Labour PPC forced to cancel Obama fundraiser

Oh the joy of blogging. Yesterday I wrote about a fundraiser for Obama planned by Labour parliamentary candidate Claire Hazelgrove, a student at York University.

Now the Facebook event description has been edited so that only the first three paragraphs remain (see left).

Fortunately I kept a screencap of the original Facebook page for posterity (see right).

That version, as I noted yesterday, included the following incriminating words:

"It works like this: American law says that foreign nationals can't donate to political campaigns in order to prevent Roman Abramovich from buying his own president. Sensible. But what we can do is have a party, pay £3 each and give the money to Raf, who is an American citizen. Flush with his new found wealth Raf can then donate the exact amount made at the party to the Obama campaign."

Bless young Claire Hazelgrove, however. Here's what she wrote moments before she edited the Facebook page:

"Anne-Marie's right - let's just have a supporters party. No one here wants to cause trouble for any campaign, it was just an idea that cannot work, has in no way been executed, and will not happen. So let's end the debate here.

Obama supporters party (not fundraiser)- Pitcher & Piano, 7.30pm Tues, Week 2.

See you all there!"

You can almost hear her weeping protestations from here!

Unfortunately that won't be the end of the matter. The Federal Election Commission guidance I referred to earlier today makes it an offence punishable by fines and/or imprisonment even to solicit contributions from foreign nationals. Both Claire Hazelgrove and the American, Raf Sanchez, by their own admission did just this. The Federal Election Campaign Act is crystal clear. Hence the matter now being in the hands of the FEC.

As at 1pm today, at least, Claire Hazelgrove remains a Labour PPC. But for how much longer..?