About 2 1/2 weeks ago I posted a thread on Twitter about why I began this project in the first place. The short version is that I started raising money directly for Democratic candidates back in 2018 because I, along with some other Democrats, was somewhat distrustful of the DCCC over some of the spending/resource allocation decisions they had made over the prior several cycles.
Basically, there were some candidates who we felt should have gotten funding who didn't and others who did receive funding from the DCCC who we felt shouldn't have.
Now, some of our criticisms may have been justified while others weren't. After all, it's easy to play Monday morning quarterback. Regardless, this was the main impetus for me to start raising money directly for specific candidates--I make it easy for donors to pick & choose which specific candidates they want to support by grouping them together by state or office.
Before I continue, a reminder that when you donate to Democrats using the ActBlue pages I link to here, 96% of what you donate goes directly to the actual campaigns and/or Democratic Party committees on each page. The other 4% goes to ActBlue to cover the credit card gateway payment processing fees and their other overhead. I receive nothing.
Does this mean that the candidates I have listed are always the wisest ones to donate to? Not necessarily...but at least if you donate via my fundraising pages, that call is up to you, not anyone else.
To be honest, it's probably a bit irrational to gripe at the DCCC specifically, since their entire purpose is supposed to be specifically to elect Democratic House candidates, just as the DSCC does for the Senate and the DLCC does for state legislatures.
HOWEVER, there's a whole other category of PACs out there which absolutely are ripe for criticism...and my guess is that if you've ever donated to any Democratic candidate at any point over the past decade, your in box is probably being flooded with emails from them even as I type this...and most of them sound the same:
- Save Democracy PAC
- Future Forum PAC
- Across the Aisle PAC
- Blue South PAC
- When Democrats Turn Out PAC
- Way to Lead PAC
- Defeat Republicans PAC
- Demand Justice PAC
- Blue Horizon PAC
- Democracy on the Line
- Democrats Serve PAC
- Fight For Our Democracy Pac
...and so on.
I want to be clear: Many, perhaps even most of these PACs do great work, donate a high percentage of what they raise to the actual campaigns and/or utilize funds to create effective ads or other materials/projects to help elect Democrats and defeat Republicans.
HOWEVER...not all of them are like that, and the average Democratic donor isn't likely to have any idea how much of any donations they make will actually go to the candidates or to otherwise help elect them...versus how much is going into the pockets of, well, let's just say...not candidate or campaigns.
With that in mind, I decided to pick one of the fundraising emails I received at random (there were like a dozen which had come in that day alone...no matter how many mailing lists I opt out of I seem to be added to two more...).
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT MAKING ANY ACCUSATIONS AGAINST BLUE STATES PAC OR ANY OTHER PAC HERE.
The email header looked like this...you've probably gotten many like it:
The "from" says "Democracy Watch 2024" but the return email is "info@bluestatespac.com" and the body of the message looks like this:
Again, pretty standard stuff for this sort of message. Here's the thing, though: Nowhere in the email does it actually tell you who your donations go to or how much goes to them.
How about the fine print at the end?
Nope. It gives vague language about "supporting Democratic state parties, candidates & causes" but doesn't specify which states, which candidates or which causes.
How about their website?
Nope. BlueStatesPAC.com consists of just the home page, a contact page which only has an email link, a link to their donation page and the following text, which still tells you absolutely nothing about which specific Democratic candidates, party committees, etc. donations to them go to, or in what proportions:
THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY IS ON THE LINE
Blue States PAC is the preeminent grassroots organization dedicated to supporting Democratic state parties and the candidates and causes moving progress forward across the country.
Expanding our state Democratic majorities is critical. Republicans, building off Donald Trump’s Big Lie, intend to destroy the Biden-Harris agenda by controlling state governments.
Republicans are using gerrymandering as a tool to carve up congressional districts, shutting Democrats out of the majority for years to come.
GOP-controlled legislatures, state Supreme Courts, and Republican governors are moving swiftly. Right-wing Republicans want to halt progress on issues like voting rights, common sense gun control, a woman’s right to make her own health care choices, equal rights, and affordable health care.
The future of our democracy is on the line. That’s why, at Blue States PAC, we’re fighting back by investing in our Democratic state parties, candidates, and causes.
How about their official ActBlue donation page? All it says is this:
Donate now to help state Democrats win!
Democratic state parties and progressive grassroots groups are on the frontline, organizing for local elections in 2022 and beyond. Every dollar invested in building grassroots strength now pays dividends on Election Day. Will you rush a donation to help support state-based Democratic grassroots work?
Not very helpful, is it? (Also, it sill has "2022" as the current year).
How about the link from the email? The donation page it goes to is worded slightly differently:
We must stop the GOP's dangerous agenda. If we can't keep up with their fundraising, we could lose it all. But not enough Democrats are donating!
Please, pitch in today to help Democrats win!
In both cases, the only clue about where donations go is this:
"Your contribution will benefit Blue States PAC."
Welp. Again, Neither the email, the website, or either of the donation pages give you ANY IDEA of where your donations are going.
So, I decided to check out Blue States PAC via Open Secrets to figure out how much they're raising and where it's going. Since we're in the middle of the 2024 cycle, reporting data is going to be out of date and incomplete, but we can look at the full 2022 midterm cycle:
PAC Summary Data, 2021-2022
- Total Raised: $752,253
- Total Spent: $721,236
- Begin Cash on Hand: $0
- End Cash on Hand Receipts: $31,017
- Debts: $0
- Date of Last Report: December 31, 2022
So they raised over $750,000 last cycle (not bad!) and spent $721,000 of that. So far, so good.
According to Open Secrets, $69,500 of that was donated to 15 Democrats running for either U.S. House or Senate (between $2,900 - $5,800 apiece). However, that's just federal candidates. To find out where the other ~90% of it went, we have to review FEC filings.
- $69,500 was donated to federal candidates
- $105,000 was donated to federal and statewide Democratic Party committees (as well as the DAGA, DASS & DLGA)
- $39,500 was donated to other assorted Democratic campaigns or Dem Party committees, such as Laura Kelly & Beto O'Rourke for Governor, the Democratic Mayors Association, and "Energized for Change PAC" which is another PAC run by a Virginia delegate to elect VA Dems (I'll count this one).
So far, so good: That's $214,000 which has gone directly to actual Democratic candidates or Dem Party committees, or around 28% of the total so far.
What else?
- $5,630 was refunded to about a dozen donors. Fair enough.
- $29,444 of the total went to ActBlue to cover their credit card processing fees and other infrastructure overhead. That's 4.1% of the total, which is perfectly in line with ActBlue's flat 4% fee (plus a little extra, as they give donors the option to throw in a "tip" to ActBlue if they wish). Fine.
- $2,360 for legal services. Fair enough.
- $2,000 for website development (& presumably hosting). Reasonable.
- $10,000 of Blue States PAC donations were disbursed to... Blue States PAC - FL. OK, maybe Florida's campaign finance laws require PACs to have their own Florida-based offshoot or something. I'll allow it.
We're up to $263,434 or 36.5% of the total, and all is well so far.
- $26,590 to the "MBA Consulting Group" for "Compliance Services"
I'm assuming this is the correct MBA Consulting Group. I know PACs have to be careful to comply with federal & state campaign finance laws as well as needing professional accounting services, but $26,000 seems a bit steep to me. I dunno...I guess I can accept this one.
HOWEVER...here's where things start to get a little...questionable.
- $42,988 to "EveryAction, Inc." for "Software"
EveryAction, Inc. is now called Bonterra. Those are the guys who I presume have been churning out the mountain of spam emails...I've received a whopping 72 more from Blue States PAC since March 20th, an average of 4 per day.
And where did they get all those email addresses in the first place?
- $61,500 to "PACtion Data, Inc" and "True Blue Analytics LLC" for "List Acquisition"
That's right: They shelled out 8.5% of what they raised to get ahold of our email addresses, and another 6% to flood us with spam to generate the revenue used to pay for doing so.
Oh, that's just the emails...we can't forget about the other bane of campaign fundraising...
- $13,046 to "New Partners" for Text Messages
Yep, that's another $13K to clog up your phone with solicitations. All told, they spent $117,534 (16.3% of what they raised) on pestering people to chip in.
But it's the final two entries which really take the cake:
- $237,628 to "Collective Action" for "Digital Consulting"
- $73,783 to "David Phelps" for "Digital Consulting"
I haven't been able to find out anything about "Collective Action" other than they're based out of Washington DC. As for David Phelps, here he is:
David M. Phelps - Spokane, Washington
Seasoned online fundraising writer and digital content strategist, changing the world one compelling email at a time.
With a decade of experience in online fundraising and digital content, my emails and social media posts have raised millions of dollars for political candidates, advocacy organizations, and non-profits. I bring significant experience as a senior professional in marketing communications to the table for my clients.
Um. OK, then.
For the record: I don't have a problem with professional fundraisers earning a living doing so; it can involve a ton of hard work, after all...lord knows I spend enough time doing it myself.
I could see taking perhaps 5-10% of what you raise as a reasonable cut.
43%, however is not what I'd call a reasonable cut. Maybe that's just me.
So in short, here's how "Blue States PAC" spent that $721,000 during the 2022 election cycle:
By contrast, here's where every dime I raise goes:
Just saying.
