PA-12 and Subprime Political Fundraising

Having been tasked with the responsibility of holding hands with my share of virgin candidates -- first-timers to the political wars, that is -- I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the naif.

But that soft spot gets tougher and harder as the virgin's first campaign wears on and Election Day draws nigh; and by the time the first-time candidate has become a second-time candidate -- whether victorious or not on the first go-round -- that soft spot has been replaced by callouses.

What, then, to make of William Russell (USAR-Ret.), the 2008 GOP nominee against the late Congressman Jack Murtha in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District?

Russell is, by all accounts, philosophically conservative -- he is pro-life, favors traditional marriage, wants to shrink government and expand liberty, supports a strong national defense -- and is, personally, reputed to be an honorable man.

But in the 2008 cycle, he fell in with the kind of fundraisers who are more interested in raising money to pay themselves than they are in raising money to allow their clients to run their campaigns.

So what does it say about Russell that, having once gone through a campaign with a firm that grossed him tons but left him ounces, he signed on with them again for a second go-round?

Back then, the firm was called BMW Direct. Today, it goes by a different name -- Base Connect.

Under either name or both, its practices leave much to be desired.

For instance, in 2006, BMW Direct reported raising funds for Charles Morse. Never heard of Charles Morse? He was a Republican who competed as a write-in candidate for the GOP nomination against Congressman Barney Frank in Massachusetts. His campaign was so bad that on primary day, he won precisely 145 votes.

Yet, somehow, BMW Direct reported raising more than $700,000 for Morse. Reported the Boston Globe:

A review of campaign reports shows that, rather than spending that money in the Fourth Congressional District, 96 percent of the funds raised in Morse's name were used to pay a politically connected direct-mail firm in Washington, BMW Direct Inc., and a coterie of BMW Direct's affiliates and contractors. The firms specialize in national fund-raising appeals on behalf of conservative Republican candidates and right-wing causes.

The pattern in the Morse campaign of raising big sums from donors yet spending little on that campaign is similar to other fund-raising operations managed by BMW Direct, a private company whose financial statements and executive salaries are not disclosed. The list includes work for Republican Ken Chase's failed 2006 challenge of Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a 2006 congressional candidate in Georgia, and on behalf of Veterans for Victory, a group that sought to raise questions in similar fashion to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth about John F. Kerry's war record when the Massachusetts senator was running for president.

Ultimately, Federal Elections Commission records show, $30,000 was devoted directly to Morse's campaign expenses in the Fourth Congressional District. And Morse said he was shocked when told by the Globe how much BMW Direct had raised and spent in the name of his candidacy.

"That is craziness," he said. "I am really amazed. It is really way above and beyond what I was made aware of."

What makes matters even worse is that BMW Direct continued raising funds for Morse's "campaign" after the primary was over and he was no longer campaigning, without his knowledge.

A review of the Russell campaign's most recent year-end report with the Federal Election Commission reveals that BMW Direct -- now rechristened Base Connect -- continues the pattern: Russell's campaign reported raising $2,835,666.90 in 2009, the off year -- a mighty impressive haul for a guy who got beat by 16 points a year earlier. But against that, the campaign reported spending $2,654,520.30, leaving it with a cash-on-hand total of just $211,071.69.

A look at the fourth quarter is telling: The Russell campaign reported raising a total of $895,474.36. But to do it, the campaign had to pay Base Connect and its allied companies $719,216.89 to pay for the mail program.

But that's not all Base Connect says it's doing for Bill Russell.

One of Base Connect's clients is Freedom's Defense Fund, a political organization that says on its front page, "With no office, overhead or staff, every dollar raised is leveraged to help build a better America, to hold liberals accountable and to rebuild an American conservative majority."

Actually, Freedom's Defense Fund appears to be more than merely a client -- it shares office space with Base Connect, at 1155 15th Street NW, Suite 410, in Washington, DC. (I guess that's how FDF is able to exist without any office, overhead, or staff.)

Currently, FDF has only two "initiatives" advertised on its web site -- a campaign against allowing Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to become the two new U.S. Senators from the District of Columbia (!), and a petition to Pennsylvania Republican Chairman Rob Gleason, urging him to "select" Russell as the GOP nominee in the 12th District special election that will take place on May 18.

(Apparently, no one at FDF is aware that not only does Gleason not have the power to "select" Russell, he will not even be in charge of the conferee meeting that takes place on March 11 to choose the GOP standard-bearer for the special election -- because he is still the Cambria County GOP Chairman, he will leave the running of the meeting to others, so as to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.)

But here's something odd -- when you click on the link to contribute to FDF so they can help Russell, you're taken to this page, which says absolutely nothing about money going to Russell, but instead features an advertisement against Virginia Democratic Congressman Tom Perriello.

It appears that FDF is merely using Russell's campaign as a means to collect contributions from gullible conservative donors.

Frankly, the same could be said of Base Connect, and its work for Russell's campaign. Keeping 82 cents out of every dollar you gross isn't fundraising, it's highway robbery.

You might as well call it subprime fundraising.

An old saw says, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Russell cannot be faulted for having hired these guys the first time out; but now he's had the learning experience of having gone through a campaign with them, and yet he's still using them.

The 134 conferees who will gather in Latrobe on March 11 should take that into account when making their decision.

PS -- Last year, I wrote a piece about an independent expenditure conducted by Freedom's Defense Fund for my blog at CQPolitics. The IE was conducted on behalf of Steve Lonegan, and against Chris Christie, in the New Jersey GOP primary for governor. One reader left a comment. His name is Todd Zirkle, and he listed himself as the Chairman of Freedom's Defense Fund. After suggesting I needed a better source than a newspaper owned by The New York Times, Zirkle then asked sarcastically if Chris Christie's campaign for Governor of New Jersey had hired my firm, Urquhart Media, LLC, yet.

For the record, I had been gone from Urquhart Media, LLC for more than a year before I published that piece. And no, Mr. Zirkle, Chris Christie's campaign hired neither me nor my former colleagues at Urquhart Media, LLC. I have never been offered a nickel by Christie or anyone around him for anything I've written.

To head off what I anticipate will be a counter-attack from Base Connect and/or Freedom's Defense Fund, let me say this here and now: It is a matter of public record that I consulted Diana Irey's campaign against Jack Murtha in Pennsylvania's 12th District four years ago, in 2006. I have no relationship, financial or otherwise, to any of William Russell's opponents. Nor is the NRCC paying me to write this.

While we're at it, I wasn't in Graceland on the afternoon of August 16, 1977; I had nothing to do with either the introduction of New Coke or the production of "Ishtar;" I did not pre-rip Janet Jackson's jacket before her Super Bowl halftime appearance with Justin Timberlake; I did not slip a roofie into his drink and put Kanye West up to taking the microphone out of Taylor Swift's hands at the MTV VMAs; and I had nothing to do with the decision to move Jay Leno back to 11:35 PM.