The Republican primary has – up to this point – been a remarkably cordial, quiet affair with no real engagement between the candidates. Well, consider that segment of the campaign over, because the first real shots of the Republican primary have been fired, and Matt Jacobson started the volley.
Yesterday, the Jacobson campaign informed the Portland City Republican Committee that it would not attend a gubernatorial forum on October 8, 2009 that was to be held at the Italian Heritage Center. The event was being billed as a forum with all of the Republican candidates – and all of the major candidates (except for Paul LePage who had not yet responded) were expected to attend.
But the Jacobson campaign, after initially agreeing to the event, promptly pulled out – providing us with the following statement:
“Matt withdrew his support of the event today because of a previously undisclosed conflict of interest between Bruce Poliquin’s staff and the Portland City Republican Committee,” said Bill Becker, Matt Jacobson’s campaign manager. “Though unknown to the other candidates, Poliquin’s paid professional fundraiser was also retained by the Portland Republican Committee to orchestrate their forum. A straw poll was then added to the event without the other candidates’ knowledge or consent.”
“It can’t be an objective and level event when one of the candidates’ staff is also the forum’s organizer, and when a straw poll is held for just those attendees who had paid the high price of entry. It should have been perceived by the Poliquin campaign as a conflict of interest right from the start. Mainers expect to see campaigns that are fair, ethical and based on issues rather than tired political antics. This just doesn’t pass the straight-face test.”
I spoke with Matt Jacobson’s campaign manager Bill Becker about this, and his main concerns were that the event was potentially being “stacked” for Poliquin, and that it was completely inappropriate for a paid fundraiser for one of the candidates to organize the event. This, he believed, would allow the organizer to unfairly pack the event with Poliquin supporters – which became doubly troublesome when a straw poll was added to the end of event – something that would theoretically benefit Poliquin unfairly – which was something that was previously unknown to the candidates.
Even if nothing underhanded was going on, he said, it was still a conflict of interest and was inappropriate – prompting the candidate’s withdrawal.
I spoke with Brian Phillips, Communications Director for Bruce Poliquin to get a response. He released a statement, accusing the Jacobson campaign of pulling out because he would lose the straw poll:
“It’s disappointing that Matt Jacobson has decided not to attend one of the largest Republican events in the area because he believes that he’ll lose a straw poll. The voters deserve to hear from all the candidates and now that won’t happen. Attacking the frontrunner is no way to get your message out.
“Contrary to his baseless conspiracy theory, we have no direct or indirect involvement with the organization of the event.
“We understand, as I’m sure Matt does, that it’s difficult to do the tough work of raising money in this environment. I’m sure they are being careful with every campaign dollar, but I understand from those close to his campaign that he’s having trouble raising money. So, I think that finances may play a factor in his decision not to attend. If Matt would consider changing his mind, we would be happy to pay for both Matt and his campaign manager to attend so the voters can get what they paid their hard-earned money to see.”
Phillips accusation about fundraising is driven by the fact that the Portland GOP was charging candidates between 500-750 dollars to be present at the event, on top of charging $50 for attendees to come meet the candidates.
Regardless of fundraising, that isn’t a huge sum of money for the candidate to pay for the event (though, pretty poor strategy from the Portland GOP if they wanted to get the candidates there) – and Jacobson had already RSVP’d, so it is unlikely this had anything to do with cost.
This morning, Augusta Insider posted an article on this subject, which included a rather curt and biting release from the Portland GOP:
The Portland Republican City Committee (PRCC) has been on a mission since last November’s election to find a way to raise sufficient funds to lend meaningful support to Maine Republican candidates in the fall of 2010, something we have been unable to do in the past. We hit on the idea of a gubernatorial candidates night, and discussed the matter with Johnston Consulting, a company with high standards and a good track record. Darcie Johnston told us they were representing one of the candidates, but assured us that a separate division of their company could handle our event. We have found this to be the case thus far.
Apparently the Jacobson campaign does not agree with us, and they have contacted us expressing their concern. The fact is that the PRCC and the event committee have controlled the event from day one, and Johnson Consulting has simply executed the details on our behalf.
We asked the Jacobson campaign to allow us time to work out some sort of compromise, and they agreed to give us twenty four hours. It seems they have changed their mind, but we have not. We still hope there is a possibility to work something out so they can participate in what we expect to be an extremely positive event for Maine Republicans on October 8th.
We hope Mr. Jacobson will reconsider and realize that not only is it important to be heard along with the other candidates, but that attacking the town committee in the city where he does business may not be the best strategy for his campaign.
That last paragraph represents the biggest problem with this situation for the Jacobson campaign. Even if he is right, this move likely alienates the Portland GOP – which will represent an uphill climb for a major building block of the Jacobson campaign strategy (southern Maine). His campaign will likely have to find some way to kiss and make up with them.
However, it is becoming more clear that Jacobson’s concerns are not only his. I have learned that as of this morning, every single Republican candidate besides Bruce Poliquin has either withdrawn from the event, or failed to RSVP to it. My sources tell me that Les Otten and Peter Mills have both sent e-mails to the Portland GOP expressing their desire to withdraw from the event. Newly announced candidate Paul LePage has not RSVP’d, and as of now appears to not have any plans to attend.
Maine Politics has a copy of the e-mail sent by Otten’s campaign manager, Edie Smith:
Tom:
After careful consideration, Les Otten and our campaign will not be participating in the Portland Republican City Committee event on October 8.
As I have outlined in emails and on the phone with you, the $750 fee for attending was problematic for our campaign right from the beginning. In my 30 years of being a Republican in Maine, I haven’t run across that type of fee charged to candidates, especially this early in an election cycle, and I believe it sends the wrong message to all our hard-working candidates.
This week, with the addition of the straw poll to your event agenda which was not part of the original invitation, and with the steep fee of $50/person, it is no longer the type of event that we believe is healthy for the image of the Republican Party, or for the current Gubernatorial Primary.
The straw poll puts the candidates in an adversarial position that evening. While Les was certainly willing to participate to share ideas with the audience and show a united Republican front amongst all the candidates, the straw poll adds nothing beneficial to the evening.
And finally, I received information yesterday that Bruce Poliquin’s fundraiser, Darcy Johnston of Johnston Consulting, Inc. in Vermont is the organizer of the October 8 event. I am dismayed by this blatent conflict of interest. To know that Darcy is receiving a commission from proceeds of the evening at the same time she is the fundraiser for the Poliquin campaign is inappropriate.
I hope you understand the awkward position the event puts our campaign in and the reasons why we will not be participating.
We would be happy and willing to work with the City Committee on an alternative event that promotes party unity and helps moves the Republican agenda forward in Maine.
Thank you,
Edie Smith
Campaign Manager
Les Otten for Governor Exploratory Campaign
Kudos to Smith and the Otten campaign for being less diplomatic than Jacobson’s people and really whacking the Portland GOP in the mouth.
I find it interesting that Smith cited the cost of attending as a major concern. This now appears to be a matter of principle, because I don’t think anyone is accusing the Otten campaign of being short on cash.
UPDATE: On Friday morning, Peter Mills sent the following email to the Portland GOP – and he didn’t pull any punches:
Tom:
The event that is planned for October 8 sends a bad signal to Maine voters. It reinforces the very prejudices that Democrats and Greens like to exploit — that the Republican Party is a playground for rich people.
My campaign volunteers and I would be happy to help plan an alternative event that resonates more suitably with Maine people.
In the early 1970’s when I was chair of the Republican City Committee, it was difficult even then to elect Republican Candidates to public office in Cumberland County because Democrats had such a significant enrollment advantage.
However, we had two Republicans who consistently won: our clerk of Courts Eddie Bernstein and our District Attorney Henry Berry. They succeeded under Eddie’s motto: “I’m for the man with a dinner pail.”
Today, Charlie Webster is seeking to revive the Maine GOP under a similar motto: “Working people vote Republican.”
For the past 15 years, I have represented men and women who carry dinner pails to work at New Balance, Madison Paper and Backyard Farms in a county where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a wide margin.
Neither in Somerset nor in Cumberland are there ordinary voters who will pay $50 to participate in a straw poll for a candidate of their choice. That sort of thing went out with the abolition of poll taxes.
Although I have been a Maine Republican since Goldwater in 1964, I have never heard of an event in which candidates are required to pay for the privilege of showing up.
If I donate the $250 admission fee from my own funds, the Maine Clean Election law would then prohibit me from attending the event. Any donation to my campaign, including my own donation, may not exceed $100.
I have so far received seed money contributions from over 200 small donors who would not want their money diverted to uses that fail to serve the direct interests of my campaign.
I am writing not just to explain why I am effectively excluded from this event. The larger problem is that the event reinforces a stereotype that the GOP is up for sale to the highest bidder.
That’s not the party of Margaret Chase Smith.
Peter Mills
Wow. “That’s not the party of Margaret Chase Smith.” Ouch.
LePage never responded to the original invite, and apparently has no plans to do so anymore.
And it isn’t just the candidates who are hammering this Portland event. From Ted Ropple of The Republican Project:
I don’t know for sure how it works in other states, but I take issue with the various committees within Maine’s GOP apparatus asking candidates for their hard-earned campaign funds. I saw this during the 2008 campaigns, and am now hearing about it again during this cycle. My thoughts are that Republican committees at all levels are there to “recruit, support and elect” Republicans. How does hitting them up for cash do this, especially during the primary cycle when these committees put up the show of endorsing no one? One would think that the money should flow from the committees to the candidates, not the other way around.
Matt Jacobson and his team must be smiling this Saturday morning. While they have undoubtedly done damage to their relationship with the Portland Republican Party, it now appears that Les Otten and Peter Mills have the exact same concerns.
By being in solidarity against this event, the other candidates have seemingly given weight to Jacobson’s concerns, and at least from my point of view, made the Portland GOP look very bad and the Poliquin campaign look (potentially) cut-throat [note: I'm not saying they are cut-throat, just that the response from the other candidates gives legitimacy to a concern that could potentially make them look that way]. Whether or not there were any amateur hour shenanigans behind the scenes is irrelevant – how this has played out has given a distinct impression, and in politics perception is reality.
By comparison, by leading the pushback against this event and inciting all of this controversy that ended up going his way, Jacobson looks like a leader who is driving the conversation. Again, perception is reality.
I’m told the other candidates are talking about putting together another event that would not carry the $50 per person fee to meet the candidates. Details of that event – if it ever happens – will emerge later.
But for now, it is clear that the race is officially on, and the candidates are no longer dancing around each other.
The challenge for Jacobson will now be to repair his relationship with the Portland GOP, to not incite grassroots opposition to him just out of spite in the area of the state that will make up the cornerstone of his campaign strategy.
The challenge for Poliquin will be to immediately push back on the perception that his campaign was attempting to pull a Mitt Romney in the Ames Straw Poll, and prove that there was no intended conflict of interest. Suggestion: pay for all the candidates to appear to this event, call on the Portland GOP to drop the straw poll, then find some way to say, “I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green.”
The challenge for the Portland GOP will be to recover from the perception that they have absolutely no idea what they are doing. It doesn’t particularly matter if everything was on the up and up – they should have known better than to choose an organizer that was tied to ANY of the candidates. No matter how much they need money, you don’t build grassroots enthusiasm that you can use to build infrastructure by soaking people who are interested in meeting candidates.
The theory behind this event was an upside down model on how to grow a donor base, and ultimately create a sustainable one that can feed the coffers of the party. Suggestion: try this event again, make it free, don’t charge the candidates, and try to swell the attendance as much as possible, and then send out follow up fundraising requests to those who came. It would buy good will, and tell people that them interacting and learning about the candidates was more important than taking their money. Best thing is, it would probably net you just as much money.
Game on.