Why are We Calling this a Race?

Why are We Calling This a Race?

To raise money for a political campaign (Federal) you must have an FEC number.  (Federal Election Commission, to track money).  Unless you are already a politician, you don’t have one.  Mine arrived on April 15^th in the evening mail- 16 days after the first quarter reports were due.  So if this “race” is about fundraising, I was grounded on the sidelines.  It took more than three weeks to receive my “number” after the second form (signed by the treasurer) was mailed in. 

It would be helpful if voters knew that this candidate did not raise money in this quarter (and the only one to report before the election) because they were not allowed to.

Yay for everyone who already had one- and was able to raise half a million dollars- or a million dollars in the time I had to wait. Instead, these first quarter reports generated a glut of articles that discussed the "frontrunners" in terms that had absolutely nothing to do with the job we are all running for. Just money that some were allowed to raise, while others were not- with different start times.  With absolutely no one mentioning this fact.

I read about FEC grace periods and extensions when feeling the pressure and the questions,  but when I called the FEC, they were kind, pointing out the fact that it had to be snail mailed, and “you want to make sure we actually got it.”  I’ve had enough experience with things not making it to their destination on more than one occasion.  This wasn’t the time to take a gamble just to hear, “I’m sorry, we haven’t received your forms.”

When I was asked earlier today about our “cash on hand” by yet another Democratic Forum leader, after they were unable to find my first quarter FEC reports, I responded:

It's no good fundraising when you don't have an FEC (number)...you can go to prison rather than Congress…

I haven't had a response to that email yet. 

          In watching other races as well as my own, I have begun wondering,

What type of race: 

1.     Has participants playing by different rules, that change as they go?

2.  Allows people to lend their own money to themselves to count as “fundraising”.  Yay for me, I have one million dollars I can put in my own campaign account (but truly, I would prefer this to owing favors in that price range)!

3.  Counts money as “raised” regardless of debt coming in to race from previous campaigns?  (Yes I realize that people argue about this online-who really has the most “cash on hand.”)

4.    Focuses on money in any account rather than the actual candidate and their ability to make an impact in a completely dysfunctional Congress if they are elected? 

It frightens me to think that voters take money as a sign that a Candidate is trustworthy because they attract money.  (They very well may be, but what other measures are we using?).  We should be careful and wonder why someone attracts so much money.  Do we think that being "well connected" is a good thing?  What type of experience do we think is necessary?  What moderates their speech?

Race (defined)

1.  A competition between runners, horses, vehicles, boats, etc., to see which is the fastest in covering a set course.

2.  To move or progress swiftly or at full speed.

If you love this photo as much as I do- there are more where they came from here:
http://instagram.com/mauiwawie 

You can follow Kristie at @DrKristie or on Facebook
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Trial by Fundraising

Dear Candidates,

If you do not have at least 250K at your disposal, please kindly go to the back of the line until you can find enough people to give you a lot of money.  Sadly, we (people in the know) all admit it privately- this is the yardstick as to how we measure viability as a "horse in this race".  We like to start out fundraising letters to prospective donors with comparisons of how much money we've gotten from voters or corporations compared to our clearly- well you know…

Money begets money which begets endorsements… which begets more money… and this is a GOOD THING.

Never mind if you don't want it- or that it makes your stomach turn to think what candidates do with these millions of dollars during election time.  Wait- it's for those tacky postcards that attack your fellow candidates and inane "paid for" "approved by me" commercials on television that everyone now records and skips with their DVR? The ones that if they happen to accidentally see it, they want to poke their eyes out, or break out into a cold sweet when they can't find the remote to turn it off?

But you see, clearly slow- to- understand candidate, this is what works.  Every time.  So we keep doing it this way.

And when it is all over, what do we have to show for it?  How much have we collectively spent- on what exactly?  It certainly doesn't go to those who need it.  In fact, it goes to funding things that voters clearly despise.

p.s.  I still can't find an actual job description of a Congressperson.  But I'm told it now has a to do with fundraising.  So perhaps this makes sense…trial by fundraising.  Forget the national debt, and other pressing issues.  Fundraise and support your funders to keep your job so you can do the same thing again in two years.

**Yes there is the constitutional description (General and Enumerated Powers) but I'm talking about the day to day description of how these things are done, and where fundraising fits into all of this.  From my view, it seems to be a conflict of interest. 

You can follow Kristie at @DrKristie or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/KristieforCongress

Thank you to UN Women, Knowledge Gateway for giving me the opportunity to speak at today's event "Information and Communication Technologies for Women's Empowerment and Poverty Reduction". Liz Ford from the Guardian did an amazing job as moderator.

I was fortunate to be able to spend time with Doris Schapira, to learn more about Campaign Finance Reform and Jill Sen who is working with an inspiring MDG focused clinic in Uganda.

February 8th: It's all about bad math

Here's a link to my original tweet and post when the idea hit. The idea was to have students or other social work alumni excited about the opportunity to work for change in the way that we have all been trained to do. Sadly, there was an apathetic response to the idea. The math drove me to make the post.

In order for women to reach any type of parity in leadership, they have to run for Congressional seats when they open up. This one had been filled for 40 years by Henry Waxman.

90% of the time an incumbent gets reelected- and is almost always a male.