[EL] 80% of time fundraising

[Lorraine Minnite]

Of course, one could also argue that constant fundraising is required by 
the high cost of political consultants and media buys :-D !   The larger 
problem with the discussion below is why lifting campaign contribution 
limits so that cash can flow in amounts large enough to "buy" elected 
officials is a good thing.

On 7/29/14 11:00 AM, Larry Levine wrote:
>
> Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Contribution limits are directly responsible 
> for so-called independent expenditures and low limits work to increase 
> the amount of time spent on fundraising. Not theory. Experience gained 
> from more than 100 campaigns over the last 44 years. This experience 
> includes having done the very first independent expenditure operation 
> after the City of Los Angeles enacted its contribution limits. We 
> didn't call it an independent expenditure; it just kind of happened as 
> a natural consequence of trying to force money out of the process.
>
> Larry
>
> *From:*law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu 
> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] *On Behalf Of 
> *JBoppjr at aol.com
> *Sent:* Tuesday, July 29, 2014 6:31 AM
> *To:* rhasen at law.uci.edu; law-election at uci.edu
> *Subject:* [EL] 80% of time fundraising
>
> This is of course ridiculous and caused by exceeding low candidate 
> contribution limits. You cannot even buy a Democrat candidate 
> for $2600 or even $5200.  Anecdotal evidence is that it takes at least 
> $99,000 in cold hard cash to buy a Democrat candidate (Jefferson) and 
> at least $140,000 to buy a Republican one (Cunningham).
>
> These low candidate contribution limits also are accountable for the 
> vast majority of fund given to independent groups that the "reformers" 
> spend all their time complaining about -- a problem they created.
>
> These limits need to be raised or eliminated to stop this distortion 
> of the system.  Jim Bopp
>
> In a message dated 7/28/2014 11:56:03 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
> rhasen at law.uci.edu <mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu> writes:
>
>
>         "Leaked Memo Tells Senate Candidate To Spend 80 Percent Of Her
>         Time Raising Money" <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63797>
>
>     Posted on July 28, 2014 8:54 pm
>     <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=63797>by Rick Hasen
>     <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
>     HuffPo
>     <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/28/michelle-nunn-fundraising_n_5628018.html>'s
>     Paul Blumenthal:
>
>         A campaign strategy memo prepared for Georgia Democratic
>         Senate candidate Michelle Nunn last year and leaked online on
>         Monday reveals far more than just the inner workings of one
>         high-profile Senate campaign. Details in the memo illuminate
>         the dominant role of fundraising in the political world.
>
>         "Hitting our targets will require us to prioritize fundraising
>         above all else and to focus the candidate's time on it with
>         relentless intensity," the memo
>         <http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/235287519?access_key=key-7XLZhUlmcqs8zb0ft3xs&allow_share=true&escape=false&view_mode=scroll>,
>         written in December 2013 and leaked to National Review
>         <http://www.nationalreview.com/article/383894/michelle-nunns-campaign-plan-eliana-johnson#GASen>,
>         states in a section on the campaign's finance plan.
>
>         To reach the campaign's target of raising $15 million to $20
>         million for the entire race, the memo urges that Nunn's time
>         be budgeted almost exclusively for fundraising, at least until
>         the tail end of the race. Nunn, who would face no serious
>         competition in the Democratic primary, should spend between 70
>         and 80 percent of her time raising money from January through
>         September, according to the memo. Only in October does the
>         recommended fundraising time drop to 50 percent.
>
>         The memo estimates that there are 2,500 campaign hours in 2014
>         and recommends that 2,201 of them be spent raising money.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20140729/52d5d12b/attachment.html>