African charity operators latest in donor scandals for Obama
Monday, April 2, 2012 at 12:27PM 
President Barack Obama’s latest fundraising scandal is being quietly reported by wire services. Abake Assongba and her husband Anthony J.W. DeRosa run a charity that distributes school supplies and food in the country of Benin in the western part of the continent of Africa. The couple contributed more than $50,000 to Obama’s reelection campaign.
According to the wire service report, Assongba and De Rosa are facing charges in Florida involving real estate and allegations about an email scam.
Assongba and her spouse are the latest in a line of donor scandals for Democrats.
The Obama campaign recently returned $200,000 to brothers of a Mexican citizen who is allegedly wanted on federal drug charges.
In 2008 some conservatives criticized Obama for his fundraising methods. Blogger Pamela Geller called questionable donations to the attention of media, and finding little response, she wrote:
“Despite dropping the groundbreaking bombshell story of ‘Palestinian’ brothers from the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza who donated $33,000 to Obama's campaign, no big media picked up the story.”
One grossly underreported investigation revealed problems over donations from a corporation who gave the Obama campaign a corporate email list. The Federal Elections Commission investigated that one. FEC said, “VIDA Fitness, Urban Salons, Inc., d/b/a Bang Salon Spa, and von Storch agreed to pay a civil penalty of $5,500.” FEC used “prosecutorial discretion” to dismiss issues related to any mistakes the campaign might have made.
Other Obama donors have lost client money or taxpayer money.Former N.J. governor Jon Corzine is mired in legal problems over client money belonging to a firm he worked for; Corzine was a major bundler for Obama. Two Obama bundlers were linked to Solyndra, the solar firm the Obama administration gave millions taxpayer dollars before the company went belly-up.
The Arizona Conservative pointed out that Obama’s 2008 campaign permitted donors to “use largely untraceable prepaid credit cards…” to give money. Big media like The Washington Post did cover the practice of Obama’s untraceable credit card donations, but not with the zeal applied to any candidate who isn’t a Democrat.
In 2008 international media did report that Obama was wildly popular with citizens in other countries—his status was much like that of a rock star.
Media advocated for Obama on a global scale, perhaps in hopes of helping to be part of the historic election of the first black-white president of the U.S.
Obama recently received an endorsement from the Russia newspaper Pravda.
Obama isn’t the only Democrat sparking controversy over donations.
Former Democrat presidential hopeful John Edwards allegedly owes the federal government millions of dollars related to campaign donations allegedly diverted to his pregnant mistress as he campaigned on a platform of family values. Democrat-allied national media covered the Edwards story only after The National Enquirer broke the news.
In June, 2011, one of Vice-President Joe Biden’s big donors pled guilty to federal charges of tax evasion and violating federal election financing laws.
Another under-reported Democrat donor story broke in 2011 after the FBI released details of the Russia spy ring dubbed ‘Operation Ghost Stories.’ The spy who triggered the greatest concern worked as a personal bookkeeper to a wealthy hedge fund manager who was a big Democrat donor. One recipient of those donations was then-Sen. Hillary Clinton.
(Commentary by Kay B. Day/April 2, 2012)