The DFL Dinner system

[Eric J in MN]

31st Annual Hubert H. Humphrey Day Dinner on Saturday, March 15, 2008

Donate $2,500 and get to talk to Senator Claire McCaskill and other federal politicians face-to-face, then eat dinner and listen to speeches.

Donate $125, then just eat dinner and listen to speeches.

If you were the next DFL Chair, would you change this system?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Good grief. We should not have to pay for access to these people.

What a sucktastic system.

[dflprincess]

2. This has been going on since the days when the dinner was stilled called the

Jefferson/Jackson Day Dinner and it usually brings in a lot of money - though I thought last year's didn't do that well (don't quote me I might be wrong about that).

There used to be (maybe there still is) a group called the Jefferson Forum made up of people who donated more to the party. I can't remember what the donation to join that was it was way less than $2500 but the people who belonged to that got extra access. I think tickets to the big dinner were around $40.00 then. It's a pathetic system but as long as the party makes money off it they won't change it.

I just hope plenty of us make it clear that a Bush enabler like Clair McCaskill isn't worth $125 of their hard earned money - especially in an election year when we all have candidates we could be sending money to.

[PleaseSayItAintSo]

5. McCaskill contributors

Sen McCaskill (D-MO) recently voted with 19-other Democratic senators to invoke cloture on FISA, effectively voting to grant amnesty to telecoms for their part in Bush's illegal spying on US citizens.

Here's the vote:

<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00019>

Here's Sen McCaskill's OpenSecrets.org Top Contributors page for the 2008 race:

<http://opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00027694&cycle=2008>

Listed organizations include:

Blackwell Sanders 31,025

<http://www.blackwellsanders.com/practiceDetail.aspx?id=c8d703a8-b59f-11d6-9c03-0008c786daf8>

Patton, Boggs 17,550

<http://www.pattonboggs.com/services/ServiceDetail.aspx?firmService=173>

Lathrop & Gage 16,250

<http://www.lathropgage.com/practices/servicedetail.aspx?service=1623>

Time-Warner 17,849

Total contributions from individuals associated with telecom-related firms: $82,674


At the same time, she accepted some large amounts from grassroots organizations:

ActBlue 88,158
Emily's List 523,538


Parenthetically, Sen McCaskill also voted to “condemn” MoveOn.org:

<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00344>


I do hope someone who is willing to attend the dinner will ask her about the apparent discrepancies in her contributions and her votes.

All data from OpenSecrets.org courtesy of the Center for Responsive Politics.

[Eric J in MN]

6. You would say to her that because she got more from Act Blue...

...than from Telecom executives, that's the reason she should have voted against retroative immunity?

[PleaseSayItAintSo]

8. Of course not.

I'm simply saying that when I give money to a candidate through ActBlue I expect that the candidate will be progressive - as in NOT voting to limit my constitutional rights.

I expect the same when I support HRC, Emily's List and MoveOn.org backed candidates.

[dpbrown]

9. So I wrote a note to the SCC

Follows:

Bush used 9/11 like his own Reichstag Fire to get warrantless wiretapping of United States citizens in violation of the 4th Amendment, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), the Wiretap Act, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

The issue of pardoning or not pardoning the telecoms ex post facto is much more than a "personal" issue over which politicians and constituents might disagree.

Retroactively legalizing the enabling by the telecoms of Bush's lawbreaking is like shipping a truckload of hammers to the hardware store where the alcoholic spouse-beater shops for new ways to terrorize the cowering dysfunctional enabler waiting at home.

In my opinion, knowing that the telecoms do not deserve immunity is akin to knowing that Iraq didn't pose a danger.

The politicians who ignored the facts and succumbed to the spell of the Project for a New Century Imperialists have already cost this country a TRILLION dollars and thousands of U.S. citizen lives in a tragic, illegal, and useless occupation of a country we will never control.

The politicians who voted to retroactively immunize the telecoms cost this country its Constitutional legitimacy.

These are not the kind of people that Minnesotans should shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars to pal around with.

I won't be.

Cheers,

Maybe someone might want to pen a letter to the editor?

[dflprincess]

10. Damn, Dan

the next time you write something like that, circulate it little to see if any of your friends might want their name added.

[Eric J in MN]

11. What is the SCC? NT

NT

[dpbrown]

12. The DFL State Central Committee

From the DFL Website:

State Central Committee

The State Central Committee (SCC) serves as the governing body of the party between its biennial conventions. The SCC includes the State Executive Committee (SEC), ten elected officials, the leaders of the Minnesota Young DFL (MYDFL), the chairs and associate chairs of each senate district, and 332 representatives divided among county units according to the DFL Candidates Average Vote as defined in the party's constitution.

[Kixel]

13. I'm a member of the SCC

And I see the budget every year. We need high profile fundraisers. Does it suck that it is so expensive? Yes. We were seriously short of funds and these dinners bring in a lot of money. There aren't a whole lot of other options.

Also-anyone can screen to become a member of the SCC. It will happen prior to the Senate District/County Unit conventions along with screening for the local central committees. It's a heck of a way to spend a Saturday. Candidates and elected officials often find their way to the meetings.

[dflprincess]

14. There's several of us here who are on the SCC

and we've seen the budget as well. The dinner does bring in money, but that doesn't explain why they've invited a Bush enabler to be the speaker this year. In all the years I've been on the SCC I've never heard who decides who the main speaker at the HHH Day dinner will be.

[Eric J in MN]

15. What do you think of adding a question-and-answer section...

...after the speeches, so that people who can't afford the fee for the federal reception may get a chance to tell a Senator what they're concerned about?

[dflprincess]

16. Good idea,

but I don't expect it will happen and,if it did, I bet whoever was running it would make sure they knew what questions were going to be asked. Besides, by the time the keynote speaker is done, people are getting restless so I'm not sure if many people would hang around for it especially if the questions were of the "may I tell you how wonderful you are?" variety.

[Kixel]

18. Haven't they done that in the past for one of these events?

It's hard when you get so many emails on different things. I seem to remember there being a lower dollar reception for someone before. I could be completely wrong though.

[Kixel]

17. Maybe you should ask at the next meeting?

It could make the meeting a lot more interesting!

I am surprised its not someone who'd be more of a draw-with the way the budget was looking last fall, we need someone who is going to make people want to come. She certainly isn't going to do it.

[goodhue]

3. The DFL Chair is expected to raise a whole lot of money

This is the biggest event of the year in that regard.
The chair and party are well behind the curve in fundraising.
No chair could change this tradition and maintain the position.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. It makes me nostalgic for Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio's

$35 beer and pizza fundraisers.

I wish we had more politicians who were willing to raise $2500 from 100 people who paid $25 instead of one person who paid the whole sum.

I understand how the party has to raise money, but to restrict access to politicians only to big bucks contributors is uncomfortably close to corruption.

How everybody gets to talk to the pols but only the big bucks contributors get to have their picture taken with them?

[Eric J in MN]

7. I'm not sure if there will be much picture-taking at the federal reception.

The last time I looked in on a DFL federal reception, the room was so crowded that it wouldn't be comfortable to pose.

Update: I just glanced into the room. Maybe people were taking photos, but it was crowded in there.