A Seattle donor to a Hillary Clinton-founded nonprofit group found there was no way to cancel his monthly donation, according to a report.
Corey Koscielniak, 29, told the Seattle Times he wanted to stop giving his $10.48 a month contribution to the Clinton-political action organization Onward Together—which the former 2016 Democratic presidential nominee formed after her loss to President Trump—because the organization did not disclose enough information on how the money is spent.
“Onward Together (OT) accepts payment information but provides no ability to alter or cancel donations once the initial donation is received,” Koscielniak wrote in a complaint to the Washington state Attorney General’s Office.
The group, like many other political action organizations, employed aggressive marketing tactics to fleece money from donors through email blasts.
The Seattle PI reported on one instance where the group sent an email to a prospective Clinton backer 11 months after Clinton’s election loss urging her to “become a Founding Donor”:
Heather—It’s an old joke by now that I took a few long walks in the woods after Election Day. But I did, and I came out ready to fight for our vision of a fairer, more inclusive country by supporting the incredible groups and leaders who are encouraging people to organize and run for office.
I hope you’re ready, too. Because I’d like for you to become a Founding Donor to Onward Together by starting a monthly donation of just $10.
Koscielniak, who began his monthly tithe in May 2017, is now on a mission to keep his $10.48 in his bank account instead of the progressive group’s pocket.
Hillary Clinton founded the 501(c)(4) tax-exempt group in 2017 to aid progressive groups in training, fundraising, and making inroads with advisers and donors, according to Onward Together’s website.
Clinton’s communications director, Nick Merrill, told the Seattle Times Onward Together gave more than $1 million to “various groups,” and the group plans to beat that goal in 2018.
Merrill added that Koscielniak’s situation has been resolved and claims the organization “will make sure this doesn’t happen again, with anybody, in the future.”
Meanwhile, it will take one month for Koscielniak to find out if his money has been refunded.
Koscielniak did not blame Clinton personally, but blasted the Democratic Party for aligning themselves with “the larger industrial complex.”
“What surprised me is, the Democratic Party is supposed to stand for other people and not be part of this larger industrial complex,” he said.
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