Alberto Ibarguen, CEO of the Knight Foundation and former publisher of the Miami Herald, joined the board of directors of AMR and American Airlines in January. There wasn’t much of a honeymoon.

Two California groups, Vote Hope and PowerPac.org, are drawing national attention, and boisterous complaints from opponents, for their support of Barack Obama’s run for the presidency.

Both are operating outside the Obama campaign as 527 organizations, taking advantage of tax-code provisions that exempt them from federal spending limits. And both were founded by Steve Phillips, former president of the San Francisco School Board and son-in-law of billionaire banker Herb Sandler.