"Karrin is a unique spelling
of a common name — and
80-year-old Geraldine
Lindigrin, who lives in
Mississippi, doesn't know
any Karrins.
So when
she saw four charges to a
"Karrin for" on her recent
credit card statements, she
was perplexed. A couple of
the charges were during the
time Lindigrin was in
rehabilitation after a fall,
when her account shouldn't
have had activity, according
to her daughter, Sherry.
With the
help of Google and many
frustrating phone calls, the
Lindigrins now know the
octogenarian paid $100 to
Karrin Taylor Robson's
campaign for the Republican
nomination for Arizona
governor.
The enduring mystery is they
don't know Taylor Robson,
don't have an interest in
Arizona politics and never
intended to support her
campaign.
The
Lindigrins ultimately
recouped those four
donations after reporting
them as fraud to American
Express. But theirs are just
a few of the more than 1,180
transactions totaling nearly
$87,000 that Taylor Robson
has refunded during her
11-month campaign, a large
amount that suggests
aggressive if not deceptive
fundraising tactics.
Geraldine
Lindigrin's credit card
statements, and Taylor
Robson's public campaign
finance records, show the
donations and refunds went
through WinRed, a national
GOP donation platform that
is facing consumer
protection investigations in
four states. Lindigrin had
used WinRed before, to
donate to Donald Trump,
donor records show.
"I’m
pissed," Sherry Lindigrin
said in a phone interview.
"Excuse my language, I don’t
like to be so ugly. ... My
mom has been through so
much. I don’t like anybody
taken advantage of.”
The
Taylor Robson campaign said
refunds are a routine part
of campaign business and
charged that other
gubernatorial campaigns with
smaller refund rates were
less transparent about their
finances.
But after
questions from The Arizona
Republic, the campaign said
it would end one
controversial fundraising
tactic that used pre-checked
boxes to make donations
recurring, like those
withdrawn from Lindigrin's
account. Instead of opting
in to make regular future
donations, contributors had
to opt-out.
Highest number of refunds
Of nine
candidates for governor,
Taylor Robson far outpaces
the pack when it comes to
refunded donations.
Two of
her leading GOP challengers,
former Fox 10 anchor Kari
Lake and former Congressman
Matt Salmon, reported a
total of seven refunds
combined. Their rate of
refunds to individual donors
are less than one-half of
1%, while Taylor Robson's
rate is just under 4%.
Two
Democratic candidates
reported more refunds than
GOP challengers, yet still
far below Taylor Robson's
count." |