Romney Dumps Website Author That Was "Not Affiliated" With His Campaign

Mitt Romney is already trailing brand-new candidate Fred Thompson in the polls--and now he's dealing with a PR disaster caused by "PhoneyFred."

Sources are telling FITS News that Mitt Romney’s South Carolina campaign organization has fired consultant Wesley Donehue in an effort to make him the scapegoat for yesterday’s PR disaster. Donehue has been publicly fingered by the Romney campaign as the individual responsible for creating PhoneyFred.org, a website attacking recently-announced presidential candidate Fred Thompson. Our sources tell us Romney’s $12,000-a-month lead consultant J. Warren Tompkins and S.C. Campaign Manager Terry Sullivan are telling people they had no idea Donehue was behind the website.

Uh-huh. Romney’s spokesman also says Donehue is "not an employee of ours," yet Donehue’s "On The Mark" direct mail firm received $81,225.02 from the Romney campaign during the second quarter of 2007, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

The anti-Thompson website called the candidate names like Fancy Fred, Five O'Clock Fred, Flip-Flop Fred, McCain Fred, Moron Fred, Playboy Fred, Pro-Choice Fred, Son-of-a-Fred and Trial Lawyer Fred.

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