Calling themselves communists, GOP activists tried donating to Democrat

The potential donation that arrived at an Arizona campaign office Thursday had all the markings of a grassroots story — at first.

Two men, who said their names were Jose Rosales and Ahmahd Sadia, had shown up at the Flagstaff campaign office of Rep. Tom O’Halleran, a Democrat who is running for reelection to represent northern Arizona.

They claimed they were from nearby Northern Arizona University. They had also brought a jar of small bills and coins — totaling $39.68 — that they said wanted to donate to O’Halleran’s campaign.

The pair filled out a campaign contribution form, marking down “Northern Arizona University Communist Party” as the source of the funds, according to O’Halleran campaign manager Ryan Mulcahy.

A staff member in O’Halleran’s campaign office recognized the men from social media as being affiliated with the Arizona Republican Party. Shortly after the pair left, O’Halleran’s finance director, Lindsay Coleman, drove over to the local Arizona GOP office to return the donations.

Her suspicions were confirmed upon entering the GOP office, in an exchange that was captured on video.

“Are there two young Republicans named Ahmad or Jose?” Coleman asked a receptionist.

“I don’t believe so,” someone in the GOP office told her.

“Oh, OK. Well I’m here, because two young gentlemen right here” — at this point Coleman pointed to a man who stepped out from a room in the office — “made this contribution to our campaign …”

A man at the office seemed to correct Coleman: “This is Oscar.”

Coleman continued: “And Oscar, who gave a donation under the name of Jose …”

Oscar/Jose abruptly turned back around and re-entered the room from which he had emerged.

Coleman pointed out it was illegal to falsify contribution information to the Federal Election Commission and said she would likely be filing a report with the police. Then she called back out toward the closed door: “Um, Oscar, I have your cash! And I’d like to return it to you, please!” Oscar/Jose emerged yet again. “Here you go, Oscar. Us returning your funds that you just made to our contribution to our campaign under the name of Jose Rosales, claiming to be with ‘NAU Young Communists’ when you are in fact with the NAU Young Republicans and your name is Oscar,” Coleman told him.

“OK, yeah,” Oscar/Jose said, as Coleman walked away, smiling.

O’Halleran’s campaign posted video of the encounter to YouTube on Friday. Mulcahy said he suspects O’Halleran’s opponent, Wendy Rogers, was behind the attempted campaign donation, saying it “fits in particularly well” with her attempts to paint O’Halleran as a far-left extremist.