This is the third in a series profiling the individuals bankrolling Obama’s Presidential bid.
The co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink has “bundled” more than $50,000 for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Jodie Evans, one of three of Code Pink’s leaders, gathered at least $50,000 from friends and associates and donated it to Obama’s presidential campaign, according to information compiled by the nonpartisan watchdog group, Public Citizen. Evans and her son, a student who lives at her Southern California address, each also gave the maximum individual allowable donation of $2,300 to Obama’s campaign.
Jodie Evans is a radical activist and Democratic fundraiser best known as the co-founder (along with Diane Wilson, a Wiccan calling herself Starhawk, and Global Exchange’s Medea Benjamin) of Code Pink for Peace. Evans also works closely with Leslie Cagan, the pro-Castro leader of United For Peace and Justice.
From 1973 to 1982, Ms. Evans worked in administrative capacities in the political campaigns of Jerry Brown, who during those years served as California’s Secretary of State and then Governor. She also held a cabinet post as Governor Brown’s Director of Administration.
Ms. Evans also founded the Grief Recovery Center after the death of her daughter. During this period, she held various positions with the Women’s Campaign Fund, the Women’s Political Committee, and the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee.
In 1991, Ms. Evans ran Jerry Brown’s presidential campaign. She also produced the radio program We the People with Jerry Brown, a daily talk show. Over the years, Jodie Evans has supported such activist groups as Citizen Action, Neighbor to Neighbor, the Earth Island Institute, the Interfaith Task Force on Central America, the International Overseas Education Fund, and the Los Angeles Women’s Foundation. Ms. Evans is currently a Board of Directors member for the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network. She owes her fortune thanks largely to her divorce settlement from the billionaire capitalist Max Palevsky, the founder of an early Silicon Valley computer company, SDS, now part of Xerox Corporation.
Ms. Evans is also a strong supporter of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, visiting Caracas in April 2005.
The problem with Code Pink is that they are an out of touch can’t see the trees from the forest activist organization that takes the law into their own hands. They are not above disrupting speeches and while I applaud their mission to see the Iraqi conflict ended, I deplore their tactics. Everyone has a right to speak including those with whom I disagree. On the farsical side, they are taking to using witchcraft in their demonstrations. So they are not just latte-sipping liberals, they are a touch delusional as well. Perhaps they can form a new group, Wiccans for Obama. Oops, there already is. Can his campaign get any sillier? Wiccans for Obama, unreal.