Staff for a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate discovered a would-be infiltrator on Wednesday who had attempted to gain access to the campaign as a volunteer.
According to a report in The Huffington Post, staff for Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold’s campaign unmasked the woman, who identified herself as Allison Moss, after her backstory fell apart.
Moss reportedly signed up to volunteer with the campaign on Tuesday, signing a non-disclosure agreement under that same name, and told staffers that she had been a member of the College Democrats at the University of Minnesota.
Another member of the campaign who had attended the University of Minnesota remembered Moss as a member of the College Republicans, however.
After answering initial questions about her background, Moss refused to provide further information, saying that she was “not really going to answer any questions” when staffers asked if she was working for another organization or recording their conversation.
Staffers also asked Moss if she was actually Allison Maass, a former correspondent at the conservative student news website Campus Reform. The site is backed by the Leadership Institute, which organizes conservative groups on campus and gave rise to the conservative activist and provocateur James O’Keefe.
In a Wednesday statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Campus Reform editor-in-chief Sterling Beard said that Maass had not been affiliated with the group since the spring of 2015. Beard said that Campus Reform had no involvement in her apparent infiltration attempt.
The campaign for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), whom Feingold is challenging, also issued a statement Wednesday saying that it had no affiliation with Maass.
Maass had also reportedly been involved in a failed sting attempt against Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in August of last year, according to Time. In that failed sting, three women tried to catch Clinton staffers involved in illegal activity surrounding campaign donations and voter registration policies.
At the time, the president of Students for a Conservative Voice, a group linked to Campus Reform, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the number the women provided to the Clinton campaign was in fact Maass’ phone number.
