Project Vote, the nonprofit group that helped sweep then-Sen. Barack Obama into the White House, has filed a federal lawsuit against a former employee who has accused the group of illegally colluding with Obama’s campaign for its get-out-the-vote drive.
The D.C.-based nonprofit group says that Anita Moncrief and an an unidentified accomplice hacked into private e-mails from group executives and stole the group’s name without permission. It also accuses Moncrief of using a company credit card for her own purposes.
The suit seeks at least $5 million in damages for trademark infringement and dilution, conspiracy, theft of trade secrets, and fraud. The suit paints her as an incompetent hustler who couldn’t manage her own bank account. It says that she was fired for stealing from the company and then dressed herself as a whistleblower to “get even” with her former bosses.
“Project Vote is obligated to protect the integrity of our name, our organization and our communications,” group spokesman Michael McDunnah said in a statement.
Moncrief declined comment Thursday. She has emerged as a national figure, especially in the blogosphere, for her pointed questions about the ways in which Project Vote, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and other pro-Obama forces mobilized for their candidate.
She testified in federal court in Pennsylvania last year that Project Vote, which once employed Obama, worked directly with his presidential campaign to circumvent campaign finance law by reaching out to Obama donors who had already given the legal maximum to the candidate but who could continue to funnel cash to ACORN’s and Project Vote’s drive.
Nearly one-third of the cards that ACORN and Project Vote organizers turned in were held to be invalid. The FBI started investigations into the registration efforts in several states.
Testifying last year, Moncrief admitted that she stole the company credit card. But she says it doesn’t alter the truth about Project Vote and ACORN. Her allies agree.
“It shows that she’s hitting a nerve,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative D.C. watchdog group, said about Wednesday’s lawsuit.
