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* WCIA TV’s Steve Staeger tried to get an answer from the DCCC yesterday about where the money actually came from that paid for Democrat David Gill’s controversial TV ad. As I’ve already told you, Gill’s ad claims he won’t ever take a penny from corporations, Wall Street, etc., but ironically enough the spot is paid for in part by the DCCC, which does take that cash.
From Staeger’s Twitter feed…
Got off the phone with the DCCC. They say the commercial was paid entirely with grassroots money. But they said there is no separate fund.
So, if there is no separate fund, then how the heck can Dr. Gill know that he’s not taking “tainted” money? From the Gill campaign…
All funds raised for the DCCC 441ad commercials aired in partnership with the Gill campaign come from funds raised by the DCCC’s online/grassroots donors, not PACs, lobbyists, or corporate donors.
Dr. Gill asked the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for assurances that these funds used to assist his campaign’s advertising would not be from corporate PACS or Wall Street interests and the Committee met his strict standards on this matter.
* Gill’s campaign referred all further questions to the DCCC. But the DCCC so far hasn’t said how they met Gill’s “strict standards” since there is no separate fund. I sent this e-mail to the DCCC’s spokesperson today…
Is there or is there not a separate DCCC fund that contains “grassroots” non corporate money? And if so, what is the name of this fund?
The reply…
We fundraise from different sources. Our grassroots/online fundraising money that we used in partnership with Gill only came from grassroots/online fundraising not PAC.
My response…
And how can you prove this?
The DCCC’s response…
Dr. Gill made a pledge so in partnering with him, we honored that. What we’re spending in partnership with the Gill campaign came from our grassroots and online fundraising.
So, I guess we’re just supposed to take their word, even though there is no separate fund.
* This is a problem created wholly by Gill. He made such a huge deal about not ever accepting “even a penny” from corporations, Wall Street, lobbyists, etc. It’s now up to him to prove that he didn’t get any of that cash.
* Meanwhile, I told you already that the American Action Network was upping its buy by $1.15 million against Gill. The PAC had already spent $320K. Here’s the new ad…
* Script…
David Gill loves seeing your money fly away.
Gill supported billions in stimulus spending that failed to create the jobs promised,
with billions to failed companies like Solyndra.
Gill supports Obamacare which cuts $716 billion from Medicare,
and a 2 percent healthcare tax costing families a thousand dollars a year.
David Gill: Making a mess out of healthcare, and our economy.
Vote No on David Gill.
American Action Network is responsible for the content of this advertising.
* Related…
* WCIA report on Gill
* Gill defends funding from Democratic committee
* Candidate defends taking national party cash for ad
* Gill defends ad funded in part by DCCC
* Speaker of the House appears at fund raiser for Rodney Davis
* Protestors not happy with Boehner visit: Cameras weren’t allowed inside the fundraiser but we talked to Rodney Davis beforehand. He’s just honored the House Speaker is here.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 19, 12 @ 11:20 am
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“Gill … watching his Congressional Dreams …fly away.”
Cripes, these guys are Keystone Kops of Campaign Financing, and Dr. Gill is “Kaptain Kaos” on the Squad.
This issue will fester. One simple rule; if you say something, very specific and very absolute … odds are, you are going to get called on it. That goes for taxes, fundraising, whatever … anyhting!
Absolutes kill more than they help.
Dopes!
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Oct 19, 12 @ 11:25 am
I think this is going to hurt him badly, but not because of the “absolute”. Politicians do that all the time and get away with it. The public doesn’t believe any absolutes to begin with and don’t punish politicians who fail to live up to them
See Gitmo for a good example.
Comment by CU Voter Friday, Oct 19, 12 @ 11:30 am
===Absolutes kill more than they help.===
I don’t think I made it a “death nail”, I think I compared it hurting more than helping, using kill as an “absolute” … just to clarify.
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Oct 19, 12 @ 11:34 am
While not a terrible mistake, some egg is on his face. In today’s political climate, its almost impossible to run without the support of corporate donors, so you will get pushback when one of the pillars of your campaign is based on not taking donations. I still think he’s beats the puppet the GOP have selected to run, but it will be close.
Comment by Seth Friday, Oct 19, 12 @ 11:39 am
–Got off the phone with the DCCC. They say the commercial was paid entirely with grassroots money. But they said there is no separate fund.–
I wonder what the person who wrote that was really thinking before hitting the send button….
“Wow, I sound really stupid,……”
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 19, 12 @ 11:56 am
===In today’s political climate, its almost impossible to run without the support of corporate donors, so you will get pushback when one of the pillars of your campaign is based on not taking donations.===
So why make a pledge that no one asked you to make, then get caught breaking the pledge, (allegedly, for the sake of arguement!) and then have response as to WHY you broke a pledge no asked you to make, then not admit you broke your own goofy pledge???
Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Oct 19, 12 @ 12:09 pm
you have a tired candidate who means well but doesn’t know what he’s doing and a consultant from the coasts who probably thinks she’s been transported to the world of 1980’s hit classic footloose and trying to understand a part of the country she couldn’t find on a map until 10 days ago. Thus you get secret funds that don’t exist and botched explanations. It doesn’t make sense and is absurdly messy but makes this time of year tremendously wonderful for those of us that read this.
Comment by Shore Friday, Oct 19, 12 @ 12:34 pm
I think a better response would have been for him to say that he didn’t take any direct contributions from Wall Street firms, and although it was true that DCCC accepted corporate money, working with DCCC was less likely to create the impression that he owed favors to corporations.
Comment by wayward Friday, Oct 19, 12 @ 3:07 pm
Gill has spent a lot of energy answering to an issue that he created with his own clumsiness. Good teams make the opponent pay for their mistakes and that is exactly what the Davis team will do in this race. This is not the first time Gill has tripped over this own words. This incident is to bad for Gill, because I believe the guy finally had a chance to win a race. Not now.
Comment by Endangered Moderate Species Friday, Oct 19, 12 @ 4:02 pm