The firebombing of a GOP office in North Carolina is a reprehensible act, and those who carried it out deserve to be caught and brought forward to face significant charges. But for every bad guy, there are mountains of good guys. In this case, David Weinberger and a group of Democrats who put together a GoFundMe page to repair the damaged office.
Our aim is, as stated, to help fund the re-opening of the bombed-out office. We do not want any of the funds gathered to be used for other political activities. We are currently talking with officials of Orange County and hope soon to be talking with the local GOP leaders to figure out how to provide this funding in a way that meets the election laws (which are complex) and that accomplishes the campaign's stated goal of re-opening the office. If there's no legal, practical way to put all of the money to that use, we will find a strictly non-partisan way of using it, and will let the donors know so that they can participate in the decision.
And what was the response? Over $13,000 came in from Democrats … to restore a GOP office.
NOTE: We reached our goal and then some in less than 40 minutes after we went public with this campaign. We stopped accepting donations then because our aim is to fund re-opening the bombed-out office, and we decided that we had gathered a reasonable amount for that purpose.
In an election season filled with an unprecedented amount of hatred ginned up by a candidate dedicated to winning through division, and against a backdrop of charges that the election is rigged, it’s great to see people pitching in to show the strength of American democracy.
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