, enablers, co-opters, PACs or politicians wanted or needed.