I almost fell out of my chair reading a diary titled Emily's List fundraising emails are full of sh*t at Demconwatchblog.com
The diarist hits the nail on the head with his take on the Emily List emails regarding the urgency of helping Terri Sewell. Despite already having raised a million plus dollars, compared to Shelia Smoot's not even 200k, she's in trouble.
Yesterday I received a fundraising e-mail from EMILY's LIST. It was an urgent request to help one of their candidates in dire distress, Terri Sewell in AL- 7. According to the e-mail Terri was being unfairly and baselessly attacked by her opponent and needed money immediately to prevent something terrible from happening.
EMILY's LIST did not explain what Terri Sewell stood for, what her opponent stood for, anything about the nature of the unfair attack, or the significance of AL-7 . . .
The post continues
Today I got a follow-up e-mail from EMILY's LIST thanking those who sent money from yesterday's request.. Terri now had enough money to go on the air and answer "the baseless attacks launched by her opponent." Now EMILY's LIST asked their donors for MORE MONEY to make sure Sewell could fund an extensive "get out the vote drive" and overcome expected low turnout.
As a wise man in Arizona recently said, "Buyers Beware". Never give funds to anyone unless you know the candidates, the positions they hold and how they are running their campaign. After this two day e-mail campaign, I googled the candidates and found that EMILY's LIST e-mails had no basis in reality.
Yeah way to spend that first million wisely on overpriced DC consultants and out of state salaries. Let them tell you to ignore local political groups after they endorse you. Ignore the local wisdom on how to connect with the voters. Then scratch your heads while the big boss (Emily's List) raises you some more money to waste. Excellent strategy.
Emily's List not only endorsed Sewell over Smoot, but they endorsed Sewell over two other female candidates in the race at the time and a male candidate. All very pro-choice. And in the estimation of many besides myself, Sewell was considered the least progressive out of all the candidates. *Yes, I'm involved in the Smoot campaign. However, I've been critical of Emily's List and their involvement in campaigns, especially those in African American districts, in the past.
The diarists correctly notes that Emily's List has a history of being involved in badly run campaigns. Beginning to seem like a pattern especially when backing African American female candidates in the South.
This is not the first time EMILY's LIST supported dubious candidates and their schemes.
EMILY's List has not yet apologized for funding a homophobic, anti-abortion and anti-Semitic candidate a few years ago, against a sitting democratic congressman whose voting record was impeccable on all progressive issues. The donors of EMILY's LIST ended up funding a candidate that used a large part of the campaign budget to produce and air ant-Semitic TV ads, including one which equated Jews with the KKK.
Shame on you, EMILY's LIST.
Yes as we have said before - Shame on you Emily's List. The organization has done a lot for electing women candidates and opening doors. I just think they do a lot to discredit what they have done when they go on tilt in campaigns that should be run at the local level. I've talked to a lot of people over the past couple of days that feel very similar to this diarist when they get such emails.
Your thoughts?
I'm an unpaid advisor to the campaign. So consider that as a bias as you may, but I was very critical of Emily's List in their handling of the Nikki Tinker race a few years ago as well as recently with Martha Coakley