ST. PAUL (AP) — Want to be a general in a free Laos? How about a mayor?

Hmong immigrants are being targeted by fundraisers who promise positions in a Laos that may never exist in exchange for payments of hundreds or thousands of dollars, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported on Sunday.

Aggressive fundraising has long been a sore point for the Hmong. But there’s even more concern now because of FBI investigations of influence peddling in St. Paul City Hall and a separate look by the state attorney general at a prominent Hmong fundraising organization.

Some of the fundraising letters bear the signature of General Vang Pao, who led an army of ethnic minority Hmong that battled communist insurgents in Laos during the Vietnam War and is still revered by many Hmong. Many younger, American-born Hmong have less regard for Vang Pao and see the fundraising as excessive.

Several documents in circulation bear the letterhead of the United Lao National Liberation Front, also known as the Neo Hom, which was founded in the United States by exiled Laotian military leaders. Some appeal for money to help kinsmen who are still fighting in the jungles of Laos against that country’s communist government.

A copy of one certificate, provided to the Pioneer Press, is written in the Lao language and promises that the bearer will be governor of a Laotian province. It is dated Jan. 15, 2003, and appears to be signed by Vang Pao, referred to as “prince liberator.’’Other letters include a “National Support Volunteer Form’’ that asks for monthly payments of $100 or another amount of the donor’s choosing.

The newspaper reported that one Twin Cities man said his father obtained a title for him that supposedly endures a ranking position in a new Lao government. Another said his father-in-law bought one for himself, but was dropped after he could no longer make the monthly payments.

It’s not clear how much money the letters are generating, or whether they violate any laws. But they angered one observer.

Fundraisers in the Hmong community have been questioned before. In 1989, there were reports that many Hmong families had paid $100 down and $10 a month to the Neo Hom. Some paid $500 for certificates that would entitle them to return to a future Laos, and others paid hundreds or thousands to be mayors, governors, police chiefs, colonels and generals.