A fascinating tidbit from Kim Atkins at the Herald. Apparently, all of the available money for the primaries in the public campaign finance account is going to Tom Reilly and Deval Patrick (about $400K each), with not even a nickel left over for Andrea Silbert, Tim Murray, or John Bonifaz.
Well, count me dumbstruck (or maybe just dumb). I didn’t realize that’s how it worked – but sure enough, it does (key quote: “the law calls for the gubernatorial race to be fully funded first, with any remaining money distributed proportionately to the other five statewide races”). Bit of a bummer for the non-Goldberg LGs and Bonifaz, I’d say!
Please share widely!
Although neither Silbert nor Murray got any money now, I believe that if one of them wins the primary, and if Deval or Tom wins the primary, then I think the ticket will get 750K, which will help get a week of TV up early on.
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If Goldberg wins, the ticket does not get any public financing (does that even matter, though, given her millions? Speaking of which, why isn’t she up on TV yet? One would think she would be…)
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If Gabrieli wins, the same goes: no public funding.
since as you say if either Gabs or Goldberg wins, they can count on a substantially bigger cash infusion than 750K (at least I hope they can).
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Re TV, if the Govs have just gotten on the air, maybe it’s still too early for the LGs? I dunno…
…is what she’s said she’s prepared to spend – probably the same as Reilly will end up spending. Perhaps with her new ad guru she’s behind in terms of buying time, etc… I suppose carpet bombing the last 2 weeks could work too, but she’ll be up with everyone else too.
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This story indicates she may engage in “viral marketing” and use YouTube. Hmmm…
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FWIW, a search on YouTube for the 3 LG candidates turns up exactly one hit: Andrea Silbert’s convention video. Who’s running that viral campaign again?
So – before any other race can be funded, the Commonwealth has to raise over $30 MILLION for the Gov. race? Thanks, Chris!
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What a piker that Warren Tolman is with his $3 million.
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We can have a new state motto – Massachusetts: Home of the Big Dig and the Best Politicians Money Can Buy. Really. No, We Mean REALLY.
Each candidate for governor is eligible for up to $1.5M in the primary, and an additional $1.5M in the general, contingent on the money being in the fund.
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Apparently, there was approximately $1.6M in the fund. First, divide it by two (equal parts primary and general), and then divide it by two again (Deval Patrick and Tom Reilly). Both Patrick and Reilly can expect $400k checks soon.
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IIUC, if Patrick or Reilly win the primary, he’ll get the remaining $800k in the fund. If Gabs wins the primary, the $800k will be available for lower tier races (LG isn’t eligible for post-primary, since LG is on Gov ticket). So, that would be great news for…
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whoever runs in 2010. Since the GOP isn’t running any candidates in other races, the Dem primary winner will win the general*.
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I don’t remember how any of the money from the pool was spent 4 years ago, but this does mean that not many people are checking off that “$1 to public financing” on their taxes. Approximately $200,000 per year in the past four years, if my understanding that there’s no other source of funding for the public financing pool.
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Incindentally, the ratio of funding is 12:5:5:3:3:3 for Gov:LG:AG:SofC:Treas:Aud. Seems to me they could (should?) have preserved that ratio for the payouts. Had they done that, the primary payouts would have been:
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DP, TR: $240,000
TM, AS: $100,000
JB, JG: $60,000
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with another $400,000 going to DP or TR if he wins the primary.
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eof
By with another $400,000 going to DP or TR if he wins the primary.
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I meant with another $800,000 going to DP or TR if he wins the primary.
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No more posting before 7:00 am for me for a while.
You are one of the few people on earth who understand how this law works. I worked for a Rep. who was STEAMED that after she got all her $5 ducks in a row, she got bupkis.
I am glad someone has pointed out that apparantly a lot of people are not checking this box off on their taxes.
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This is an optional fund, that no one is really choosing. I wonder if it is the same people that are choosing to pay their taxes at a higher tax rate as well? Also an option on your taxes that a lot of people are not rushing to.
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Well, just proves how broken our public funding laws truly are!!!
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The only good thing about all this is if Goldberg & Gabrielli win the fund will have a lot more money in it for the next election cycle.
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When did paying for your own election or raising enough money to win become such a negative thing in Politics?
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We should probably look at raising the entirely too low fundraising limit per candidate per year number of 500.00. I don’t think that number has increased to account for inflation or the cost of running a campaign.
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$500 does not get you what it did in 1998 when I believe (feel free to correct if I am wrong) this number was decided on.
Checking the box, as I understand it, does not even raise your taxes. It just earmarks a dollar of the taxes you’re already paying for this fund.
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I wonder how many people realize that.
If DP or TR win and get paired with DG, will they have to give back any funds? or will they receive less because Goldberg chose to use her own cash?
you never have to give the money back. That’s part of why it comes in two stages. Once it’s in your pocket, you’re free to spend it before or after the primary as you see fit. Of course, since its such a small amount of money you could always claim you spent it right away and kept other donations for the final stretch anyway.
would Goldberg reduce or prevent the ticket from receiving Phase 2 money?
She’d bring millions to the general, so it’s not as if it won’t offset the $800,000.