Cross-posted from
My Left Nutmeg
Fundraising totals for the fourth quarter are in, and the outlook is decent, but not fantastic, for our Democratic hopefuls. I'll have a more detailed analysis as soon as I get ahold of the figures for the fifth district.
In the fourth, however, things are heating up. Chris Shays pulled in $562,945 to Diane Farrell's $269,458. That margin is large, but expected, as Shays has recently been the beneficiary of two large, leadership-led, lobbist-filled fundraisers, and the totals do not include Diane's recent fundraiser with Madeline Albright.
The big news, however, comes out in today's Stamford Advocate:
The congressman's strong quarter was met with some cynicism by Farrell's camp, who thought a recent fundraising letter sent by Shays was a "troubling" tactic used to garner donations.
In the letter, Shays, one of the leading advocates for campaign finance reform in Washington, asks supporters to contribute $2,000 -- $100 less than the maximum contribution allowed by the Federal Election Commission -- to his campaign so they could become part of his "Leadership Council." Council members would be invited to "attend private briefings with important political figures on the local and national scene," according to Shays' solicitation letter.
Campaign officials for Shays said the solicitation is legal and ethical but Farrell's team countered that the letter was promising exclusive access to the congressman in exchange for money. They added that the letter was released amid the scandal surrounding disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff who pleaded guilty last month to federal charges involving exchanging gifts for political favors.
Okay, so we might expect the Farrell campaign to make allegations like that. After all, they're trying to beat him in November. And Chris Shays has always had a reputation as a fairly honest man, for a politician. With Marty Meehan, he was the House author of the McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform bill.
Which is what makes this quote from Public Citizen all the more meaningful:
Craig Holman, a campaign finance reform lobbyist for Public Citizen, a Washington consumer advocacy group that lobbies for finance reform, called the tactic "disheartening." He said he wasn't aware of any other congressional candidates using similar fundraising strategies since the passage of the 2002 McCain-Feingold finance reform bill -- a bill that Shays co-sponsored in the House.
"Basically, someone is being offered the opportunity to buy special access," Holman said.
That doesn't sound good. It seems that now that Chris Shays actually needs to build up a war chest to win re-election, he's become a lot more accepting of the role of big money in politics.