In an interesting twist yesterday, the FEC ruled that donors who contributed to the Specter campaign while he was a Republican can now be contacted and informed of their right to request a refund.
The FEC voted 4-2 to advise the Club for Growth -- a conservative group tied to Specter's main GOP rival -- that it was within its legal rights to contact Specter donors and remind them of his pledge to provide refunds to any contributors unhappy with his party switch. When Specter announced he was leaving the GOP earlier this year, he promised to return campaign contributions from the 2010 cycle "upon request."
[...]
The FEC, which keeps tight restrictions on the use of donor lists, ruled that the Club for Growth can send one letter or make one telephone call to each donor, but the group cannot sell their names, addresses and telephone numbers to others, or request contributions.
In one sense, I see this as a marginal violation of privacy. If you give to a candidate more than $200 in an election cycle, campaigns are required to disclose you publicly, and you show up in public records. But there are lots of donors to campaigns who never show up. Is the Club for Growth now able to access the Specter campaign's entire donor list, even those who gave him $25 and $100? To me, I don't relish the prospect that the Club is able to view the names, addresses, occupations and employers of the entire Specter donor list, even if they are unable to use that information for their own fundraising purposes. I would hope the FEC required safeguards to keep the process blind should the Club decide to call or mail a donor.
Also, does this only apply to the Club, or can a group like National Right to Life contact these donors if they wanted to? I haven't seen answers to this anywhere.
On the other hand, this is good news for the Sestak camp- last FEC filing had Specter at $7.5 million and Sestak at $4.3 million. Specter had $5.8 million in the bank four weeks before he switched parties, which he had been raising since 2004, meaning almost 3/4 of his money was from people giving to a Republican. This may have a significant effect on draining his coffers.
Update: Over e-mail, a friend and campaign finance attorney says that the Club will only get to use information of those donors who are publicly available, e.g. contributors over $200 to the campaign per cycle. The Club is not allowed to use that information for resolicitation on their behalf.
Regarding the ability of conservative groups to "pile on" and each get one phone call and mail solicitation encouraging donors to ask for their money back, he writes:
As long as they're truly working independently, yes. The Commission seemed to place great weight on the privacy concerns of contributors and CfG's assurance that this was a one-shot letter or phone call.
To date, Specter has returned just $126,000 in individual contributions and $97,000 in PAC contributions. This could grow significantly if the Club and other groups all mobilize, although there are resource costs to them of doing that. I have doubts that a lot of people understood the vagueries of campaign finance law and knew they could get their money back.
There is an interesting debate going on around whether or not, and to what degree, people who support the netroots community should consider supporting candidates who are not necessarily bold progressives. It has come up in four instances:
When Rep. Kendrick Meek (who despite having a lifetime Progressive Punch score of 90.59, is considered conservative by some) was coming to Netroots Nation and a member of his staff offered the opportunity to netroots activists to meet with him on a one-on-one basis
Folks have asked me why in the world Chris is working for the campaign of Joe Sestak, who is not normally considered a progressive hero
I've chatted with a number of folks who were upset that Netroots Nation organizers invited Specter to speak
SenateGuru is doing a series of diaries with 2010 Senate candidates of all stripes asking why they should receive progressive netroots support, giving Conservadems like Kentucky's Dan Mongiardo a platform.
The question is two-fold: (a) Why are progressive netroots activists giving conservative Democrats a platform (b) Why are progressive netroots activists expending resources and asking others to contribute to, Tweet about, etc. these candidates?
I have some general thoughts about the usefulness behind this in the extended entry.
This should be interesting. Will Snarlin' Arlen show up?
Allentown, PA - Today, U.S. Senate candidate Pat Toomey accepted an invitation issued by Rep. Joe Sestak to participate in a town hall meeting on health care on September 2, 2009 at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. The invitation was issued after Mr. Toomey engaged the Congressman in an exchange over health care several days ago. Mr. Toomey also suggested that the two campaigns invite Muhlenberg College's Dr. Christopher Borick to moderate the meeting.
"I eagerly accept Congressman Sestak's gracious invitation, and look forward to our respective campaigns working out the logistics over the next couple of days," Mr. Toomey said. "I'm happy to welcome Joe to the great city of Allentown and I'd extend to him an invitation to share a beer with me at one of our fine local establishments after the town hall meeting."
"Our health care system desperately needs reform, and Joe and I agree that a thoughtful and constructive policy discussion is a good way to move the ball forward."
"While I look forward to a substantive debate about honest differences with Congressman Sestak, I wish such an exchange was possible with Arlen Specter. Unfortunately, with Senator Specter, one never knows which Arlen Specter will show up-the May 2009 version who opposed a public health care option, or the August 2009 version who ardently supports it. Either way, I would be interested in having a similar discussion with Senator Specter and hereby extend to him an invitation to participate with me in a separate town hall meeting on health care."
"Pat, I look forward to such an exchange; how about a great town hall on health care? Does the evening of September 2nd, in your home town of Allentown at Muhlenberg College, work for you? We'll have a great discussion of the health care reform effort. I want to show you the light on the public health care option! What do you say?"
Also, pretty cool that Toomey accepted what was an initial challenge via Twitter:
I challenge @ToomeyForSenate to a health care town hall in his home town: http://bit.ly/IUhex #sestak #toomey #publicoption
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