GOP Ally (527) Reports $40 Million in Pledges

[realFedUp]

http://www.latimes.com/news/yahoo/la-na-money3sep03,1,4599016.story

GOP Ally Reports $40 Million in Pledges
By Lisa Getter
Times Staff Writer

September 3, 2004

NEW YORK — The largest of the Republican independent groups raising money to help reelect President Bush set up shop this week at the Ritz Carlton Hotel — where top Bush-Cheney campaign fundraisers were staying for the Republican National Convention.

"We received a lot of enthusiasm for what Progress for America is doing," said Brian McCabe, president of the Progress for America Voter Fund.

McCabe said the group had received commitments of about $10 million from convention visitors, part of what he said were overall pledges of $40 million.

Progress for America is a 527 group, named after the provision in the U.S. tax code that regulates them. They have gained prominence since campaign finance reforms banned unlimited donations to campaigns from individuals, corporations and unions to political parties. The 527s have contended that the law did not apply to them.

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