Several years back – in 2016 – I opened up a PAC as a possible mechanism to help promote candidates with the (semi-serious) purpose “to promote economic opportunity and goodness in government.”
I never really did anything with it, but it never cost me any effort, so I let it sit there for a while. Then, there was a movement to attach a criminal penalty to any screw-up with PAC reporting. Criminal penalty for a problem with filing? I “Noped out” of keeping that PAC going, and I shut it down in 2018.
So imagine my surprise when I get a letter the other day from a Democrat House Candidate whose name I’m not even going to try to pronounce, Rick Stracqualursi:
Apparently this District 34 Democrat is skipping the vetting of his list, and is just blasting fundraising letters out to any old political action committee. Emphasis on old, since he sent it to mine, again a PAC defunct since 2018. Mark that down as Mistake number 1.
Nevermind the fact I don’t know him, and I would venture that it’s pretty well known that I am not likely to support a Democrat candidate running against GOP House candidates. Bonus that both Mike Derby and Jess Olson are pretty good people. Mistake #2.
Stracqualursi goes on a bit about expanding medicaid, but then we get to mistake #3:
Simply complete the enclosed contribution form and return it in the enclosed envelope. Checks can be made out to “Rick for House”. Any donation amount is needed, and please consider $10, $25, $100 or more to help with the campaign.
Wait.. did he really send a letter to a political action committee, asking for cash, and he led off by asking for $10? It’s bad enough he capped his request at $100, but he really led off by asking for $10?
You know how this works, right? Ask and ye shall receive. For those very, very few PACs that will respond, they know he’ll be happy with $10. That might cover the cost of printing and sending 6 or 7 of these letters, as they were mail-merged, bar coded, and had envelopes.
Stracqualursi very well might actually lose money on this fundraiser. Definitely mistake #3.
Then we get to mistake #4. From the November 3, 2018 Rapid City Journal:
So Rick Stracqualursi, the person who in 2018 declared “we need a system that stops lobbyists and big money from controlling our elections and government” and that “we can no longer let special interests corrupt our legislature” just sent out a solicitation letter begging for cash… to a group that includes lobbyists and special interests?
That might be the biggest mistake of them all.
Because it certainly appears that Rick Stracqualursi can include being a hypocrite among the problems his campaign has to overcome.