| "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it would end one controversial fundraising tactic that used pre-checked boxes to make donations recurring, like those withdrawn from Lindigrin's account.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." |
