I lurk both here and over at MyDD, but a recent post there caught my eye. From Chris Bowers:
Amidst all of this talk about taking out loans to fund key races and newly emerging races, not enough attention has been given to the huge amount of money House Democrats who are unopposed for re-election are currently storing away in their campaign bank accounts. I just did a quick tallying using Open Secrets, and calculated that the 45 Democrats who are not facing a Republican opponent this November have $26,288,418 in their campaign bank accounts as of September 30th, 2006. I put together a web page that details the cahs on hand for each of the forty-five unopposed Democrats:
For the sake of comparison, the DCCC currently has $34,867,692 cash on hand, and the NRCC has $36,019,485 cash on hand. Further, Rahm Emmanuel apparently believes that Democrats are ahead, tied or competitive in 58 Republican held seats. The amount of money unopposed House Democrats are currently sitting on would equal $453,248.59 to each of those 58 districts.
Turns out that 10 of that 26 million dollars sits in the warchests of MassachusettsÂ’s reps. About one fifth of the total amount, almost 5 million dollars, sits in the account of one Marty Meehan. That’s a lot of Blue dollars that are sitting this election out. And all of it could be donated directly to the DCCC (as well as $2,100 directly to each individual candidate).
Now I’m no expert on Bay state politics, but I think it’s pretty clear why three unopposed reps in the MA delegation are sitting on more than 1 million dollars. One of these days either Kennedy will retire or Kerry will run for President again, and the mother of all primary battles will ensue. So raw political ambition keeps Meehan and co. from giving the money to the DCCC, where it could make a huge difference in dozens of races.
I think many would agree that, for the good of the Party and the Country, this money needs to be put in play now instead of squirreled away for a brutal intra-party fight years from now. The DNC is borrowing 10 million dollars to spend on the midterms and the DCCC considering doing the same. We could be on the verge of a historic election that cements a long-term Democratic majority. Some seats we have a shot at now (ID-01, KS-02, WY-AL, PA-10) we won’t have a chance at for another generation.
Now what would motivate Meehan or others to give up their hard raised cash? They’ve raised the money because it will help them win higher office. We need to convince them that the people-powered goodwill they will earn by putting the money into play NOW will be worth more than a few million in two to six years. Devel Patrick is a prime example of how this could be true. If the activist base pushes them to help out, they might just do it.
So all my MA brothers who are sick of sitting on the sidelines, give Meehan and company a call.
EDIT: Here’s the phone numbers for the various Rep’s campaign and official offices:
Meehan:
Campaign: 978-251-3151
DC Office: 202-225-3411
Markey:
Campaign: 781-483-3990
DC Office: 202-225-2836
Richard Neal:
No Campaign Number
DC Office: 202-225-5601
Barney Frank:
Campaign: 617-965-0119
DC Office: 202-225-5931
Mike Capuano:
Camapign: 617-497-6208
DC Ofice: 202-225-5111
Lets Pledge our way to it.
I saw the same post on MyDD Kos also links to it from his site. Markey, whom I admire, is sitting a couple million too. The Democratic National Committee is also borrowing up to ten million dollars to put into these races. Just to look at the stakes here: Connecticut and Pennsylvania, both blue states for Presidential elections, have majority Republican Congressional delegations. Both representatives from New Hampshire are Republican. New York state’s Republican Party is not doing well this year: they are far behind in both the gubernatorial and senatorial races. There are a number of house seats that can be picked up there. There are three house seats in the Philadelphia area that are all looking very promising and the RNC just dumped a big bunch of money into that expensive media market to keep Murphy, Murphy, and Sestak from defeating Gerlach, Fitzpatrick, and Weldon. Even Kansas is having an oddly blue year. So it really is an opportunity to take back the House.
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A further advantage for our House members is that they will get a lot more prominence if Democrats gain control of the House. For example, Sunday talk shows tilt too much by inviting many more Republicans than Democrats. With control of the House, the media are likely to improve and Neal, Meehan, and Markey might get a lot more free media.
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Here are the stats from MyDD:
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J. Olver MA-01 $244,538
R. Neal MA-02 $1,354,462
J. McGovern MA-03 $101,103
B. Frank MA-04 $821,196
M. Meehan MA-05 $4,886,325
E. Markey MA-07 $2,360,862
M. Capuano MA-08 $535,536
Have been doing their share…Frank has raised about 1.5 million for candidates and Capuano has a PAC that hosted a fund raiser for New England Dem candidates.
The other half comes from an old kos post…
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Caucus Report
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So, each congresscritter has “dues” that they are (not legally) obligated to chip in. It turns out that:
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Frank has paid $310,700 of his $300,000 in dues, and has also raised over $600,000 for the DCCC. He’s done well more than his share.
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Meehan has paid $101,250 of his $125,000 in dues, and has also raised over $200,000 for the DCCC. I think its fair to call his office and ask him to throw in the $23,750 at minimum.
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Markey has paid $217,000 of his $250,000 in dues, and has also helped raise over $600,000 for the DCCC. I think its fair to call his office and ask him to throw in the $33,000 at minimum.
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Capuano has paid $125,000 of his $150,000 in dues, and has also helped raise $15,000 for the DCCC. I think its fair to call his office and ask him to throw in the $25,000 at minimum.
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Lynch has paid $20,000 of his $150,000 in dues, and as far as the report claimes, hasn’t help raise any money for the DCCC. Even though he’s in a (token) contested race, I do think its fair to call his office and ask him to throw in the $130,000 at minimum — after all, he’s got over $1,000,000 cash on hand.
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So, I’m going to call the following, and ask that they pay their outstanding DCCC dues:
Meehan $23,750
Markey $33,000
Capuano $25,000
Lynch $130,000
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In my mind, there’s no sense in asking them to exceed the minimum if they haven’t even met it…
We’ve been so busy here fighting the Deval vs. Muffy wars that its been easy to lose sight of what’s going on nationally. The party has a really good chance to take back the House, and take it back big. This is a real test of whether these guys really believe in what they’re doing or are just protecting their own position. I’m not going to say they’ve got to give it all, but Meehan and Markey in particular ought to be kicking in big.
This is a very timely diary. The Globe today has a report about the Democrats being squeezed for cash. Any unopposed member of Congress from Massachusetts who does not help out now in contested races elsewhere should face an opponent in their next primary.
Use the cash now. Such generosity will be remebered if/when the time comes for Meehan, et al, to run for higher office.
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I’ll see if I can’t get Lynne to front-page this over at LeftinLowell.
And though the carrot is better than the stick, I think Meehan should also get the message that if he’s unwilling to help this broader cause now, many of us will remember, and be influenced by, that flagrant lack of generosity
ifwhen he runs for Senate.I don’t know if I have any sway at all, but I saw Meehan about three seperate occasions yesterday during two events and talked at length with a couple of his staffers…
Meehan wants to be a US Senator someday – that’s the only reason why I can see him building up that kind of warchest.
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Well, if he doesn’t give at least 2 million of it up now, he won’t even be considered in a primary.
Well that would indeed be awesome, but he doen’t need to chop off a leg. Even 300-500K would really make a difference in some of the second-tier races that are just now opening up as competitive, especially in media markets that aren’t as expensive as ours.
My guess is Meehan won’t help out – he’s saving his war chest for the Senate seat that’s opening up two weeks after the November election …….
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Of course – he was supposed to be self-term-limited-out a couple terms ago wasn’t he?
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That’s gonna bite him in the ass big time.
There are about 2000 politicallt active people that read this blog regularly and we just won’t help him out either.
Meehan’s staffer was very courteous and friendly, got my contact information and everything to follow up (and probably hit me up for money later đŸ˜‰
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But anyway, I called and asked them to please donate to the DNC or DCCC because we have a real chance to make serious gains this election.
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Hopefully the message got across.
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Go here to get the phone numbers for our congresscritters. Give ’em a ring, I didn’t spend any time on hold or anything. And be polite.
I know a number of the Mass. members have helped raise money for candidates, and put money into the state campaign. I certainly understand the issue, but in fairness, we should know the extent to which people are already participating. Remember, a lot of these folks can end up as chairs, they know it and many have been campaigning for others on that basis.
A quick perusal of the FEC website shows that as of the last filing period, Rep. Meehan had donated exactly $5,000 to other candidates during the 2005-2006 election cycle. Only one of those candidates — Bob Casey in PA — is in a hotly contested race.
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He’s also given a little over $100,000 to the DCCC during that time period.
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Overall, looking at the full report (http://query.nictusa…), I’d say Meehan’s giving to Dems in important races over the years has been, shall we say, anemic at best.
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To be fair, we don’t know if he’s raised money through other events or if he’s given significant sums since the FEC database was updated, but for someone with $5 mil in the bank and no opponent, you’d think he could do a bit more.
I think every Rep has a certain obligation to fundraise for the DCCC, but once they’ve met that obligation, they should give it not one bit more.
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The DCCC actively hurts the Democratic party, because their top priority is to maintain their control over the party, even at the expense of the party’s electoral prospects. Also, they’re obtuse, have old bad habits they can’t break, and seem to honestly believe their wrong, ineffective strategies are the right ones. And they’re extremely corrupt. Supporting them hurts the Democratic party.
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Would you call back and urge them to give to individual candidates and to the DNS rather than the DCCC? There are so many candidates in competitive races, just maxing out donations to them could run up into the six digits, and that’s definitely the most effective way to win this year. And then there’s the DNC for the rest of the money – they’ll put it to much better use than the DCCC, which will blow most of it on bland ineffective overpriced TV ads with their favorite buddy ad agencies.
The staffer was polite. Her claim is that Markey has contributed generously to both the Mass. party and to the DSCC, and that he is working tirelessly for the Democrats taking back Congress. She couldn’t confirm or deny that markey still has more than 2 million dollars in his fund. I strongly urged more disbursement. If enough of us call, I hope he gets this message.
I e-mailed Markey asking that he consider giving some of his surplus to the DCCC or candidates of his choosing. I tried to make it clear that I appreciated everything that he had already done, but that everyone was digging deep here and that additional help on his part would more than pay itself back by 2008.
Meehan has every right to raise and hold onto as much money as he wants to, just as any other candidate would. He has done plenty to raise money for other candidates, including Patrick.
That’s not the point. The point is that a little party loyalty now could go a long way toward the Dems taking back the House. He’s got cash to burn, and there are a ton of races outside of MA that could really benefit from it.
Meehan and the others should see this as an investment in their future–to increase their power and ability to raise more money then they donate.
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Kicking in 5% of his cash on hand–225,000 or so bucks–could mean the difference between a Dem controlled House or, even better, a 25 vote Dem majority instead of a 3 vote Dem majority.
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Control gives Meehan–and Frank and Markey (at least–I’m not a congressional nerd) chairmanships from which they will get all the perks of power. Including the ability to raise more money. If Meehan is a chairman–he’ll get what ever he donates this cycle back 10 fold in the next 2 years.
Not only will reps make the money back by the power that comes with controlling the House, but they will have made valuable friends around the country who could then be called upon to fundraise for them and support their candidacies for the Senate. It’s so clear to me that it is a good investment especially for the ones who want to run for senate; I can’t imagine why these guys haven’t spent more money.
Leave my rep alone? No way.
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Kerry has 2? years left in his term. Kennedy will be reelected and maybe retire 6 years out.
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Meehan will be able to recoup his donation investment in plenty of time for the next available Senate seat…
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And this donation would make points with all the dems of MA
if he is part of a House majority. If we win a narrow House majority in 2006, it may disappear in 2008. If we win a big House majority in 2006, it will outlast the 2008 election and the media will stop pretending Democrats are ignorable losers (to put it very strongly) and the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, dripping as it is with seniority, will be frequently featured figures on radio, TV, and news reels.
I also have the right to hold on to as much of my money as I want. Hey, I earned it. But I didn’t do that. I’ve given much more than I normally do this election cycle because we have the chance to turn victory into a rout. Another four or five seats turns a slim majority into a governing majority with a mandate, in which a recalcitrant congessman or two can’t derail our agenda.
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Meehan is a good guy. No-one is suggesting we harass him or throw him under the bus. Commenters here, on MyDD, and KOS have repeatedly stressed politeness when calling. In fact, kicking in here could work to his advantage. How do you think Deval Patrick got to where he is today? Because he courted and fired up the base. Meehan has an opportunity to do the same thing here.
I’ll repeat what I said on a previous post:
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The DCCC is a corrupt, anti-Democratic organization that is harmful to the Democratic party, both in the short term and the long term.
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Urge our reps to donate to the max to every Democratic candidate for Congress in a competitive race, then give whatever else they feel they can afford to the DNC. Urge them not to contribute any more than they’re obligated to the DCCC.
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Giving to candidates first, DNC second, and as little as possible to the DCCC, will both contribute more to our changes of winning back Congress this year, and build a better stronger party in the future. Giving to the DCCC will be a less effective way of winning back Congress this year, and weaken the Democratic party for the future.
but if you’re going to pull out accusations like “currupt” then you’d better lay out some evidence.
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I know you’re a Deaniac/DFA guy, and I know about the DNC v. DSCC/DCCC rifts. But, I still expect more backup from a poster with as much whuffie as you have.
I don’t mean criminally corrupt, I mean corrupt as in insider backroom cronyist dealings. It’s well documented that when the DCCC “helps” a campaign, part of that help is usually to get the campaign to hire their favored strategists and consultants, who then hire their usual ad agencies. This steers a lot of money to friends of the DCCC, but produces ineffective campaigns. It’s perfectly legal for them to say “hey, we think this strategist is good, and if you want us to donate lots of money to your campaign, you’ll hire him.” It’s perfectly legal for them to encourage campaigns to use their friends to produce ads – the campaign makes the “safe” decision and gets the DCCC money. It’s a lose-lose proposition for the campaign and for the grassroots and for the party, and I consider it corrupt.
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The “evidence” is in a number of books, a lot of news articles, and pretty much openly acknowledged by current and former DCCC people anyway.
…we don’t disagree with your assesment, but I rasied the same point with you last week. With three weeks to go and it’s looking like we can make BIG inroads, let’s work the system for 3 weeks and reap the gains. WORK on fixing the DCCC after Nov. 8th
Garrett only has a point if you ignore half of what I say. There’s no reason to give the DCCC a pass until after the election. Give to the candidates first, then the DNC. It’s both the best way to win this year, and to fix the party.
Before we get into whether or not the DCCC is corrupt, and I have disagreed with some of their strategic decisions, it should be said that the DCCC is the only way to funnel large sums of money to particular House races.
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Contribution limits I believe apply for Campaign to Campaign donations but a House Candidate can give unlimited amounts to the DCCC and the DCCC can spend unlimited amounts on any House Campaign. So Meehan could give 500k to the DCCC and the DCCC could drop all that money tomorrow into somewhere like the NC-08 where Larry Kissel is polling closely to the incumbant but has no Cash-on-Hand. If Meehan donated directly to candidates it could only be a few thousand which couldn’t really push someone past the finish line at this late stage.
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Also, I don’t believe the DNC is doing Ad Buys for house candidates- in fact the DNC is funneling its money to the DSCC and DCCC.
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Fight it out with DCCC on November 8th but for now, let’s just win!
First of all, yes there are limits on donations to campaigns and I acknowledged that, but as I said, that’s where you can most effectively give first. If someone hasn’t maxed out their contributions to candidates in competitive races (of which there are 69 now, and more likely to be added), that’s the most effective way to give.
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Secondly, you can give large sums to the DNC, can’t you? Even if they send some of that on to the DCCC, a) they’ll spend part of it on local organizers, and b) hey, if some ad money is going to go to the DCCC anyway, better that it come via the DNC.
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I don’t see how any of the things you said constitute a sensible argument against my position: give to the candidates first, then when you max out, give to the DNC. It’s better for the party both in terms of winning this year, and in the long term. And that’s what we should be asking our Representatives.
That a Congressperson can give the DNC the max of $5,000 and the max to a canidaite $5,000. But under some FEC provision they can give the DCCC an unlimited amount and the DCCC can spend an unlimited amount to help a candidate.
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So under your scenario, a congressperson can give to total of $10,000 to help a candidate, but in the DCCC scenario they can give an unlimited amount. The latter scenario is more effective.
for a Congressperson to give $5000 directly to as many competitive candidates as possible first, then $5000 to the DNC, and finally supply the DCCC.
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The individual candidates best know how to spend money on their own campaigns — they aren’t allowed to coordinate with the DCCC. It’s much more effective to have a campaign-created ad or mailer going out than one from the DCCC.
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Also, the DCCC holds grudges: they’re not currently supporting many (all?) candidates — even with a good chance of winning — who defeated their hand-picked guys in the primary.
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Any congressional giving campaign that starts with the DCCC will be less effective. Ditto the DSCC.
Meehan CAN’T donate that money. Since he raised it for political campaigns, he’s legally only allowed to use it for his own political campaigns. I’ve thought about that $5 million myself (back when it was $4 million) but even if Meehan wanted to spread all of it across the country, he isn’t allowed to. All he can do is campaign for candidates and fundraise for them- and he does that quite a bit.
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And get off Meehan’s back. You think he’s a greedy bastard? He doesn’t accept any money from PACs. Imagine how large his warchest would be if he did.
No one is saying he is greedy either.
It took a bit of digging, but you’re right on this one. “[Campaign funds] may be transferred without limitation to any national, State, or local committee of any political party.”
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My bad.
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Although no one said ‘Meehan is greedy’ the tone obviously suggests that Meehan would reserve the cash for his own ambitions rather than help out fellow Democrats. Am I the only one seeing the semantics here?
It’s greedy and self-interested not to donate, and to save their warchests for obvious senate ambitions. Further, it’s misguided greed and self-interest, because the investment would surely pay off.
Marty Meehan donates $1 million in 2006 to democratic candidates across the country and another $1 million in 2007. The absence of a threatening challanger leaves Meehan with little power to fundraise for himself. In April 2008, Meehan has just over $3 million. During this same period, other Congressmen in MA have also accumulated around the same amount of campaign funds.
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Ted Kennedy’s plane mysteriously disappears in May 2008. Years later, the burnt remains of the plane will be found off the coast of Newport News, VA.
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The following few months are marked by a heated and panicked campaign between several MA Congressman and Chris Gabrieli for Ted Kennedy’s seat. The victor comes out battered, bruised, low on funds, and low on political allies. Republicans dismantle what was once a powerful man and seize the MA Senate seat. Incumbency rates allow them to hold it for the next 94 years.
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Meehan’s gigantic warchest can prevent just such a scenario if he holds on to it. He will be able to scare away challangers, beat what competition remains without hurting himself much, and then still have a strong enough image and large enough warchest to send the Republicans the hell away from the Senate seat.
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Ambition is sure to be a part of it- but that doesn’t mean that ‘investing’ that money is the best idea.