Originally posted on MyDD by grlpatriot, Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 05:09:11 PM EST

PUMA Pac founder and Democratic activist, Darragh Murphy, has been the target this week of allegations that she is a closet McCain supporter working for the Republicans to “to set up a secretive operation” to make McCain look moderate and make feminists look like “hysterical bitches” — (Really Amanda, anyway).

Like some of you, I was alarmed that a Republican might have infiltrated PUMA disguised as a disgruntled Democrat and formed a group that is now a leader in the PUMA movement. Like some of you, I was angry and wanted to get to the bottom of it. PUMA is a growing group of disgruntled Democrats, not a Republican secret op, so any Republican mischief-maker would need to get the boot quickly. So, I decided to go right to the source to verify the veracity of these allegations.

Hear what Darragh has to say over the flip…

I contacted Darragh Murphy by email on Sunday afternoon to ask if she had donated $500 to McCain back in 2000 and if she was a Republican. She replied that evening to address the allegations. Darragh confirmed that she did donate $500 to McCain during the 2000 primary, but absolutely rejected the false claims that she is a Republican. I’ve decided to let Darragh’s words speak for themselves. Here is her reply to me:

I have responded at length to these attempts to discredit me. I am NOT a Republican, never have been never will be. I donated to the McCain PRIMARY campaign in 2000 because I was vehemently opposed to George W Bush. I voted for Al Gore, of course, in the general election.
I’ve also donated and volunteered for Hillary this year. My words and actions speak for themselves. Attempts to discredit me will fail because I am sincere and honest. Thanks for the email, and sorry for not replying sooner.
- Murphy

I was able to confirm that Darragh did donate to Hillary at least $650 during this primary. I still had some unanswered questions, so I replied back to Darragh with several follow ups for clarification. Here are my questions and her responses to them:

1. Are you a registered Democrat? If so, how long? If not, what party are you registered or affiliated with?

Yes, I am a registered Democrat, since 1987 when I first registered to vote. I come from a long line of committed, active Democrats in Boston. I briefly registered “unenrolled” in 2000 in order to vote in the Republican primary, as we discussed, but then re-registered as a Democrat. I always vote for Democrats. I think I supported Bill Weld as Mass governor back in the early 90’s because I liked him and Massachusetts is a funny place like that. I dont exactly remember — never thought it would come up or that anyone would care!

2. Did you support Kerry in 2004? Do you support down ticket Democrats?

The night Kerry lost I was absolutely distraught. I could NOT believe it

had happened again. When George Bush stole the election in 2000 I was also distraught.

3. Will you support down ticket Democrats this November?

YES YES YES, I support down-ticket Dems. They are the front lines as politicians in the Dem Party. They NEED our support, even more than the big shots at the national level.

4. Would you support Obama if he put Hillary on the ticket?

I will not vote for Obama. Even if he has Mother Teresa on the ballot with him.

I appreciated Darragh taking the time to address my concern and answer my questions. It’s clear that she is NOT a Republican, but instead a disgruntled Democratic activist. Now, if you are still wondering why a Democrat would vote for and contribute money to a Republican during a primary, then hear what RonK Seattle had to say on the matter at MyDD:

If you knew your Party history better you’d know that many smart Democratic activists threw support to McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries, when he stood a legitimate chance of derailing W.

RonK followed up to provide more context:

Nearly 35,000 self-identified Democrats voted for McCain in the 2000 MA Republican primary (as did over 200,000 self-identified Indies), accounting for 73% of McCain’s winning (and winner-take-all) total.

Similar results were recorded all over the map. Republicans comprised 37% of voters in the MA GOP primary, 48% in MI, and so on. (I caucused for Gore in 2000, but I voted for McCain in WA’s open primary.)

…

Murphy’s contribution was perfectly timed. A primary contribution to Gore would have been wasted (as he won going away), a general election contribution would have been returned (as he accepted public financing), and a party contribution would have been diluted in the $200M-to-$200M standoff (where essentially all available ad minutes were bought out).

Today, as it was in 2000, MA voters can change or drop party designations as late as 20 calendar days before any primary or general election.

I know that it must be difficult for some Democrats to understand why your Democrat kinsmen have taken the PUMA path. Whether by choice or out of necessity, this path we take is based on democratic principles that are bigger than any one candidate. Our party has lost it’s way; we are working to help right it’s course.

Cross posted at Alegre’s Corner.

Update [2008-7-1 21:50:9 by grlpatriot]: There were a few comments here about the possibility that Darragh Murphy had donated to Hillary just prior to creating PUMA Pac as a cover up. I contacted Darragh to get detailed information regarding the dates and amounts that she donated to Hillary’s campaign. Darragh made her donations online and she was able to pull the data from her fund raising page on Hillary’s website that shows dates and amounts of her donations.

Here is the donation history that Darragh provided to me that started on March 19, 2008, totaling $600.

6/3/2008 Darragh Murphy $100.00

5/21/2008 Darragh Murphy $50.00

5/16/2008 Darragh Murphy $50.00

5/7/2008 Darragh Murphy $100.00

4/11/2008 Darragh Murphy $50.00

3/31/2008 Darragh Murphy $100.00

3/21/2008 Darragh Murphy $50.00

3/19/2008 Darragh Murphy $100.00

I also asked Darragh about the discrepancy total between the donation history that she provided to me ($600) and what the Huffington Post’s FundRace 2008 lists ($650). She stated that she doesn’t recall giving another $50 donation offline and believes the data on HuffPo to be inaccurate.

Update [2008-7-2 0:31:40 by grlpatriot]: Thanks to TxDem08 for posting the FEC source which provides independent verification of the donation details that Darragh provided to me. These donation figures totaling $650 are probably HuffPo’s source. The $50 discrepancy most likely resides in the campaign’s reporting of the donations to the FEC.

3/20/2008 $100

3/22/2008 $50

3/31/2008 $100

4/12/2008 $50

4/30/2008 $100

5/8/2008 $100

5/17/2008 $50

5/22/2008 $50

5/30/2008 $50

Update [2008-7-3 21:44:13 by grlpatriot]: RonK Seattle has done some further digging into FEC records and provides additional details on “contributors [that] have histories of FEC reportable contributions only to Democratic candidates and committees — with the sole exception of McCain 2000.” Check out what Ronk has to say about these crossover Dems that contributed to McCain during the 2000 primary. You can check RonK’s post out at here at MyDD or The Confluence.