http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2022/03/150-congressmans-horrors.html
#150 Blog Post – Wednesday, 22 March 2022
Posted by Denny Hatch
The Simple $7.50/month Solution
To the Horrors Congress Faces
U.S. Representative Dwight Evans,
Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District
Last week I was invited to Peggy’s Cosmopolitan Club to hear a talk by our Congressman, Dwight Evans. He is very big, huggy-bear of a guy with charm, grace and a phenomenal memory. First elected to the Pennsylvania House in 1980, Evans has been involved in politics for more than 40 years. He knows Pennsylvania — and the inner workings of Philadelphia and Congress — cold. We’re damn lucky to have him working for us.
My Problem with Rep. Dwight Evans
He robo-calls once or twice a month or more to beg for campaign money. We send him money occasionally. But his calls take up time and take me away from my work. When I’m in the middle of something, I don’t want to be interrupted by Dwight Evans.
How Dwight Evans’s Constituency Is Twice-screwed
Members of the U.S. Congress are paid $174,000 a year plus expenses. The average cost to run a winning campaign for Congress is $2 million for every two-year term. A number of congressmen are extremely wealthy (e.g., Darrell Issa, representing the 50th district of California has a reported net worth of $460 million.)
But the average member of Congress must spend 4 hours a day—every workday—in an offsite telemarketing boiler room with a script, pleading with donors for campaign contributions so he/she can get reelected and keep working in your behalf.
The 116th Congress (2019-2021) was in session 196 days a year. Four hours of dialing for dollars means they each member of congress spent 784 hours working to raise money. That’s 784 hours working for himself and not working for me.
What is more daunting: the average member of the House of Representatives must raise
$18,000 a day or be out of a job.
With a term of just two years (mandated by the U.S. Constitution), on the very day
Dwight is re-elected, he must start his 4-hour-a-day fundraising schedule all over
again in order to buy his seat for the next cycle. The system stinks. It’s
debilitating. And we, the people, are screwed by being forced to rely on
part-time congressmen.
Should Congressional Campaigns
Be Financed by the Government?
Hell, no! This would grant walking-around money to every out-of-work idiot who declared for candidacy. And what about myriad state and local candidates? Government funding is a lousy idea!
The Raw Numbers for a Congress Person and How
Just $5 to $10 a Month Would Make a Difference
• Number of bodies (men, women and children) in the average congressional district: 700,000.
• The Average Number of households per congressional district (@2.5 people): 280,000. (This is the potential raw donor base).
• The cost of a winning congressional campaign every two years is roughly $2 million.
• If ten percent (10%) of those 280,000 households contributed $5 or $10 a month, here’s what would happen. $5 to $10 per month from 10 percent of the electorate would mean a $7.50 average.
• Donor Base: 28,000
Avg. Monthly Gift: x $7.50
Monthly Total: $210,000
12 Months/per year: x 12
Grand Total: $2,520,000
How to Guarantee the Monthly
$7.50 Pledge Will Be Collected
Takeaways to Consider
•
U.S. politicians lead lives of perpetual desperation. (Exception: The U.S. Senate)
• Would you invest in a company—or fly in a jet plane—if you knew the employees were forced to spend 4 hours a day raising money so they can keep their jobs?
• Cash-starved Congress members are ipso-facto the most inefficient workers of any organization in the country. We the taxpayers are screwed.
• The obvious solution would be small $5 to $10 credit card donations every month to congressional, state and local political election committees just the same as animal rescuers and children’s hospitals.
• Desperately needed: a patriotic, non-partisan national organization of savvy professional fundraisers to put together—and execute—a plan that will free up members of congress and local representatives to do their jobs on behalf of their constituencies.
• Members of the United States Senate need not apply. Below is a sampling from Open Secrets:
• “The definition of an honest politician is one who, when bought, stays bought.”
—Simon Cameron (1799-1889)
Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War
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215-644-9526 (rings on my desk).
Great idea, but you would have to double that effort to include both candidates.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder why no good marketer has established that the ROI of these campaigns must be atrocious. You would have to factor in opportunity costs (aka their jobs).
Best
Richard Hren
Richard,
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to write.
No good marketer has not figured out the ROI of campaign because who gonna pay the bill? Certainly not politicians; they need the dough for literature, phones and, above all, TV.
Do keep in touch.
Cheers.
Yes, it's the closest thing to a perpetual motion machine. If they didn't employ so many content creators, ad buying folks, camera crews etc, it would be a total waste. And still at the end of the day, it's the mega-donors that get access and real representation.
DeleteHi Denny! The math works. But what it does not take into consideration is the competitive nature of politicians. If they can get $2.5MM, then they will run into the opponent who raises $3.0MM. It seems to me that the true winners of these political races are the media companies who take that war chest of dough, and deliver ads, billboards, TV and radio, plus online placements, much to our discomfort.
ReplyDeletePhil, Great to hear from you. Thanks for taking the time to write and thank you for your provocative comment. I love controversy!
DeleteThat said, I would not blame the media companies for working with politicians’ campaign people to deliver the messages. That’s their business—taking money to sell exposure. That’s fair game IMO. The problem with media is they go where they get ratings. E.g. From TheStreet.com following the 2016 campaign: [Donald Trump] “got $4.96 billion in free earned media in the year leading up to the presidential election, according to data from tracking firm mediaQuant. He received $5.6 billion throughout the entirety of his campaign, more than Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio combined.” Okay, the Trump phenom was a one-off freak show. The guy was [and is] mesmerizing. What bothers the hell out of me is these pols spending half their workday dialing for dollars while we—presumably their bosses for whom they are supposed to be working—are left twisting in the wind. Four straight hours on the phone is exhausting and debilitating. And ultimately, it seems to me, responsible for the generally weak-piss performance of Congress.
Hi Denny! The thought that these reps are literally on the phone half of their workday is astounding. I live in a Cong. District where the incumbent has never called. However, he sends out a newsletter at least once a month. Rep Schneider (D)is a smart marketer and keeps his electorate, including me (R) well informed . He reads my frequent comments and responds in kind. I don’t much agree with his POV but I truly respect his efforts to represent our district. His opponent is non existent. If Schneider has any effect with his communications he certainly is one who could also leverage your $7.50 solution.
DeleteSurely we've got to find a better way. Our nine term rep makes maximum use of the Congressional franking privilege. I don't know how many mailings he gets but free is free. He also uses email frequently. He raises questions and polls readers. When you answer honestly, he sees you're not an ally and probably doesn't hit you up for a donation. Smart marketing. The major issue is that a person making $175,000 per year must spend half our time on marketing; no wonder Congress gets nothing done. Denny, as always, thanks for your insight and perspective.
ReplyDelete