Blog Category: Fundraising
A top GOP official on Thursday urged a hastily organized gathering of about three dozen conservative digital experts to stop causing negative publicity about the party’s technology problems because it could hurt fundraising, two people present told POLITICO.
Aristotle’s Dave Mason, SVP of Compliance Services, was one of those digital experts on the phone call – voicing one of two questions along with former RNC online director Cyrus Krohn.
Year-end FEC filings show campaigns using Aristotle software raised more money in 2012 election cycle
Patent-Pending Data Mining Techniques Powering Election-Year Fundraising Success
WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Post-Election reports filed by 1,689 candidates with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show that those campaigns that used Aristotle software performed significantly better in fundraising than those who used any one of the next three most popular software products for fundraising and disclosure utilized in 2012.
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Technology firms are working on better integration for next cycle.
Aristotle CEO John Phillips says it’s hard to predict the configuration of mobile devices two years from now given the rapid evolution of this sector of the industry, but he’s confident Square will be used door-to-door, at least through the 2013 cycle. Aristotle has focused on integrating Square with the databases of campaigns, political committees and nonprofits.
“It’s more than the device; there are going to be 100 different card readers out there,” Phillips says. “Part of it is the plastic, the discount rate, the integration and the vetting.”
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Since April, most of the TV ads supporting Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney have come from outside groups, not from Romney’s own campaign. And those groups raised more than half of their money from secret donors, according to a six-month study of ads…
Citizens United allowed corporate spending in support of individual candidates. But former Federal Election Commission Chairman David Mason says the big effect was on donors’ thinking.
“I think there are two things going on. One is that the explosion of reported spending sort of encouraged more big donors to get into this space, to give large sums of money and be more active in politics,” Mason says.
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“Who has the latest version of my High-Dollar Donors spreadsheet?” Does that phrase sound familiar?
Gone are the days where a campaign was run off an ever-expanding collection of spreadsheets and business card catalogues. Like any other high-intensity collaborative effort in our interconnected, “always-on” world, today’s modern political campaign must be supported by a relational database, with online and multi-channels accessibility (via web-browser, mobile-optimized web application, or a native smart-phone app) an absolute must…
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A reminder that contributions are not just cash
Bond Giant Goldman Sachs agreed to penalties of over $14 million to settle “Pay-to-Play” (P2P) charges with the SEC and the State of Massachusetts. The violations, which Goldman did not admit in the settlement, mostly involved in “in kind” contributions by a lone former Goldman employee to State Treasurer Tim Cahill’s 2010 Gubernatorial campaign. The former employee, Neil Morrison, had worked for Cahill in the Treasurer’s office before joining Goldman Sachs.
In addition to the penalties, Goldman is barred from bond underwriting for the State for two years.
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Aristotle’s David Mason was quoted today in an article from The Huffington Post speaking on the subject of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the Republican Party.
“Parties may also spend independently of their nominees without limit,” said David Mason, a former commissioner at the Federal Election Commission. “Both major parties have engaged in extensive independent spending on behalf of House and Senate nominees.”
But in the past, Mason recalled, there hasn’t been much independent spending on behalf of presidential nominees. And in the post Citizens United era, this is the role observers expected super PACs to fill.
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Pay to play (P2P) laws prohibit government contractors and key contractor employees from making contributions to the campaigns of politicians who may be able to influence the award of government business.
P2P rules have proliferated, often including “death penalty” provisions such as contracting bans, voiding contracts, or even requiring contractors to provide services without compensation. And sometimes it is not clear which officials may be in a position to influence a contract.
We had heard that some financial firms reacted by prohibiting employees from making political contributions altogether. We recently ran across a firm with a policy nearly that broad.
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Aristotle’s David Mason was quoted today in an article from The Huffington Post speaking on the subject of Presidential candidates “…aggressively courting Americans living abroad at fundraisers held far beyond U.S. shores…”
“The practice is legal and has been used for decades, said former Federal Election Commission Chairman David Mason.”
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Opinion: Don’t censor campaigns during the summer games
A self-appointed nanny group has asked NBC to ban Super PAC ads during the Olympic Games. Their argument? They claim such ads go “against the spirit and values of the Olympic Games.” This is on top of the ad the Obama campaign is running during the opening ceremony and the Olympic Committee’s ban on use of their footage in political ads.
If you ask me, the Olympics long ago gave up the pretense of being limited to amateur athletes, so what is the “spirit” that’s being protected from politics?
Take the International Olympic Committee’s $4 billion-plus fee from NBC for the latest broadcast rights, including nearly $1.2 billion for the London Games alone. Then note that tickets for the opening ceremonies in London can set spectators back more than $3,000 a seat. That is more than a presidential campaign is allowed to charge.
A multi-event package for this year’s summer games is more expensive than a Super PAC fundraiser.
To recover most of its costs, NBC is selling ads. Leading sponsors include carmakers, fast food emporia, smart phone manufacturers, and purveyors of all manner of luxury goods.
I have nothing against fast food, fast cars, fast phones and flashy watches. But in the midst of the multi-billion dollar commercialized extravaganza of the modern Olympics, the “spirit” of the games is a poor excuse to censor discussion about a presidential election.
The efforts to ban political ads and footage are really nothing more than efforts to force those these groups disagree with to shut up. Surely, that’s not in the spirit of the games.
David M. Mason, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, is senior vice president, compliance services at Aristotle International.
