Running up on the Curb
Mar 21st, 2010 by David Anderson
Have you ever been driving longer than you should have and ran up on the curb when making a turn? I think the O’Donnell campaign may have done just that. it is an early warning that something needs to be corrected. Call this a cyberintervention. This is the post that I hoped to never publish and was refered to in yesterday’s posting. Let me be clear to Christine’s critics and friends that this is not an abandonment of her, but a path forward for her.
Delaware Liberal accidentally provided the answer to question that I had. What happened to Christine’s ’08 website? Since the man who bought the web site commented and that comment was made a post. I will just link to it. Letting it lapse more than a few days was bad enough. Not paying what it took to get it back was puzzling. Not taking the deal to have the site preserved and a link to the new site was a big mistake. Like the Castle campaigns lack of message, this is an unforced error. The number one google hit on you should not be one making fun of you especially if it is your old site which you spent resources to develop. Controlling the message is what makes a campaign. At least this mistake won’t be repeated. The campaign assures me that they learned the lesson and took a 5 year lease on the name this time.
Another mistake was not using the guest opinion offer by Delaware Politics to address the allegations of mismanagement of the campaign finances or using the opportunity of a friendly interview then allowing that to go to Jud and the opinion makers. She brought up that the law allows a salary to be paid her even though she never paid a salary nor is there any indication that she will. The message pounded by critics has no basis in reality, but she handed them the ammunition. The PR expert didn’t control her message. Now the issues are out in the larger media.
Another unforced error was paying to attend Vic Mead honoring Mike Castle with a credit card that was turned down then not making it good as soon as the money came into the campaign. Taking months to make it good is bad form. Why waste time and money with your opponent’s supporters in the first place? If you do in order to meet people and press the flesh, you had better make sure the money shows up. One time I went to a breakfast fundraiser and grabbed the wrong checkbook (I had just changed accounts and the checks looked the same.) It bounced. I was annoyed because the fundraiser cost me 3 times as much as it should have, but I made sure to pay it because it was a debt of honor. It was an honest error. They happen. If someone faults you for making a mistake, they look bad because everyone can relate to being human. If you don’t correct the mistake, you look bad because you look as if you don’t care. It also highlighted slow fundraising.
Now fundraising is suffering. The distortions may not matter to voters, but they do matter to donors. The financial issues brought up in the News Journal add to a narrative put out that she is running to provide money for herself not to win a victory for the people. This is poison for any campaign. Without donors, there will not be sufficient resources to reach voters. Out of state donors are waiting for local donors. Local donors are waiting for assurance. If the campaign is to survive as a viable one and not a protest, it needs to bring on an accountant or top flight professional to oversee the finances from here on out. O’Donnell has to put a fire wall between herself and the finances of the campaign. It is not about legality, it is about practicality.
There are a couple of other issues that I will keep private because they involve personal conversations, but none of them rise to any level of disqualification. They are just tactical. It is about smart people not being utilized and falling off the bandwagon to other campaigns.
You can run up on the curb a few times and recover. If you keep doing it, you will do serious damage and cut the journey short.
What is the solution? I think the team around Ms. O’Donnell is smart, loyal, and capable. No one needs replacing. It needs to be expanded. I would recommend a top flight commissioned fundraiser coupled with a top flight treasurer. I would recommend a solid community advisory committee that will meet monthly. It would bring sage advice and people who can bring clout and volunteers. I would recommend posting the mission statement of the campaign. Let the volunteers know where you have been so they can see you working and we don’t get a Bill Culley statement (which I heard from others) that you aren’t out enough and need to work harder this campaign. When you work 16 hours a day, you should get credit for it. People will not put more into a campaign than they believe the candidate does. If they believe the candidate won’t spend money, they won’t give. If they believe the candidate won’t spend time, they won’t. Ms. O’Donnell has made enormous sacrifices to bring a message of liberty and fiscal sanity to this state. She is trying to save the future of this nation. That seems to be her main motivation. Somehow she needs to bring that out. If she does, the gossip mongers will quiet out of shame. If she does not, they will eat her alive. You can’t beat an institution like Mr. Castle without all cylinders firing. Right now there is serious need for a tune up.
I appeal to my friend Christine publicly to be the leader that the conservative movement in Delaware needs.
- That leadership begins by showing that you can lead your own organization.
I have faith in you. My instinct tells me there is something special about you. I have yet to be wrong. Don’t let me down. Don’t be trapped by those who say that you would be giving ground to your critics. Sometimes your critics can turn out to be your best friends if you take the right message. You are welcome here anytime. I hope that a big announcement is coming.
no need to try and slavage this one. True some people run up on the curbs. O’Donnell is the type that stays on the curb. She needs to find a job.
Christine is toast. She cannot raise $$, she refuses to listed to people “outside” her box, and will continue to give people a reason to vote against her. If she cannot keep her own books, and keep a job, why does that instill the general public to want to put her in the US Senate. Mike Castle is not necessarily the answer, however, his years of service make him tough to beat. Perception in politics is Reality. Amazing how you can go from Endorsed GOP Candidate to most hated GOP candidate in two years. The last one to accomplish that was Jan Ting…the Democrat.
She’ll be great in Congress. They never pay their bills either.
These are her problems:
People are worried about their finances. Everyone is tightening their belts and paying off credit card debt. The idea of a candidate running up debts, and making her staff run up credit card bills then not reimbursing them or paying them a salary is a huge problem. When regular people get over their heads in debt, they go to work. She has not taken a full time job since 2006. People can’t relate to that kind of recklessness.
Everyone is sick of career politicians. Ms. O’Donnell, by making a career of campaigning for the past 4 years and not working, is already way ahead of career politician wannabes who are actually waiting to get into office before they jump on the money train.
Spending? Accountability? Transparency? Fiscal responsibility? Career politicians? Family values?
Over and over again, on every issue, she’s made herself the punchline of a bad joke. And the “party” didn’t do any of this to her, she created all of her messes herself, every time she blames her “opponent” for her financial woes she loses votes.
As of right now, she’s pretty much done. If by some miracle she makes it past Castle, the 2 – 1 Democrat over Republican voter registration in Delaware will crush her like a bug. Castle can win. O’Donnell can’t because she’s a train wreck, it doesn’t make sense to send a train wreck into a train wreck to fix it.
If O’Donnell was smart, she’d get a job and use the next few years fixing her finances and her life. She can come back when she settles her debts so former, unpaid staffers won’t show up yelling at her press conferences.
I had hoped Christine would be a great alternative for conservative Republicans to vote for over moderate/liberal Mike Castle. However, the information coming out now about her is very troubling! I feel she needs to take responsibility and explain everything to her supporters if she wants to receive any more campaign funds.
Christine needs to convince more than just her supporters although that would be a start. For Non-Ideological voters her behavior is a non starter and as of today she is unelectable in November. I have run NJ piece by my Republican and independent family members who are less in the loop than me. (My whacko commie brother in law’s brother i skipped. He thinks Joe Biden is too conservative. Thanksgivings are fun. We talk about football.)
They voted for Christine in 2008 on my recommendation and they are appalled, especially the women. This story has legs and will have legs.
Principled Conservatives who have influence within their circle of friends and family have been undercut by Christine’s mismanagement of her personal life and campaign management.
Those family and friends with whom I have been in contact will not vote for her in a primary if they are eligible and will not vote for her in a general election. I will not try to dissuade them. Christine’s history ruins the credibility of those who have backed her in the past.
My Easter get together with my family will not be fun. I am hoping we can talk about baseball.
Dave,
Doesn’t it bother you in the least bit that she pays herself before she pays off those she is indebted to such as campaign workers, etc?
Cookie, please call me David.
The answer is yes, I would never do it that way. It is perfectly legal, but I question the wisdom. That is why I call for an independent professional in charge of the finances. It is the only way to save the campaign and redeem her credibility with donors.
My intention was to accomplish this privately, but the News Journal Article took the timing out of my hands. If the campaign would have taken this action anytime last week, it could have blunted some of the firestorm. I am heart broken that this has to be discussed in public however this may be the only way to salvage the campaign and more importantly if for some inexplicable reason she does not start repairing this, salvage the movement which backs her. The movement is larger than anyone person.
I am not one to throw people under the bus, but if they keep jumping under when I try to pull them out, what happens eventually falls on them.