Let’s offer congratulations to Marty Meehan, the former MA 5th District Congressman who was just appointed to the Presidency of the UMASS System. He has been praised for turning around and improving fundraising, on campus amenities, community development, and rankings at UMASS Lowell. A UMASS Lowell graduate, he will also (shockingly) be the first alumni of the system to be appointed to lead it.
While celebration is in order, there is the lingering and continuing controversy over what to do with Marty’s millions? Marty Meehan still has $4.4 million in his Congressional warchest, even though he has been out of office for nearly ten years.
He clearly has no intention of leaving this post anytime soon, as he stated in the article:
This time around the search committee said all finalists had to commit to staying for 10 years. Meehan said he’s willing to make that commitment.
“If I were interested in doing anything else, I would not be taking on this challenge at the University of Massachusetts,” Meehan said. “I am committed to it.”
Ten years from now, with nearly 20 years between him and his last elected office, and at the age of 68, it will be extremely unlikely he will be seeking another office.
This site has long suggested that he give the money to vulnerable Democrats. According to today’s Daily Kos election digest, he may be unable to do that, but he is still free to refund his donors or donate to charity.
If Meehan is completely done running, there’s no reason for him to continue to hold onto his $4.4 million war chest. Meehan’s non-partisan job may prevent him from giving the money to the DCCC or to another candidate, but there’s no reason for him not to refund his donors or donate it to charity.
So I leave it up to the hive mind, where should Marty take his millions?
Christopher says
…and the DK piece only speculated without pointing to an actual law, that the Meehan campaign is legally prevented from turning it over to the DCCC, at least on account of the current job. It would be of course subject to whatever campaign finance limits on campaigns giving to Hill Committees regarding amount. I’ve actually long thought that in the interest of levelling the playing field, unspent money after a given election should be turned over to the relevant partisan committee.
jconway says
I was thinking he should give it to Nepal relief if he wanted to make a clean break with his political past and give the money to a critically current need. That said, I frankly would support him donating it to any charity over refunding it to his well heeled donors or putting it back for national Democrats. The money might fund four swing state Congressional campaigns at best, but I think it would go rather far in Nepal or with mosquito nets. Hell, endowing a few full ride scholarships at UMASS would be a great use of the funds as well. Anything but sitting on them and pretending he still has a political future.
Peter Porcupine says
….COMECC?
This is a sort of United Way for state employees adminstrated by ABCD. You can have money taken out of your paycheck (lowering the gross, BTW) and it is disbursed to participating non-profits on a quarterly basis.
Here’s the neat thing. These are MA charities, most of them small. COMECC vets them all for legal compliance, tax status, etc., and also stipulates that no more than 25% can go to administrative costs.
So the money would go to small local organizations having a tough time coping with increased demand in a tight economy. It would spread the wealth in a meaningful way as even a small amount means a lot more to a small organization than to Worldwide MegaCharity, Inc. even if they are engaged in good work.
Call it…..Giving Local…