A leader in one of our local Democratic Party groups, the Parker Democrats, sent me this fundraising letter (on the flip) signed by Rahm Emanuel. The return address on the envelope says it's the 2007 Annual Fund Drive for the Parker-Area Democratic Party. The letterhead and return coupon say the same.
A recipient who is not steeped in the minutiae of the party might believe that the DNC is helpfully collecting donations to aid the local chapter of the party. They would be wrong. The letter is blatantly misleading.
If you receive a letter like this from the DCCC, you need to know that none of the money you send in reply, will go to your local party. If you want to send a donation to your local Democratic Party organization, you need to send it directly there. Chances are, they will make much better use of it than the DCCC will.
I sent this letter in reply, addressed to Gov. Dean. We saw this same scam two years ago, and received a lot of complaints, as we are again now. Many County Chairs, like me, sent letters to the DNC to complain. I did not receive a reply to my letter, and I don't think any of our other County Chairs did, either. I'm giving it another try. We'll see if Gov. Dean takes his county party organizations seriously this time.
5 April, 2007
Gov. Howard Dean
Chair
Democratic National Committee
430 S. Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC 20003
Dear Gov. Dean:
Our local members have been receiving fund raising mailings from the Democratic National Committee, such as the enclosed example, using the names of our local party organizations. Local donors are complaining about the confusion this causes.
Since it would not be difficult for the envelope and letterhead to correctly identify the sender as the "Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee," we can only conclude that the organizers of this mailing are intentionally misleading potential donors into believing that their contribution might benefit local party organizations.
I therefore must make the following requests, with the strongest sense of urgency:
- That you immediately cease and desist from using the names of our local groups in your mailings. The towns involved are Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, and Parker.
- That you immediately forward to our county Party Treasurer, ... in a check payable to the Douglas County Democratic Party, all the funds you have raised using our local groups' names. We will use this funding to pay the expenses of grassroots efforts to organize meetings and events for Democrats in our towns.
- That future mailings from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee correctly identify that organization and not use any other names that might be confused with local party organizations.
We wrote to the DNC in 2005 about a similar scam, and did not receive the courtesy of a reply. This time, we will publicize your reply, or lack thereof, as an indication of how serious you are about the success of local Democratic Party organizing efforts.
Sincerely,
Douglas County Democrats
pdt
Chair