The 527 doing independent mailings for John Edwards got a staggering, $500,000 donation from one past donor to a similar group that financed the One America anti-poverty campaign Edwards waged before becoming a candidate.

  The heiress to the Andrew Mellon fortune through a legal counsel gave $250,000 to the Edwards One America effort last year.

    It turns out Edwards railed against the Mellons according to the audio of a Bow town hall meeting on Nov. 26.

   “The Tockefellers and the Mellons and the Carnegies, all these peole, owned most of America or a big chunk of America and they used their money and power to dominate what was happening in the government and to dominate what was happening in the economy,” Edwards said.

   Both contributions were made by Alexander Forger who holds power of attorney for Rachel Lambert Mellon, 91 and the checks were written from Oak Spring Farms LLC.

   Rachel’s widow, Paul, had a home in Virginia known as Oak Spring Farms.

   Forger is a maxed-out, $4,600 donor to Edwards’ presidential campaign.

   You get the picture.

   Her donation makes up nearly 30 percent of the $1.7 million the Alliance for a New America reported to the Federal Elections Commission.

   The 527 has paid for pro-Edwards mailings in New Hampshire and reserved more than $750,000 in TV ads leading to the Iowa caucuses.

    These independent groups don’t typically have to identify donors but they disclose activities if they are within 30 days of an election.