Posts Tagged ‘fundraising’

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“Patriots for Economic Freedom” is a Scam PAC

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014

I’m on enough mailing lists that I get a lot of campaign/PAC/etc. solicitations. One of the ones I get pretty regularly in email are missives from “Patriots for Economic Freedom” seemingly soliciting for one or another notable conservative candidates.

Take, for example, this one for Ted Cruz. They’ve also done solicitations featuring Allen West and Mia Love, and I just got one this morning for Oklahoma Senate candidate T. W. Shannon.

Just one tiny little problem: Ted Cruz never authorized Patriots for Economic Freedom to solicit on his behalf.

Well, actually two problems: The money Patriots for Economic Freedom raises doesn’t seem to get to the candidates. Indeed, the lion’s share seems to go to consultants Tyler Whitney and Dan Backer.

That’s right: “Patriots for Economic Freedom” is a scam PAC, and has been pulling their scam since at least 2012.

I don’t know who exactly is selling Patriots for Economic Freedom their email list (though I’m looking in your direction, NRO and Breitbart), but they need to stop. Every dollar spent supporting a scam PAC is a dollar not spent actually supporting a conservative candidate.

And someone should consider suing Patriots for Economic Freedom for false advertising.

And if you want to donate to Allen West, Mia Love or T.W. Shannon, do it directly.

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Posted in Crime, Elections | 6 Comments »

Cost Per Vote for the Texas Primary

Thursday, March 6th, 2014

The Texas Tribune has a fascinating chart up showing the cost per vote for Texas races.

A few highlight:

  • Wendy Davis spent $4,172,161.26 to garner 432,056 votes, or $9.66 a vote.
  • Greg Abbott spent $8,109,379.17 to garner 1,219,831 votes, or $6.65 a vote.
  • David Dewhurst spent $4,093,809.73 for 376,164 votes, or $10.88 a vote.
  • Dan Patrick spent $4,891,374.86 for 550,742 votes, or $8.88 a vote.

    • The highest amount per vote was spent by Republican Chart Westcott for state House District 108, spending an eye-popping $1,197,762.24 for a measly 3,709 votes, or $322.9 per vote (which did get him into the runoff). Second biggest amount spent for vote? House Speaker (and Tea Party foe) Joe Straus House District 121 (R) spent $2,578,942.72 to get 9,224 votes, or $279.59 a vote. I guess Straus’ special interest backers consider it money well-spent.

    Most effective use of money? The two sitting Supreme Court incumbents who didn’t spend anything:

  • Jeff Brown received 820,558 votes for zero spent.
  • Phil Johnson received 731,247 votes for zero spent.

    • Incumbency + Ted Cruz Endorsement = millions, evidently (at least in judicial races).

    Now I’m going to post this just to get myself to stop playing with those figures…

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    Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

    Wendy Davis Pulls in (Extends Pinky) One MILLION Dollars From Dr. Evil, er, Oliver

    Thursday, January 16th, 2014

    I’ve been going through Wendy Davis’ finance report. I hope to report some interesting tidbits, but the Statesman beat me to the punch on one of the most interesting, reporting Davis received a hefty (raises pinky) one million dollars from a doctor Carolyn Oliver.

    I’m sure liberals who complaining about the corrupting influence of money in politics will be asking her to give that back any minute now.

    (Checks watch)

    Any minute now…

    In the meantime, here’s the Washington Post and Will Franklin on why Wendy Davis’ fundraising numbers are considerably less impressive than they seem to be.

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    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Texas | No Comments »

    How Big Will Ted Cruz Win Tomorrow?

    Monday, November 5th, 2012

    I’m pretty confident that Ted Cruz will win the election (and deservedly so). The only question now is: By how much?

    To determine that, let’s look at the recent history of non-Presidential top-of-the-ballot races in Texas:

  • 2000 Senate: Kay Bailey Hutchison 4,078,954 (65%) over Gene Kelly 2,025,024 (32%)
  • 2002 Senate: John Cornyn 2,480,991 (55%) over Ron Kirk 1,946,681 (43%)
  • 2002 Governor: Rick Perry 2,617,106 (58%) over Tony Sanchez 1,809,915 (40%)
  • 2006 Senate: Kay Bailey Hutchison 2,661,789 (62%) over Barbara Ann Radnofsky 1,555,202 (36%)
  • 2008 Senate: John Cornyn 4,326,639 (55%) over Rick Noriega 3,383,890 (43%)
  • 2010 Governor: Rick Perry 2,733,784 (55%) over Bill White 2,102,606 (42%)

    • (I’m throwing out the 4-way 2006 gubernatorial race as not germane. All numbers via Wikipdia, % rounded.)

    In terms of financial resources, Sadler’s fundraising has been very poor, having raised just over $800,000; poorer even than Rick Noriega, who managed to raise over $4 million, or Barbara Ann Radnofsky, who raised about $1.5 million. Then again, money isn’t everything: Tony Sanchez spent $60 million of his own money to garner a meager 40% against Rick Perry in 2002.

    I don’t think Sadler will do as poorly as vanity candidate Gene Kelly did in 2000. I expect Obama to run 4-5 points worse than he did in 2008, and I expect Sadler to probably lose a point or two off Obama’s total. So, I predict: Ted Cruz gets 61% of the vote, and Paul Sadler gets around 39%.

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    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »

    Texas Senate Race Update for November 5, 2012

    Monday, November 5th, 2012

    And here’s your final Texas Senate Race update for 2012! I’ve been covering this race since Kay Bailey Hutchison decided not to run again on January 13, 2011.

    I expect Ted Cruz to beat Paul Sadler handily (and here’s my endorsement of Cruz). Later today I hope to have a prediction up on just how well I expect him to do.

  • Last poll shows Cruz leading Sadler 57%-36%.
  • Cruz picks up the endorsements of Texas mayors.
  • Sen. John Cornyn backs Cruz, but may be wary of the rising power of the Tea Party he represents. As well he should.
  • Paul Sadler managed to raise more money for his 2004 Texas Senate race than his 2012 U.S. Senate race. (Repeated from last week’s LinkSwarm.)
  • Sadler finally buys some ads a week before the election. Note how Robert T. Garrett references the previous item, but doesn’t have the decency to link to it.
  • Sadler gets in some last minute hispandering by pushing amnesty down on the border.
  • Perry vs. World wonders why Sadler’s ads suck so badly.
  • In his ad, Sadler asks if Texans really want to elect a Tea Party candidate. I suspect voters will answer overwhelmingly in the affirmative.

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    Posted in Elections, Media Watch, Texas | No Comments »

    LinkSwarm for October 30, 2012

    Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

    I was going to have an insightful, data-filed post on the Texas 23rd Congressional district race, but then I realized that the Los Angeles Times data I was relying on flipped at least one bit of information (NRA-ILA is doing independent expenditures against Pete Gallego, not against Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco), which means I can’t trust the rest. Super executive summary: Canseco has a huge cash on-hand advantage, $785,623 to $23,250, but assuming the other LA Times numbers are right, the independent expenditure race is a lot closer to even.

    Now on to a LinkSwarm a week before the election:

  • Obama is clearly winning the race for military endorsements, having 6 endorsements to Romney’s paltry 359.
  • Politico worried that Romney may let lobbyists “back” into the White House, conveniently ignoring the dozens of lobbyists Obama has on staff.
  • There’s a huge amount of outrage over the MSM trying to bury the Benghazi scandal to help Obama over the finish line.
  • Even Democratic pollster Pat Caddell is outraged:

  • Syrian rebels get antiaircraft missiles. What could possibly go wrong?
  • A Daily Beast piece on the decline of the left-wing Netroots.
  • Paul Sadler managed to raise more money for his 2004 Texas Senate race than his 2012 U.S. Senate race.
  • Remember Joseph Livoti, formerly the finance director for Ricardo Sanchez’s aborted Senate campaign? Probably not. Well, his current position is “Finance Director at Joe Miklosi for Congress”. And the Sanchez campaign doesn’t appear in his job summary. Funny that.
  • Given that Miklosi has raised about half of what his Republican opponent incumbent Mike Coffman has for the Colorado Sixth Congressional District race, but only has about one-fifth the cash on hand, Livoti seems to have retained his magic touch.
  • Michael Totten: The Islamist threat isn’t going away.
  • Some pictures of Sandy-related flooding.

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    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Media Watch, Obama Scandals, Republicans, Texas, video | No Comments »

    Quick Texas Senate Race Q3 Fundraising Update

    Wednesday, October 17th, 2012

    Barring any catastrophic event, Ted Cruz is going to be the next Senator from Texas, but the campaign keeps on chugging along. The official fundraising forms from the FEC aren’t up yet, but the two campaigns have announced the totals raised.

    Ted Cruz raised $3.5 million in Q3, $2 million of it after the runoff.

    I can’t find any mention of Paul Sadler’s fundraising numbers on his press release page, but according to the Houston Chronicle, Sadler raised “about $358,734” in Q3. In truth, that’s a bit more than I expected him to raise, given that he has about as much hope of being elected Senator than the Cleveland Browns do of winning the 2013 Superbowl.

    Oh, and just for the record: Losing Democratic Senate runoff candidate Grady Yarbrough did finally file his FEC report.

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    Posted in Elections, Texas | No Comments »

    Texas Senate Race Update for July 20, 2012

    Friday, July 20th, 2012

    The Senate race runoff is barreling down the track toward us, so there’s a lot of race news this week:

  • New poll has Dewhurst down by 10 points. One caveat is that I haven’t heard of Political Gravity before, so I have no way to evaluate their robopolling methodology.
  • Cruz beat Dewhurst in fundraising from the first 11 days of July, pulling in $522,600 while Dewhurst brought in $160,400.
  • Cruz has 15 times as much cash on hand as Dewhurst. Then again, Dewhurst could always write himself a check, and maybe he’s prepaid for more deceptive attack ads.
  • But if so, why is Dewhurst having a fundraiser with Governor Rick Perry on election eve? I would think you would want to be doing your last big campaign push then…
  • This article suggests that Cruz has actually been spending more than Dewhurst, but I’m not sure that’s right. And has Dewhurst really only donated a paltry $22,147 to his own campaign? Maybe, since he’s loaned it millions, but that number still seems strangely low (but I don’t have time to go digging through his FEC reports right now).
  • Joe Holley says Cruz won Tuesday’s debate. “A debate, whatever the format, is just not Dewhurst’s forte, as he himself pretty much admitted Tuesday night, and he went on to prove it. He looked uncomfortable, often stumbled, and at times found himself on the defensive. It was not a good night for him.”
  • Cruz also appeared on Glenn Beck:

  • Cruz released a new “Flip Flop” radio ad:

  • David Dewhurst owns part of a solar power company selling energy to Austin at inflated rates.
  • Perry Vs. World also takes a look at Dewhurst’s possibly shady business ties to China and Indonesia.
  • Big Money is still backing Dewhurst.
  • Dewhurst makes the Robocall Hall of Shame.
  • Cruz appeared on the Mark Davis show.
  • Cruz will appear at the NE Tarrant Tea Party Runoff Forum.
  • In explaining why Cruz is winning, NBCLatino writer Dr. Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto says money can’t buy political love.
  • Cruz also gets some love from Pablo Schneider on FoxNews Latino, who makes the Marco Rubio comparison.
  • Nolan Ryan endorses Dewhurst. As far as Texas sports-figure endorsements go, it beats the hell out of Craig James:

  • He also picked up the endorsement of Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who evidently has a history of back veterans.
  • Houston political academics differ on who’s the frontrunner.
  • One more Cruz client has surfaced: David Dewhurst.
  • The liberal Austin Chronicle interviews Democrat Paul Sadler, and despite the obvious sympathy, pretty much paints him as doomed.
  • They also interview Democrat Grady Yarbrough, without much in the way of notable insight.

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    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas, video | No Comments »

    Amado Pardo: Murderer, Restaurateur, Heroin Dealer, Democratic Fundraiser

    Monday, July 9th, 2012

    Dwight has been all over the story of Amado “Mayo” Pardo, owner of South Austin Mexican restaurant Joviata’s, who just happens to be a two-time convicted murderer (a third murder charge was dropped as part of a plea bargain for the first) and the accused leader of a heroin-dealing ring.

    He’s also a noted fundraiser for the Democratic Party.

    I have not been able to find any direct political donations at the state or national level for Pardo (and the Travis County website doesn’t seem to have a way to search for individual donations, only rank upon rank of PDFs), but Jovita’s seems to have been the site for numerous liberal and Democratic fundraising events:

  • Democratic Candidate for Travis County Tax Assessor Collector Candidate Bruce Elfant had a fundraiser there May 15, 2012
  • An event benefiting PODER (People Organized in Defense of Earth) was held there April 26, 2012.
  • Democratic Candidate for Sheriff John Sisson had a fundraiser there March 27, 2012.
  • The “Million Musicians March for Peace” had a pre-march event there March 4, 2012.
  • The Travis County Democratic Party had a fundraiser there October 19, 2008.
  • The Texans for Peace group had a fundraiser there June 7, 2008.
  • Far-left anti-war group Code Pink had a fundraiser there June 1, 2008.
  • The Statesman article mentions fundraisers for Democratic State Representative candidate David Rodriguez.

    • There are more, but you get the idea. If these people were just renting Jovita’s as a venue, fine and dandy. But if they were specifically approaching Pardo to hold fundraisers for them, perhaps a bit more due diligence was in order on the part of the Austin Democratic establishment? The Austin Chronicle named him “Mayor of South Austin” in 2009. Here’s their profile of him, also from 2009, in which discusses his reading Marx and his love for Cesar Chavez, but omits his two murder convictions. How could he spend two decades hob-nobbing with Austin’s liberal community and no one bothered to find out that not only did he have two murder raps, but the FBI believes he had been dealing heroin for 25 years?

    Of course, Pardo hasn’t been convicted. Instead of a heroin-dealing convicted murderer and liberal activist, he may only be a convicted murderer and liberal activist…

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    Posted in Austin, Crime, Democrats, Texas | 3 Comments »

    Major Democratic Donor Larry Flynt Pornographies Conservative Commentator S. E. Cupp

    Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

    I wonder if the founding fathers’ conception of the First Amendment right of free speech ever extended to faking pictures of a penis in a woman’s mouth. Which is what Obama supporter and Hustler publisher Larry Flynt just did to conservative commentator S. E. Cupp. I tend to doubt this thought crossed the mind of anyone attending the Constitutional Convention in 1787, not least because photography hadn’t been invented yet, and our founding fathers weren’t total pervs.

    Remember all those liberals crowing over the need for civility? Whatever happened to them?

    Expect some proforma sniffing from the left, to be followed by a quick flick into the memory hole, mainly because Flynt has been a serious contributor to Democrats and liberal causes over the years:

    FLYNT, LARRY BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 HUSTLER MAGAZINE 8/19/96 $10,000 Clinton, Bill (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 FMG INC 10/20/04 $2,500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 LFP – SELF-EMPLOYED/PUBLISHER/CHAIR 12/29/03 $2,000 Kucinich, Dennis J (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90210 L F P INC 8/30/93 $1,000 National Republican Senatorial Cmte
    FLYNT, LARRY BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 FMG INC./PRESIDENT 7/22/06 $1,000 Studebaker, Stephanie (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY LOS ANGELES,CA 90069 PUBLISHER 7/7/04 $1,000 DNC Services Corp (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 FMG INC 5/10/05 $500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY LOS ANGELES,CA 90069 HUSTLER 5/18/98 $500 California Voter Registration Project
    FLYNT, LARRY BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90210 L F P INC 8/30/93 $275 National Republican Senatorial Cmte
    FLYNT, LARRY LOS ANGELES,CA 90069 1/9/97 $-1,000 Clinton, Bill (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY LOS ANGELES,CA 90069 8/24/96 $-9,000 Clinton, Bill (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 LFP INC./CEO 9/28/06 $10,000 Democratic Party of Nevada (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 LARRY FLYNT PUBLICATIONS/EXECUTIVE 8/27/06 $10,000 Democratic Party of Washoe County (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 FLYNT MANAGEMENT GROUP/PRESIDENT 12/30/05 $2,100 Carter, John William (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 FLYNT MANAGEMENT GROUP/PRESIDENT 12/30/05 $2,100 Carter, John William (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 FMG INC 7/19/05 $1,500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 FMG INC 7/18/05 $1,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C LOS ANGELES,CA 90069 FMG, INC./PUBLISHER 8/25/05 $1,000 Clinton, Hillary (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 6/30/05 $-500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C LOS ANGELES,CA 90069 9/22/05 $-1,000 Clinton, Hillary (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 8/10/05 $-2,500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 10/21/04 $-2,500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 SELF/PUBLISHER 2/15/08 $2,300 Kucinich, Dennis J (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 SELF/PUBLISHER 8/4/08 $1,000 Kucinich, Dennis J (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 FMG INC/PRESIDENT 5/10/07 $2,300 Kucinich, Dennis J (D)
    FLYNT, LARRY C BEVERLY HILLS,CA 90211 FLYNT PUBLICATIONS/CEO 9/26/11 $2,000 Hall, Isadore (D)

    Of course, the donations to Bill Clinton (a man after his own heart) should surprise no one. The big mystery is those two donations to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Maybe he did it just to see if they would notice.

    That’s an awful lot of money for Dennis Kucinich for a guy in California. I wonder what Flynt’s interest is….

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    Posted in Democrats, Media Watch | 1 Comment »

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