WASHINGTON - May 21 - The Bush Administration has taken its strong support for outsourcing even further than once thought, opting to move its key political operations offshore. Specifically, the Hindustan Times of India reports that over a 14 month period in 2002 and 2003 when the Republican Party was playing up patriotism, the fund-raising and vote-seeking campaign for the Republican Party was done, in part, by two call centers located in India.

According to the report, the Republican National Committee sent its voter database to the India operation and used 125 staff in India to “solicit political contributions ranging between $5 and $3,000 from thousands of registered Republican voters.” While the contract for running the campaigns was originally awarded to Washington-based Capital Communications Group, “for cost and efficiencies gains, the company outsourced the work to HCL Technologies that in turn sent it offshore.”

“This is a classic case of the hypocrisy of this White House. Millions of America’s men and women have lost their jobs; meanwhile, George Bush is sending even his campaign operation overseas in an attempt to save his own job,” said Peter Schurman, Executive Director of MoveOn.org.

Under public pressure, President Bush has tried to downplay his support for outsourcing. But this new story is consistent with his Administration’s actions in support of shipping American jobs overseas. Late last year, the New York Times reported that the Bush Commerce Department co-sponsored a conference at the lavish Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York that was designed to “encourage American companies to put operations and jobs in China.” Then, this year, the President’s top economic adviser said outsourcing was “a plus for the economy.”

For full citations and links to the cited documents, visit: www.misleader.org.

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