MyDD’s Chris Bowers’ idea “has hit the big time”, says Kos: Get miserly Democratic incumbents in safe seats to give 30% of their campaign war chests to the DCCC or DSCC:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 The balance in the campaign account of Representative Martin T. Meehan, Democrat of Massachusetts, is $4,886,325. It is a muscular sum for a member of the House, and ordinarily it would be hailed as an exhibit of fund-raising savvy.
But in a stream of telephone calls to his offices on Monday, otherwise admiring Democratic constituents had another word for Mr. Meehan: cheap.
With Democrats increasingly convinced that House control is within their grasp, party activists are publicly excoriating politicians in safe districts who have hefty campaign balances. Mr. Meehan, easily re-elected two years ago with 67 percent of the vote, is at the top of a new list being circulated by Democratic bloggers.
(Isn’t it kind of ironic that Mr. Campaign Finance Reform himself would have such a vast amount of cash? Just sayin’.)
And this from the Globe, featuring MoveOn’s related effort:
The group, Moveon.org, is trying to put the greatest pressure on Meehan. It said the Lowell representative should hand over $1.65 million of his $4.9 million in campaign funds directly to candidates and to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which helps fund House races.
…[US Rep. Edward] Markey, meanwhile, is number two on Moveon.org’s list of 70 Democrats with safe seats and extra cash. The organization said Markey should give $708,000 of his $2.4 million to the DCCC and directly to candidates.
You know, I understand the argument that these guys do a lot for fundraise for other candidates. But there’s just a hell of a lot at stake this year. I can’t imagine Meehan sitting on nearly $5 million up in Lowell and watching the GOP eke out another slim majority.
Come on, guys — now’s the time to do your patriotic duty and give up the dough.
…that Marty Meehan’s mentor is Tom Reilly–both only out for themselves and will barely achieve the minium level of team work in helping elect Democrats other than themselves.
I’m just saying
…I don’t want to sound like Howie Carr…but “life-time public servant” is a little to loafty of a title to pin on these two.
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A 30 year teacher–making the top scale of $60,000 (or so) deserves to be called a “life long public servant” or a DYS social worker, or a long serving Assistant District Attorney. (And yes, a part-time Selectman deserves that title also.)
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But two guys pulling in the mid-$100,000 in pay, with staff, perks and the ability to pull off daily power-plays…nope, they do not desire the title. Sure they could be making a lot more money elsewhere. But they are highly compensated with prestige and ego gratification–unlike the above positions I mentioned.
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I definitely prefer the “citizen / statesmen” model of people who serve for a set amount of time and go off to accomplish other things in business, non-profits or academia. Life-long politicians are just too common nowadays to admire.
And I certainly think Reilly should be stepping up in the gub race and Marty should be giving some money to congressional candidates. I just think “only out for themselves” is a little harsh, both have done a lot of good work. And I agree that after a point, lifetime politicians are a bit much. If someone’s been in politics for 20 years and have no business skills, how do I know they’re not more concerned with keeping their job than looking out for me? On balance, I still think Marty and Reilly are good people who have tried to serve the public, occasional forays into sound bites notwithstanding.
…that you can’t let go of the primary. You won, move on.
The only guy to actually give up the 30% is Barney Frank… so when Meehan and Frank are in a primary in a battle for the next open senate seat, I know who I’ll support. Yea, the one who supports the Democratic Party. Barney!
this very blog reported not too long ago that Ed Markey has raised nearly $675,000 for the DCCC and Meehan has raised over $212,000. It’s not like these guys have been sitting around eating bon bons on the couch.
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Yes, I’d love it if they dipped into their campaign accounts, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that they’ve been doing nothing to help the party.
… and that matters, definitely. But hey, that’s a lot of money.
…At the moment there are a dozen races whose outcome may in fact hinge on whether or not they have enough cash to finish strong.
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In this scenario it’s s simple question of whether these guys will make a not-unreasonable sacrifice for the common good.
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Why retain their own seats (and cash for a future race) as members of the minority caucus that presides over the privatization of SS, radical right packing of our courts, endless bloodshed in Iraq and permanent damage to America’s reputation?
Everthing I am hearing points to John Kerry announcing shortly after Nov. 7th that he will run for the presidency once again and not seek re-election to the Senate.
Just remember this a month from now when Kerry announces he’s not running for reelection to the Seante and these guys come looking for even MORE money.
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Last I recall – the last poll I saw prior to the 2004 election which hypothecized an open senate seat with a Kerry win – had Barney Frank at something like 33% in the primary and the rest of them all in the single digits?
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IMHO, $5 million does Meehan a lot of good but still the seat is Barney’s for the asking.
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Question is – will he want it if he’s Chairman of the Financial Services Committee?
I tried the number on Markey’s “Contact Us” page
( http://www.edmarkey…. ), but got no answer, so I’m going to follow up with an email. Policy-wise, I’m a big fan of Markey, so I have to say that this is quite disappointing.
I’ve never had an email returned from Markey. I’m convinced they go into the bit-bucket.
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That link is his old campaign office. I doubt there’s anyone there. Try one of these numbers instead.
He’s going to be running against Patrick for the Senate.
Anyone who thinks that Patrick actually wants to be Governor of the Commonwealth is kidding themselves.