Electronic Data Is Always Difficult … If You Don’t Try

November 2008

The Obama campaign shattered all fund-raising records. The President-elect raised approximately twice as much money (approximately $300 million more) than McCain. A surprising amount of this additional money, over $225 million, reportedly came over the internet from U.S. citizens contributing less than $200 per individual. Donations under $200 per person do not have to be itemized in reporting to the federal election commission.

Because of the enormous increase in small contributions, many expressed concern that the Obama campaign (or its contributors) circumvented election laws by either (i) not reporting contributions over $200 and/or (ii) accepting foreign contributions. Mr. Lawrence Norton, the General Counsel of the Federal Election Commission from 2001 through 2007, recently noted that the law involving small contribution reporting was written when "no one conceived that a candidate could raise millions [in less-than-$200 amounts.] … It certainly is a case where the 1970s law is not in step with current campaign fundraising practices."

In response to requests for additional information, the Obama campaign claimed that it would be too difficult and time consuming to extract the electronic information associated with contributions that came over the internet. President-elect Obama personally claimed that it "would be a pretty hard thing for us to be able to process." Since the Obama campaign cannot figure this out, we are offering to do it for both the Obama and McCain campaigns for FREE. We cannot think of a better pro-bono project than providing transparency to our nation’s election process.

Here is our proposal. With the proper skills and technology, the data is sufficiently manageable that it can be transmitted online. Fulcrum Inquiry will establish an online secure connection to our server, so that the Obama and McCain campaigns can send it to us over the internet (or in whatever other native electronic form is available). Once we get the data, Fulcrum Inquiry will build an online searchable data base, and post a user-friendly interface at www.fulcrum.com. We will provide sufficient bandwidth to ensure that anyone who wants to search or analyze the data can do so at no charge.

To the extent that credit card information or other private consumer information protected by privacy laws is part of the electronic information, we will (again, at no charge) replace private information in the online database with a unique identifying number. This will allow the private information to remain private, while still allowing data analysis. If the Obama or McCain campaigns have other privacy-related or confidentiality concerns, we are pleased to fully address them.

Ultimately, regulations involving disclosure of under-$200 donors probably should be updated to address current technology and conditions. The amounts involved in the Obama campaign (and to a lesser extent the McCain campaign) are too large to sidestep meaningful oversight. Our proposed database of under-$200 internet contributions provides an excellent means of evaluating what is happening under the current rules.

Fulcrum’s work will be limited to organizing and providing access to objective data without commentary; any commentary will be left to others. Fulcrum is not in any way affiliated with any political party. Fulcrum will accept no assistance, advice, or other input from any political party or organization. Our principals have never contributed money to a Republican candidate, but have occasionally financially supported Democrats.

The Obama campaign’s claims that the data is technically too challenging to handle is incorrect. The sheer volume of electronic data sometimes makes it appear that the data is too cumbersome to address. However, with the correct skills and tools, this initial perception is often wrong. We routinely observe the following in our business:

1. Fulcrum regularly obtains and processes electronic data in its investigations. Often, the subject of our investigation has no idea how much can be accomplished electronically. Our clients are often pleasantly surprised.
2. The biggest challenge in using electronic data is just getting the parties (both our clients and the subject of an investigation) to even try. Anyone who assumes this stuff is too difficult or too expensive has lost out.
3. In dealing with electronic data, get help. The help is often cheaper than you realize. In the case of the Obama and McCain campaigns, the cost is free.

So, how about it Mr. President? Senator McCain? We offer our services to address important questions about the fairness of the electoral process. We promise that it is easier than you think. Can we do for free what President Obama said was too difficult?

Inquiries or requests for additional information should be directed to David Nolte at 213-787-4111.

Fulcrum inquiry is a licensed accounting firm. We perform financial investigations, computer forensics, and records reconstruction of large data bases.