OUTSOURCING POLITICAL GRAFT

Thanks to MaxSpeak:

The political split in the US over outsourcing notwithstanding, till very recently the fund-raising and vote-seeking campaign for the Republican Party was done partly out of India. And this was handled by two call centres located in our own friendly neighbourhood in Noida and Gurgaon.

For 14 months between May 16, 2002 and July 22, 2003, HCL BPO Services — the 100 per cent-owned subsidiary of Shiv Nadar-promoted HCL Technologies — had some 125 agents working in seven teams soliciting financial contributions for the Republican Party. US presidential elections are slated for November 2004.

Earlier, we heard that Republicans were outsourcing campaign merchandise to slave-labor sweatshops in Burma. Now, they are outsourcing fundraising phonebanking to India.

Wake up American workers! The Republicans DO NOT have your best interest at heart.

I'm no campaign finance expert, but might this sort of thing be illegal? Makes one wonder how rigorous a paper trail these contractors are keeping on the Republican donors. Are they up to FEC standards?