The co-founder of the radical anti-war group Code Pink has “bundled” more than $50,000 for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and pro-troops groups are demanding that he return the money.
Jodie Evans, a Code Pink leader, gathered at least $50,000 from friends and associates and donated it to Obama’s presidential campaign, according to information compiled by the nonpartisan watchdog group, Public Citizen.
Evans and her son, a student who lives at her Southern California address, each also gave the maximum individual allowable donation of $2,300 to Obama’s campaign.
The donations have raised questions about Obama’s association with the more radical elements of his base. Code Pink has harassed, vandalized and impeded military recruiters across the United States in a campaign it calls “counter-recruitment.” The group also gave $600,000 to the families of Iraqi terrorists in Fallujah, whom it called “insurgents” fighting for their homes.
Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission, Move America Forward, Military Families Voice of Victory, The Band of Mothers and FreeRepublic.com, issued a statement this week saying Obama should cut ties to his radical bundler.
"Barack Obama's judgment to be commander-in-chief is seriously in question because of his association with Code Pink's Jodie Evans and her war against the American military,” the groups said in a joint statement. "If Sen. Obama wants to earn the trust of the American people to send their sons and daughters in harm's way, he should immediately renounce Evans and return all contributions associated with her."
Obama’s campaign did not respond to repeated attempts to get comment on the latest controversy to hit his campaign.
“As somebody who has stood toe-to-toe with Code Pink, I am sickened that Senator Obama would accept large donations from the leader of the hateful, anti-American group,” said Melanie Morgan, chairman of Move America Forward, the nation’s largest pro-troop group.
Code Pink has also waged a campaign of psychological warfare against America's wounded warriors and their families by protesting at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, targeting them with signs bearing messages such as “Maimed for a lie” and “Enlist here and die for Halliburton,” the joint statement from pro-troops groups said.
Evans has a long history as a political organizer for radical causes and as a Democratic operative. She also worked for former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who is now the state’s attorney general.
Evans sat on the board of directors of the Rain Forest Action Network (RAN), a coalition of capitalist-hating environmentalist groups. The cofounder of RAN also founded the violent and radical Animal Liberation Front, which the FBI listed as one of the largest domestic terrorism threats in the United States.
The FBI reported that RAN and the Earth Liberation Front committed more than 600 criminal acts and racked up $43 million in damages over seven years.
Evan’s radical ideology fit with the other founders of Code Pink, which is notorious for its attempts to shut down the Berkeley Marine Recruiting Center, occupying congressional offices, intimidating families of soldiers who gave their lives in Iraq, attacking opponents and disrupting Congress while dressed in Pepto Bismol-colored outfits.
Most of Evans’ money comes from a failed marriage with Westside financier Max Palevsky, a billionaire who cashed in on a computer business in the late ‘60s. Evans took the cash and has invested in anti-American, anti-capitalist ventures.
In federal documents relating to her donations to Obama, Evans listed Code Pink as her employer.
“After the mess with his former pastor and another radical character, Jeremiah Wright, Obama needs to distance himself from Evan and Code Pink,” Morgan said. “If he doesn’t, it is clear that he is not ready to lead the best military in the world.”
Catherine Moy is a nationally recognized award-winning journalist and coauthor of America Mourning: A story of two families.
