GOP's record haul, that's now pissed away, unethical methods used to squeeze money out their base

[Demovictory9]

How a Record Cash Haul Vanished for Senate Republicans
The campaign arm of Senate Republicans had collected $181.5 million by the end of July — but spent 95 percent of it. A big investment in digital, and hyperaggressive tactics, have not paid off.



https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/03/us/politics/senate-republican-committee-funds.html

The committee had squeezed donors with hyperaggressive new tactics. And all the money coming in obscured just how much the committee was spending advertising for donors. Then inflation sapped online giving for Republicans nationwide. And the money that had rolled in came at an ethical price.

One fund-raising scheme used by the Senate committee, which has not previously been disclosed, involved sending an estimated millions of text messages that asked provocative questions — “Should Biden resign?” — followed by a request for cash: “Reply YES to donate.” Those who replied “YES” had their donation processed immediately, though the text did not reveal in advance where the money was going.

Privately, some Republicans complained the tactic was exploitative. WinRed, the party’s main donation-processing platform, recently stepped in and took the unusual step of blocking the committee from engaging in the practice, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The texts had been part of a concerted push that successfully juiced fund-raising, though it used methods that experts say will eventually exhaust even the most loyal givers.

[Lonestarblue]

1. Corruption breeds more corruption.

Trump is the head of Republican corruption racket, but Republican politicians jumped on that bandwagon in a nanosecond.

[Frustratedlady]

2. Just where does all this money go? That's one hell of a lot of money to even spend,

let alone track for basically a 2-month campaign season. I rarely see any ads and the ones I hear about are blips on the screen.

Someone must be stashing a lot of it away.

Additional comment: I may have come up with my own explanation. I heard this weekend that Trump gets 18% of donations? Can that possibility be true?

[True Blue American]

3. Who?

Scott is in charge of that money! He spent a great deal promoting himself. They are pulling ads for candidates because they have no money. Nothing like putting a Medicaid embezzler in charge of your money!

[LittleGirl]

4. Exactly! eom

[yardwork]

17. Why is Scott not in prison??? I've never understood this.

[True Blue American]

18. Good question!

Then voters made him a Senator.

[littlemissmartypants]

5. No paywall...

https://archive.ph/TcxoY

[dalton99a]

19. +1

[littlemissmartypants]

20. ❤️

[COL Mustard]

6. If WinRed says this is bad....

You know they’re in trouble.

When your own PAC is calling you out, you clearly have an ethical problem.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. They have done a lot of agressive land line calling and not using robocall recordings

which here in Philly, had started before the state primary, then dropped off a bit after that, but has now started back up (at least for my phone last night). I don't answer these nor do I let them hit my answering machine. Usually I'm right near a phone so I can cut them off after the 2nd ring. I then check the caller ID and take their whole pool of numbers - area code and exchange - and program it into my call blocker.

And it's MOSTLY been calls from the NRSC, with a handful coming from the NRCC.

This suggests that they really are having problems re-taking the Senate. If I start seeing more from the NRCC then that will suggest we're finally breaking down the wall blocking another blue wave.

[Deminpenn]

8. No robocalls in my area

but recently a ton of the usual GOP ads of the Willie Horton and far left/socialist ilk having been airing during the local TV evening news.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Fortunately for every 10 Fetterman and/or Shapiro ads, there're maybe 2 Oz ads and 1 Mastiano ad

I expect that since the RNC has pulled funding from the state, whatever is left that is being spent is going to be focused over in western PA and up in NE PA.

[Deminpenn]

10. I've seen 0 Mastriano ads here

He appears to be spending all his time preaching to his choir. He won't even allow the regular media to cover his events. He won't speak to reporters either. A week or so ago, he had a rally in Pgh. It made the local news, but there was no video of anything he said or interviews with anyone in his campaign. He reached no people who weren't already going to vote for him.

Shapiro's running ads, but isn't blanketing the airwaves. He's got a good ad now as told by a victim who worked for a construction company that ripped off their employee pension fund and how Shapiro's atty general office found the fraud and made the company restore the pensions. This hits home with the blue collar workers in western PA.

Fetterman's got a good ad up responding the "soft on crime" nonsense. The best line is "Dr Oz wouldn't last 2 hours in Braddock", but Fetterman gets to explain his date tattoos and talk about the 5 year period where there was 0 gun deaths in Braddock, a pretty remarkable feat in itself.

Oz has the mosts ads running, the same 3 ads cycling through. He's abandoned the "conservative outsider"/Youngkin model and gone all in with the usual R scare tactics and is increasingly embracing MAGA world ideas.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Who has bolstered the Fetterman and Shapiro ads here are the GOP anti-45 PACs

including the Republican Accountability Project who has this running here on TV (more of these have been running than Shapiro's own ads) -

There were a couple others from other PACs I was trying to dig up.

[Deminpenn]

22. Haven't seen those out here

RNC has run some generic "he'll raise taxes" and such generic attack ads against Shapiro.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. I think the main anti-Fetterman ad that I have seen

was focused on his time with the Board of Pardons and the "soft on crime" nonsense. But considering that both Oz and Mastriano have or had been under criminal investigation themselves, it's mighty rich for them to even go there!

[Deminpenn]

23. Sarah Longwell, who

I believe runs this organization, is a south central PA native.

[mucifer]

11. Explain to me how they are in trouble with

1.6 billion dollars donated by a single donor ???

They have a lot more money than we do.

[uponit7771]

13. That was to a PAC and RNCC doesn't control that money

[mucifer]

14. Yes but that money is out there funding sooo much more than RNC money would

So why should it even matter at this point ?

[uponit7771]

15. True, thinking it's harder for GQP crooks like Scott to steal from the PAC

[BumRushDaShow]

16. Grifters gonna grift

Remember what happened when Michael Steele (yes that one) was RNC chair?

Spending and Strippers: RNC Spree Raises Questions

Chairman Michael Steele is under fire for hefty expenses.

By CLAIRE SHIPMAN
March 30, 2010, 7:46 AM

March 30, 2010— -- Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is in the hot seat after reports of a spending spree on the organization's payroll, including a controversial fundraiser at a Hollywood strip club.

It's the sort of lavish spending that sounds as though it would have taken place in better economic times -- $17,000 for private jet travel, $13,000 for limousines and car services and $9,000 for a trip to the Beverly Hills hotel.

But what the RNC is probably taking criticism for the most is a nearly $2,000 fundraiser on RNC's dime at Voyeur West Hollywood, a risque nightclub in Los Angeles. The expenses were not racked up by Steele but by staffer Erik Brown in the name of entertaining young Republicans. The strip joint is modeled on the 1999 movie "Eyes Wide Shut" and includes women acting out voyeuristic scenes in live art installations. Brown, a Republican operative and president of California-based Dynamic Marketing Inc., said he would reimburse the RNC for the $1,946.25 bill he racked up.

(snip)

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/rnc-spending-spree-raises-questions-michael-steele-takes/story?id=10238151

Fast-forward a decade...

‘It’s a rip-off’: GOP spending under fire as Senate hopefuls seek rescue

A cash crunch at campaigns and the NRSC set off a panic as GOP candidates emerged from bruising primaries playing catch-up in polls and advertising

By Isaac Arnsdorf
Updated August 20, 2022 at 12:07 a.m. EDT|Published August 19, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. EDT


Republican Senate hopefuls are getting crushed on airwaves across the country while their national campaign fund is pulling ads and running low on cash — leading some campaign advisers to ask where all the money went and to demand an audit of the committee’s finances, according to Republican strategists involved in the discussions.

In a highly unusual move, the National Republican Senatorial Committee this week canceled bookings worth about $10 million, including in the critical states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona. A spokesman said the NRSC is not abandoning those races but prioritizing ad spots that are shared with campaigns and benefit from discounted rates. Still, the cancellations forfeit cheaper prices that came from booking early, and better budgeting could have covered both.

“The fact that they canceled these reservations was a huge problem — you can’t get them back,” said one Senate Republican strategist, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. “You can’t win elections if you don’t have money to run ads.”

The NRSC’s retreat came after months of touting record fundraising, topping $173 million so far this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. But the committee has burned through nearly all of it, with the NRSC’s cash on hand dwindling to $28.4 million by the end of June.

(snip)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/19/gop-senate-rescue-midterms/

Aug 23, 2022 - Politics & Policy
Rick Scott's ill-timed Italian vacation


Jonathan Swan, Josh Kraushaar, Alayna Treene


Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is spending part of his congressional recess on a luxury yacht in Italy with his family after criticizing President Biden for vacationing in Delaware, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Scott is the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, whose job is to win back a GOP majority in the upper chamber. Republicans' prospects for winning back the Senate have been worsening over the course of the summer, according to polling and analysis.

Scott is already under fire for his management of the committee.

Vacationing in Europe while Republicans face cash problems and rough headlines about their midterm chances could further hurt his standing with his GOP colleagues.

The big picture: Scott has been taking heat from Republican detractors who have criticized his job of recruiting strong candidates and managing the committee's spending this cycle.

Republican candidates are underperforming across the Senate landscape. Trump-endorsed nominees are trailing in must-win states like Pennsylvania and Arizona. A top Republican super PAC was forced to spend $28 million backing author J.D. Vance's campaign in GOP-friendly Ohio.

(snip)

https://www.axios.com/2022/08/23/rick-scott-senate-republicans-vacation-italy

That $1.6 billion? Interesting article about that and the stipulations on use (i.e., the PAC that was handed "ownership" of the Tripp-Lite (UPS/surge-protectors/power strips) company and then sold it to someone else to get that money, is apparently focused on judicial nominees) - https://www.propublica.org/article/dark-money-leonard-leo-barre-seid

[Hermit-The-Prog]

21. TV gets rich during campaigns. That's the reason for "bothsides" -- a tight race means more $.