Shays no go for Governor?

What a Great Reason to Run! (0.00 / 0)

I can see some terrific headlines now:

Shays Runs So Contributors Can Pay Off Old Campaign Debts

Shays Asks Former Constituents to Forgive Fiscal Irresponsibility

Return Shays to Congress: He Can Buy a Great CT Home in This Market

Shays Scrounges for Honest Campaign Manager

Let's have some fun. Does anyone else want to play this game?  

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by: Ann Galloway @ Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 13:49:23 PM UTC

Those would be really honest and accurate headlines, so you won't see them (0.00 / 0)

Can you see any reporter for Hearst pointing out that very uncomfortable truth?  Will Ken Dixon ever write an article about this?  

Nope, we'll just get more drivel about what a great guy Shays is.

Same from Fairfield County Weekly's Nick Keppler.  He's the guy who "loves" Chris Shays- that "beautiful man".

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by: thomashooker @ Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 19:35:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I just heard a story from one of his former co-workers (4.00 / 1)

... that Dixon first came up to Connecticut to work at the Post after returning from Florida in an unsuccessful attempt to gain employment from the National Enquirer.

Explains a lot if true.

–7.25 / –7.28 | http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

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by: mattw @ Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 20:56:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You're Right, Of Course (0.00 / 0)

So how about using Shays own words -- such as calling Sarah Palin "awesome," or describing Abu Ghraib as "sex," not torture?  I'm sure others can cite a few more not-so-wise words.  

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by: Ann Galloway @ Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 21:05:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

CT GOP have managed to screw up any momentum (0.00 / 0)

..they once enjoyed. First they managed to chase out Chris Dodd without bothering to figure that they could not defeat his replacement Dick Blumenthal. In CT-05 an up-and-comer Justin Bernier has been put in an awkward spot of having to get past Caligiuri, when I guess Bernier was supposed to just step aside. And now Shays wants to step into CT-04.

It could well be that the Republicans lose every major race this year (House, Senate and Governor) and then what do they do? Probably give Chris Healy --who orchestrated much of this mess-- a pay raise, right?

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by: Scarce @ Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 15:27:55 PM UTC

I really can't understand why they pulled the Caigiuri thing (0.00 / 0)

Bernier seems like a good candidate. Totally short sighted.  

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by: saramerica @ Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 15:42:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Both Ways comments are starting to make sense (0.00 / 0)

"I don't want to jeopardize our plush incomes down here..."

"But how do I pay off those pesky campaign debts..."

"I'm gonna run..."

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by: notcho @ Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 15:38:48 PM UTC

CREW-reposted article on campaign embezzlement issue (0.00 / 0)

I would be interested to hear from people who have worked as campaign treasurers as to whether the National Journal article linked below (as reposted on CREW's website)accurately portrays the situation in regard to campaign embezzlements.

http://www.citizensforethics.o...

There are examples from campaigns on both sides of the aisle -- Boehner ($600K), Biden, Edward Kennedy ($75K staffer misuse of funds for personal purposes), the NRCC (almost $1MM by a Swiftboat-related employee.)

The article says that often embezzlement is not reported, especially in cases where the funds can be recovered quietly. The Shays scenario is the only typical situation where embezzlement becomes public:  when charges are going to be pressed.

FEC identification of financial reporting discrepancies may turn out to be a way a campaign discovers problems, but if I understood the article correctly, the FEC is said to have more focus on where funds come from than where they go.  

To see a 2007 proposed FEC advice to campaigns, look here:
http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2007...

It's an aside, but may provide some food for thought if you are about to become a campaign treasurer, or if you are a candidate who wants to understand some of the potential issues in setting up your campaign books and practices.

There are places where this FEC piece practically trips over itself to point out that it is advisory and not regulatory, and effectively says that candidates/campaigns may end up throwing the advice in the circular file or just picking up a tip here or there.  That's hardly the tone one would take when trying to brand the forehead of a campaign official or candidate with the foremost role that voter/contributor trust plays in candidates' ability to continue getting contributions and votes.

The Shays case is but one example in a campaign landscape dotted with very lean staffing, quickly developed controls, and the books often entrusted to one particular person who both develops and implements said controls, with nearly complete candidate delegation of responsibility.

Is running another campaign in fact the only way that a candidate can fundraise to make up unrecoverable embezzled campaign funds? It's not a small matter if it's true that no one agency has embezzlement of campaign funds firmly under its auspices.  As campaigns handle more and more money, the reality of the embezzlement issue apparently is not being dealt with head-on.

A candidate who may love public service but who is at least in part driven by recovering financial loss provides the wrong motivation for the public to support the campaign (or any party to select a candidate).  Why wouldn't voters think such a candidate may be far more vulnerable to the influence of a large donation with an implied promise of action once elected?  

Shays' campaign fund loss is public knowledge (while there is no practical way to verify the actual amount AFAIK).  There are probably a number of other D and R candidates out there who have had some losses due to dishonesty and we don't know about it and likely never will.

Nonetheless, it seems that personal or campaign debt OR significant unrevealed but compromising personal secrets are real problematic ways to start a campaign imho -- if your real intent is to win election.

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by: greenpeas @ Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 22:31:41 PM UTC