Comment Rescue, Special Geezer Addition
Commenter Perry points us to this blog comment at the right-leaning Republican blog Common Sense Political Thought. What is O’Donnell going to do with all that money?
According to the most recent filing from the fec’s website (www.fec.gov), between January 1 – August 25, O’Donnell raised 86% of her campaign contributions from out-of-state:
Summary of Itemized Contributions
Delaware $18,156.0 13.5%
Out-of-State 116,247.0 86.5%
TOTAL $134,403.0She has now topped $2.3 million since then, and is still raising money, with the large majority coming from out-of-state.
How do Delawareans feel about a candidate who shuns the national media’s tough questions, citing the focus on “Delaware voters,” but who is 85+% financed from non-Delaware voters? Should non-Delaware contributors be given this much influence over our election?
The commenter then points to the relevant rules governing campaign finance and floats a possibility:
“Surplus funds may be contributed to a tax-exempt religious, charitable, educational, or scientific organization, volunteer fire department, or to a successful committee”
Could and would she establish a non-profit/foundation and pay herself a salary and expenses from that foundation? One month ago, she had no personal income, $20,000 campaign cash-on-hand and plenty of unpaid bills. Her website shows she has now raised over $2.3 million, with nearly 6 weeks to go. This weeks she is raising money at about $150,000 per day. It is not unrealistic to imagine a scenario where where raises more than $6 million, unable or unwilling to spend it all on this election. Imagine an endgame of finishing with $2-$3 million and starting an “O’Donnell Foundation” where she names herself a high-paid salary job. This would go down as one of the greatest political scams ever.
He may be onto something. Have you been seeing any ads yet for Christine O’Donnell? She has plenty of money to do an ad blitz in northern Delaware – why isn’t she? Didn’t she say she’s been painted as an extremist and wants the voters to get to know her?
Tags: Christine O'Donnell, DE-Sen
Hah! Here I was concocting some sort of book deal and she doesn’t need one. This is brilliant. Wish I’d thought of it.
She could state that the foundation’s mission is ” to relieve idiot wingnuts of excess cash,” and they’d still contribute.
Maybe she was so surprised that she actually won that nobody really has anything ready yet.
It’s been 2 weeks! Plus, she already had some ads. Why isn’t she running them?
UI, she’s not running them (new ads) because she’s a tried-and-true thief! At least she can pay her bills now 😉
So sad those pesky self-righteous folks from CREW had to file that FEC complaint and spoil all the fun. What happens to campaign funds when the candidate get’s indicted?
Good. Take the money and run. Good fucking riddance. Maybe we’ll never hear from her again.
It’s not my money anyway and anyone who donated to her is a fool anyway.
There’s an old saying that if you loan a guy $20 and instead of paying you back, he avoids you at all costs, it’s worth the $20. Let’s hope.
Someone should start an over/under line on how much she holds on to. I’d say at least $500k
I think your figure is on the low side, Boxwood! 🙂
Yeah, I’ll take the over, too.
What is Mike Castle going to do with his money?
She can also use unexpended campaign funds to hire and pay for a defense attorney to fight the fraud charges that are sure to be coming her way.
For as long as Christine is getting free media, she doesn’t need to spend on advertising. Doesn’t matter what she gets out of the free media — it keeps her name out there, and a significant segment of the population will see any negatives as part of an organized liberal media plot to discredit her.
Negative coverage begets more contributions, which begets more negative coverage. She’ll let the spiral grow for as long as she can.
Unfit to be a senator?? Looks like she’ll fit in well.
Does anyone else wonder if she really has raised that much money, or if an “accounting error” will be discovered after the next filing date in about a week? If everything that has come out of her campaign has been dishonest, why does anyone believe the fundraising statement? It is a prominent splash on her website.
I could be cynical and predict that a low level staffer, not the candidate herself, will have “embezzled” a substantial amount of money from the tea party patriots, sometime in the near future. Or maybe the GOP hiding in the bushes jumped the bag man. But my musings might be construed as irresponsible.