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WASHINGTON (AP) Organizing for Action, the advocacy group supporting President Barack Obama's agenda, is scaling back its fundraising efforts and cutting its paid staff in half as focus shifts to the approaching midterm elections, three Democratic officials said.

Formed last year from the remnants of Obama's vaunted re-election campaign, OFA raised more than $30 million in its first 15 months as it worked to build support for Obama priorities like health care, immigration and climate change. But the group's aggressive courting of big-dollar donors has troubled many Democrats who worry that OFA is siphoning sorely needed dollars from Democratic campaigns just as the party is bracing for a difficult election.

As of May 31, OFA will no longer solicit high-dollar contributions, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press. Kathy Gasperine, the group's development director and a former Obama fundraiser, told top contributors it would "not be giving significant priority to seeking out new major donors."

"During the remainder of 2014, we will work to strengthen our relationships we have with our national leadership, continue our robust digital organizing, and utilize our megaphone to continue to activate our network into issue advocacy," Gasperine wrote.

Large contributions that were previously pledged will still be accepted, Gasperine said. And the group will continue soliciting smaller donations from grassroots supporters, an OFA official said.

At the same time, the group's workforce has shrunk in recent months from a high of more than 200 to just over 100 paid employees, according to a Democrat familiar with the group's workings.

The reduction came as OFA was winding down a major enrollment push for Obama's health care law. The group had staffed up for that campaign and to manage 1,700 participants in its fellowship program, and some were on temporary contracts. Most but not all of the departing staffers worked on those projects, said the Democrat, who, like others, wasn't authorized to discuss OFA's internal workings publicly and demanded anonymity.

OFA said a key piece of its mission has been to foster "the next generation of progressive leaders," so it's no surprise that some of the staffers are moving on or joining congressional campaigns now that open enrollment for Obama's health exchanges is closed. The same goes for OFA's donors.

"We understand and expect that some of our more than 420,000 contributors will choose to shift their focus during the midterm season," said OFA spokeswoman Katie Hogan.

But the move follows public and private griping by Democratic groups who say OFA is diverting funds that would otherwise go to Democratic candidates, thus hindering the party in the midterms. After all, Democrats have fewer deep-pocketed donors than Republicans.

Originally posted here:
Obama Supporting Group Cuts Staffing, Fundraising