Graphic from US Representative Katie Porter’s Twitter feed.
BS fundraising tactics
by Katie Porter, adapted from one of her US Senate campaign’s emails
As a consumer protection attorney, there’s a lot I’ve always disliked about political emails. Emails that try to shame or terrify you into donating aren’t my style.
Let me break down a few of the tactics you’ve probably seen:
- “We need 5,238 donors from YOUR zip code.” This is fake. We have goals and deadlines, and donations from different parts of the state or country can signal support, but there’s no crazy math like this happening.
- “Donate $5 today and it will be triple matched.” I promise nobody is really doing this.
- “Warning: Payment incomplete.” I despise these misleading emails that make you think you’ve missed a bill. Invoking this type of fear in people is unacceptable.
I’ve introduced legislation to crackdown on scam PACs, who can often be the worst offenders of this.
Scam PACs are political organizations that exist to steal money rather than to support a cause or candidate. Their expenditures go solely to “consultants” rather than real causes, and it’s a shameful way to make a quick buck.
Here’s what is real: our fundraising deadlines and the facts we give you about this race. There is urgency, yes, because we’re just nine months out from Election Day, and that means we have to start building our campaign right now. We’ve been outraised by another candidate in this race, so we need to strategically plan how to catch up and stretch our dollars further.
Our end of quarter deadlines are some of the most important, as we have to publicly report how much we raise every three months. But our monthly internal goals help us hit those quarterly goals, and we base our internal budget on our monthly revenue.
Today is the 30th, so tomorrow at midnight we’ll be checking the numbers and seeing where we’re at and how much we can scale up our campaign.
So truly, whatever zip code you’re in, I’d be so appreciative of your support!
Editor’s note: Katie Porter sent this out to the editor as an individual Democrat who is voluntarily on her mailing list, looking to raise some money that at this point the editor can’t spare. The point of republishing it here and in this form is not to hit you up for money for the Porter campaign, nor to particularly endorse Porter in her California “jungle primary” in which there are also some other worthy candidates on the ballot. Yet independent of such considerations, what Ms. Porter has to say about these fundraising tactics is proper and newsworthy. If you want to communicate with or support the Porter campaign, that’s another matter. To do THOSE things, send an email to info@katieporter.com.
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