A Tennessee woman who made more than 1,000 small dollar donations totaling a little more than $29,000 to the far-left PAC ActBlue between January 1, 2023 and August 15, 2024 explained to The Tennessee Star on Friday why and how she made the donations.
Martha Wettemann, who is employed as a statistical supervisor for the state of Tennessee and is a district director for the Tennessee State Employees Association, told The Star she has been a donor to progressive causes via Act Blue, going back to at least 2006.
Wettemann told The Star she logged in to her ActBlue account and confirmed that her small dollar donations through that organization from January 1, 2023 until today are a little more than $29,000.
“Rather than use $29,000 to redo my kitchen or buy a car, I use my money in support of political candidates, because I believe in great leadership at the local, state, and federal levels. There is nothing illegal about that,” Wetteman said.
She went on to explain how exactly she made those donations.
Wettemann said as a longtime donor to ActBlue, she receives numerous text messages and emails every day from ActBlue, asking for small dollar donations. Her credit card is on file, and it is fairly simple to hit the donate link, she said. She added that she receives so many donation text messages and emails each day that she does not respond to or donate to all of them.
May 30, 2024 was a particularly busy donation day for Wettemann. She made a total of 15 donations to ActBlue that day in response to text and email me messages from ActBlue. Those 15 individual donations ranged from a low of 72 cents ($0.72) to a high of $27.
According to The Star’s review of Federal Election Commission records, Wettemann made 1,639 small dollar donations to ActBlue between January 1, 2023 and August 15, 2023, totalling a little more than $29,000. Since 2006, she has made 7,044 small dollar donations to ActBlue, totaling $79,339.72.
In a series of articles, The Star has been chronicling “ghost donors” in Tennessee—and across the United States–whose identities have been unable to be confirmed who have each made more than 1,000 individual small dollar donations to ActBlue since the beginning of 2023.
Having spoken extensively with Ms. Wettemann, The Star can definitely confirm she is very much alive and is no ghost. She is a consistent small dollar donor to progressive causes through ActBlue.
The Star has previously reported Ms. Wettemann is a supporter of Moms Demand Action, which we described as a left wing gun control group.
Ms. Wettemann disputes that characterization, calling Moms Demand Action a moderate group, one that she supports, “having been a victim of gun violence in several ways.”
Wetteman serves as the District 5 director for the Tennessee State Employees Association, a union for state employees.
According to FEC records of her contributions, she is employed as a statistical supervisor for the State of Tennessee.
ActBlue is facing increased scrutiny about potentially laundering foreign donations or other nefarious donations through unknowing people who have given legitimately to the PAC at some point but are now being used as “ghost donors.” ActBlue has also been flagged for suspiciously not collecting three-digit security CVV codes from donors’ credit cards, which, in theory, means that donations could be made with prepaid debit cards.
The Star’s investigation is ongoing.
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Peter D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Peter on Twitter/X.
Photo “Martha Wettemann” by Frank Einstein.
Editor’s note: This article has been extensively updated to include statements by Martha Wetteman to The Tennessee Star regarding her numerous donations to ActBlue.
Phil Williams is only going to investigate Conservatives, not liberals!
THIS IS AN Opportunity for our ATTORNEY GENERAL SKRMETTI to investigate & prosecute.
THIS IS CLEARLY ELECTION INTERVENTION.
THEFT, FRAUD & MANY OTHER CRIMES
I look forward to reading about it soon.
Money laundering.
Wire fraud.
Election interference.
Identity theft.
The hits just keep coming.
Keep it up, this is BS.
Phil Williams sure wouldn’t investigate it….