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Malkin's "JAW-Dropping Political Miracle" Provides Big Fees For BMW Direct
The Devil is in the details, as they say.
Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin was breathlessly celebrating in yesterday's New York Post about how much money Republican Congressional candidate William Russell has been raising this year.
Never heard of him? You're not alone. Russell is challenging Rep. John Murtha for his Pennsylvania House seat, which is considered among the safest Democratic seats in the country.
Malkin was pointing out Russell's "JAW-dropping political miracle" in campaign fundraising. Indeed, Russel has raised almost $1 million so far this election cycle, a huge pull no doubt.
But guess who helps Russell run his massive, nationwide direct-mail fundraising efforts? Our old friends over at BMW Direct.
Russell is perfect for BMW Direct, which often raises tons of cash for candidates who look good on glossy mailers but ultimately spends nearly all the money raised on expenses related to the fundraising effort itself.
Lt. Col. William Russell is a clean-cut Army veteran who served in Iraq, the Gulf War and at the Pentagon on 9/11, according to a campaign Web site.
Malkin claims there's been a "great media wall of silence around Russell's upstart campaign." OK, let's break that silence and take a close look.
In the most recent quarter Russell raised $669,534, almost all from out-of-state donors who presumably are on BMW Direct's list of self-styled conservatives with a good track record of responding to direct-mail fundraising.
At the same time, he spent $442,990, almost all of it on expenses related to the direct mail effort and paid to BMW Direct and its affiliates (some of which share the same downtown Washington office).
The only expenses that appear to be spent on an actual campaign totaled about $20,000 for Web site design, a low-budget video and a campaign consultant based in Pennsylvania rather than Washington.
He reports having $269,953 in cash on hand. But he also reports debts totaling $242,521 -- almost all for direct mail expenses to BMW Direct and its vendors.
So that leaves him only about $27,431 ahead -- not much for a guy who's raised a total of nearly $1 million this election cycle.
Meanwhile, Malkin suggests that Murtha is in trouble since he only "scraped together a measly $119,000." But Murtha isn't running a direct mail campaign with BMW Direct, so he actually has money left over to spend on things like renting a campaign office back in the 12th District.
This BMW Direct is a fabulous shakedown.
July 24, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
By the way, it bears repeating that Michael Centanni, the COO of BMW Direct, is the registered agent of Patriot Partners, the direct mail operation that is in the same office building as BMW Direct and which receives the bulk of their campaign dollars. For example, Deborah Honeycutt's campaign had an $800k operating budget for the 2nd quarter of 2008, and Patriot Partners got $300k of that.
July 24, 2008 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Remind me why these guys are bad again?
July 24, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
They are bad because they are swindlers. It really doesn't matter to me that I don't like the guys they are swindling from. They are still swindlers.
They are just as scummy and evil as the Enron crew caught on record gleefully chortling about screwing over "Granma Millie" during the CA ISO scandal.
July 24, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's actually a good question. It's always possible that they're not as bad as they're made out to be. Unlikely, but possible.
Let's say you decide to outsource the fundraising operation of your campaign. The guy doing the fundraising seems nice, so you decide to let him be in charge of parts of the campaign itself, too. So instead of just paying him to raise you money, you're also paying him to raise awareness of your campaign. He takes whatever funds he brings in and funnels them back into outreach, like direct mailing. That system is ripe for abuse, but in the right hands it seems like it could work for candidates in small districts.
What BMW Direct seems to do, though, is tell the candidate: "In order to raise awareness of your campaign, I went national, which will also help Republican efforts in general. I raised $100k from your supports in the last four three months, and I gave all of that to our sister company (which I'm, ahem, a director of) to send mailers nationwide. We raised another $200k through those efforts because people believe in you, and we're pouring that back into more direct mail campaigns to try to bring in more money. We also spent $120k in getting this off the ground, so you owe us that, but we'll try to make it back.
"What's that? No, none of these mailers go to people in your district who can actually vote for you. Why do you ask?"
July 24, 2008 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Between the thievery of the corporacrats and the complete lack of accountability of the Bush administration, I had started thinking that karma was a concept in danger of becoming obsolete.
But this BMW Direct scam is delicious.
And it couldn't be happening to a nicer bunch...
July 24, 2008 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes and the Malkin brag about this fund-raising aka swindle, is also delicious. The woman becomes more irrelevant every time she opens her mouth. So, keep it up Republicans. An easy Democratic sweep is in the offing!!!!!
July 25, 2008 9:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
So when is Mrs Malkin going to don her little cheerleader uniform again?
Nothing turns on right wing men like a woman with the figure of a 12 year old boy.
July 24, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I disagree with her politics vehemently. I have never voted for a candidate she supported. I find her screeds, and particularly her shrill voice on television, to be highly annoying - enough to hit mute.
But when I *look* at her ... oh my, she's a babe.
Hey, beautiful people can speak ugly too I guess.
July 24, 2008 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's nice to see GOP Halliburton-style crony capitalism ripping off the GOP for once, rather than the US taxpayers and the troops.
July 24, 2008 1:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
People still pay attention to Malkin? yuck.
July 24, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
MM is a real treat for the left..that woman hasn't got the brains god gave a grapefruit.
July 24, 2008 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please don't disparage grapefruit like that. They are healthy and delicious, particularly the ruby red ones. Comparing them to a Malkin is an insult to fine, upstanding piece of fruit.
July 24, 2008 7:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
BobLT, you'll notice that Dusty says that MM does not have the brains that (insert deity here) gave a grapefruit. So grapefruit are smarter than Michelle Malkin.
OK, so Dusty set the bar pretty low on that comparison. But I'm sure that Dusty believes that grapefruit are the fine, upstanding, Amurrican fruit that they are.
July 25, 2008 1:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
I guess it all depends on when the $242,521 he owes BMW Direct comes due. If they let him slide til after the election he can pile up all that debt and actually beat Murtha. Then he'll be owned lock stock and barrel by BMW Direct and their cronies. Don't know how soon he has to pay off campaign debts and hell iokiyar anyway but this guy could wind up PA-12's congressman in name only while being up to his eyeballs in hock like some clown who bought a dozen condos in Miami. If I was Murtha I'd run on that alone.
July 24, 2008 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, don't you dare insult grapefruit like that!
July 24, 2008 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
This proves that MM is either so deep in the kool aid she doesn't know what's going on (she would learn if she just read TPM) or she is trying to swindle her readers (not unlike what BMW does to the readers of its direct mail).
Wonder if she gets a kickback from BMW for pimping this tool Russell.
July 24, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I only replied to your moniker because Wes was from my old home town, Bonham, TX, and I wonder if you're really him. See, there was that fracas in El Paso ...
That BMW hustle was outed on Countdown. It's the game of overselling a losing show we all remember from The Producers. The particular campaign Olbermann spotlighted was an obscure candidate down south for whom they raised over a million and spent just over a thousand in the precinct. The rest was given to the poor, as W C Fields said.
His daughter, "What poor?"
W C: "Us poor."
July 24, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
When Republicans eat their own, they get fat. Look at Karl Rove.
Otherwise, it's good to see the collapsing cannibalist Ponzi scheme Republican Party finally feeding on itself.
July 25, 2008 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Years ago there was a song with a line of lyrics, "I don't even know how to hold your hand, but I'm ready for love." I thought then and I think now, what a stupid thought and why do people listen to something so unrequiring of intelligence.
I feel the same way about Malkin, other right wing personalities, the mainstream media, FOX news in particular, and the list goes on. Such crap - so unrequiring of intelligence!
We have a corrupt, unaccountable administration. We have an unaccountable Congress that isn't doing a damned thing but game playing, covering their own butts, and American soldiers are still in Iraq dying for it.
You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
July 24, 2008 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry Duck Stab, my bad. ;)
July 24, 2008 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Russell's a rube, the kind, bright insiders say at the Pentagon, who made hucksters on carnival midways thank their lucky stars.
If anybody could be taken for a ride, or would take seriously the deliriums of Malkin, it's Russell, a sad sack if ever there was one.
July 24, 2008 3:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Except, of course, a real,/i> 12-year-old boy.
July 24, 2008 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, that last post was supposed to be a reply to Duck Stab's comment at 1:26
July 24, 2008 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Russell's gullible and a perfect candidate for BMW to swindle.
Or.....maybe all these long-shot candidates are in on the swindle and getting a kickback from BMW. What could be more perfect?
July 24, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ummm...The incumbent still has a 3:1 money advantage just comparing cash on hand. If you factor in debts 600K+ to 27k+ you're looking at a factor of 22:1. Not bad odds for an incumbent candidate. I'd say that the district is safe.
July 24, 2008 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I rob banks because that's where the money is"
- American bank robber Willie Sutton
Just keep robbing BMW.
July 24, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder if anyone has considered doing a mass mailing to BMW Direct's list, available online at the FEC site, to show them how BMW Direct is wasting their money. Those out-of-state conservatives are probably ill-informed about where their money is going--or not going. It might be easy to drive down BMW's collections pretty substantially that way.
July 24, 2008 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
If BMG's mailing list really is online, I say we send out mailers raising money to run Josh Marshall against that evil %$# Hillary Clinton.
We could pay ourselves for sending the mailers and throw a party with the balance!
July 24, 2008 10:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Goatboy I seriously doubt that BMW's mailing list is available online at the FEC or anywhere else. But even if it was why would you want to tell Republicans the money they think is going to help put more wingnuts in power is going to waste? Do you hate America?
July 24, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mark:
It's pretty easy to figure out who's on BMW's list, since they keep shaking down the same geographically dispersed people again and again.
People from Calfornia are giving to these minor races and unknown candidates.
Further - you can see the descriptions of the mailing lists through BMW's mailing list partner site, Legacy List Marketing. Check out the "cards" and you'll see what I mean.
http://legacylistmarketing.com/pages/data_cards.asp
These lists are bought and sold again and again. The same old biddies and old men keep making their donations. It's as good as gold. And ethically handicapped.
July 24, 2008 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well you can buy the lists but why would anyone on our side want to spend the cash to warn these a-holes that their money is being wasted? They'll stop giving it to BMW and start giving it to real candidates.
July 24, 2008 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
You'll see that BMW has been selling their lists to "Freedom's Watch" as well... Look at some of the clients listed on those "cards."
July 24, 2008 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
MarkG8, I do hate America with all my heart.
BMW's list of all donors to William Russell is available online at the FEC site. One could easily construct a list from it and then do a mailing to all of them to show that BMW "spent $442,990, almost all of it on expenses related to the direct mail effort" (paying themselves, mostly) but only spent $20,000 on the actual campaign. Seems to me those out-of-state conservative donors would be awfully disillusioned with spending money on any campaign from now on if they knew how their money was being wasted on this one. I can't imagine they read TPM Media much, you know?
July 24, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Goatboy, Exactamente.
Go to the Russell list. Follow the donation habits of one or two of the donors.
Here's a list.
How many are from Pennsylvania? How many are "retired?"
Follow their other donations. See which other BMW clients they're giving too.
And if you have access to Lexis-Nexis, run their voter registration records. You'll see a lot of the "retired" folk are in their 90's. And probably super-easy with the credit card when YOUR ACTION IS REQUIRED TO SAVE THIS COUNTRY NOW!
It tiptoes along the line of mail scam.
July 24, 2008 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well Goatboy I don't hate America and I'd rather see Republican nimrods waste their money than give it to actual candidates who have half a chance. For all we know BMW Direct is a Dem front outfit. They couldn't do a better job subverting Repubs for us if they were. And you want to spoil that for what? To help rich stupid geriatric Ronald Reagan worshippers spend their money helping to defeat good Dems?
July 26, 2008 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
so we got a Veteran who associates with two of the most disreputable organizations in America, this rip-off fundraising company and the rip off repuglitard party
has anybody splained to this poor guy about his associates ???
July 24, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Russel's original gig was selling wire coat-hangers on late-night television. If you look carefully, you can see the seam where his jaw hinge is located.
Malkin's got no credibility, so I'm not sure this is a very fruitful angle to play, but could she be getting kickbacks from BMW Direct for helping publicize this guy?
They have no scruples; she has no scruples... it's a match made in heaven!
July 24, 2008 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fabulous way to suck money out of GOP donors and pump it into the neverwhere.
July 24, 2008 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
why is malkin relevant again? cant understand why she's racist. does she hate herself?
July 24, 2008 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pity to see that Malkin is happy again... seeing her on my idiot box seething about anything deemed logical just made me feel all warm and squishy inside... that or I needed a new diaper.
July 24, 2008 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I disagree with her politics vehemently. I have never voted for a candidate she supported. I find her screeds, and particularly her shrill voice on television, to be highly annoying - enough to hit mute.
But when I *look* at her ... oh my, she's a babe.
Hey, beautiful people can speak ugly too I guess.
July 24, 2008 10:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please ignore this comment. It was intended as a reply to Duck Stab's prior submission.
July 24, 2008 10:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Since you have comments to spare, perhaps you would donate to my Charity, "Save the Shoes."
Emelda Marcos has fallen on hard times and would like her shoes to have the same opportunity Michelle Malkin got in America.
For each $500 you send, my friends at BMW will send Michelle $4.95 to pay our attorney for the fees necessary to get adopt one pair of Emelda's bring it to America, and enable that pair to adopt the rest of its relatives from Emelda's closet and bring them home to America too. Thanks to you kindly.
July 25, 2008 12:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Something is terribly amiss here. None of it makes sense, psychologically. How can so many GOP candidates be so cheerful about getting fleeced.
Unless... unless they're not. What if it's a scam and the candidate somehow gets a cut? Is this possible?
July 25, 2008 12:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
As has been stated elsewhere, the answer to why a candidate would do this is simple. 5% of one million dollars is more than 100% of nothing.
I would also like to wager that once MM figures out this swindle, she'll have her minions staring through kitchen windows at countertops proving that BMW Direct is run by liberals/Soros/Kos or some such nonsense. Remember, in wingnut logic, conservatives can do no wrong, so if a group is bad, by the wingnut definition they cannot be conservative.
July 25, 2008 1:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is this the candidate who hasn't even gotten around to moving into "his" congressional district yet?
Or was that another of BMW's "clients"?
July 25, 2008 3:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Getting stories like Malkin's written is the only legitimate purpose an operation like BMW's has. By legitimate, I mean strictly in the sense of actually helping the candidate they are supposedly working for. If they can get enough stories like this written about the candidate, particularly in local papers near his district, then he might start getting people to jump on his bandwagon.
If the direct mailings were going to people in his district also, then it would be raising his name recognition and gathering lists of people he could call on as campaign volunteers. However, since most of the fundraising is out-of-state, it isn't doing him any good that way.
Of course, even the 'legitimate' purpose is deeply dishonest. Plus, since he is running against a popular incumbent in a safely Democratic seat, he has no chance no matter how much stories are written about his 'miraculous' candidacy. So BMW is back to being a shakedown company defrauding the contributors (patsies) on their mailing list.
Finally, as anyone who remembers the2004 College Republicans scandal knows, there is nothing new about Republicans using shady fundraising tactics.
July 25, 2008 9:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Are we sure that BMW Direct isn't secretly working for our side?
July 25, 2008 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
You're on the right track Devon. We don't want the lists of donors to inform them they're being fleeced. I would rather fleece them myself and get in on this pot o gold.
July 25, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
When Republicans eat their own, they get fat. Look at Karl Rove.
Otherwise, it's good to see the collapsing cannibalist Ponzi scheme Republican Party finally feeding on itself.
July 25, 2008 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink