From my book “Funding Liberty”, available from Third Millennium (3mpub.com), or ask me for a copy.
Funding Liberty — July 2000 — Issues Arise
The National Party’s financial situation might have sent up warning flags.
The Party began July with $288,000 cash on hand, had $323,000 in receipts, and disbursed $469,000. It had been the Party’s intent to run the convention as a break-even affair. As reported in the December 2000 National Committee minutes, the convention lost “about $63,000”. During July the National Party also spent well over $60,000 on petitioning. On July 31, $142,000 cash on hand was overmatched by $264,000 of debts and obligations. Money from the large-scale fundraising event at a well-attended National Convention had been spent on Presidential campaign ads. The Party ended July in the red to the tune of $122,000. Debts included $111,000 owed to the convention hotel, $49,000 to Brick Mill Studios for mailing services, and $20,454 to Mount Vernon Printing for printing. Major businesses commonly do bill for net within 30 days, so it is normal and healthy for there to be some debt as bills are rolled over month after month. The large increase in net debt is more serious.
One might have supposed that the Party would have recognized in January that on July 3 they would have a Presidential candidate, so on July 5 a fundraising letter invoking the Presidential nominee would go to the printer. In fact, not until the very end of July did the National Party try to raise money by invoking the Presidential Campaign. On July 29, four weeks after the nomination, an email went out from Party Headquarters, asking members to send money to pay for Browne television ads. It made sense for the Party to appeal to donors who had already given Browne their legal maximum. Those people could only support Browne further by supporting the Party. But why was the Party appealing to the general mass of Libertarians for support of Browne? Those people could equally well give their money directly to Browne. And if it were an appropriate appeal, why had it taken so long to go out?
The nominal objective of the fundraising letter was to push Browne ahead of Buchanan in the polls. On August 13, Buchanan would be formally nominated by his party. He would immediately receive $12 million in Federal campaign funds. Once the Federal money was in Buchanan’s hands, there was no way that Browne could compete with Buchanan by spending money. Between July 3 and August 13 there was a window of opportunity, but it was a very narrow window. By waiting until July 29 to ask for money, the Party let the window slam most of the way shut before trying to climb through it.
As with other fund appeals from the National Party, the appeal was signed by the Party’s paid National Director, Steve Dasbach. Newly-elected National Chair James Lark held himself aloof. He had just been elected. He could have asked the people who had just elected him Chair to come to his aid. He remained nearly silent. He continued this pattern through the first year of his term. Letters and editorials for Party members would continue to come largely from National Director Steve Dasbach and LP News Editor Bill Winter, not from the Party’s elected leader.
During the General Election Campaign, Browne 2000 raised and spent nearly a million dollars. The table gives the monthly totals.
MONTH INCOME SPENDING CASH ON HAND, END OF MONTH
July $110,727 $133,896(m) $19,854
August $259,905 $229,680(n) $50,078
September $160,752 $188,857(p) $21,947
October 1-18 $167,165 $163,331(q) $25,781
October 19-
November $264,944 $270,266(r) $20,460
December $43,369 $63,521 $309
January-
March, 2001 $99,634 $94,410 $5,533
(m) $10,000 loan repaid to Browne
(n) $10,000 loan repaid to Browne
(p) $7,500 loan paid off to Browne
(q) $2,500 loan paid off to Browne
(r) $1,500 loan paid off to Browne
Despite opportunities at the convention, July was the candidate’s worst financial reporting period before the election. Browne brought in $110,727, less than was raised in February or June. The post-convention fundraising spike came in August.
Where did the money go? For July 2000 there were eleven named associates at multiple locations. According to the FEC reports, spending for associates included:
Jim Babka (salary) $8,650
Robert Brunner (travel, supplies,…) $5,000
Erich Covey (salary) $630
Laura Carno (salary) $2,500
Robert DeVoil (printing, supplies, $2,865 data entry)
Debra Greeson (salary) $1,471
Stuart Reges (phone, supplies, $4,389 salary)
Jennifer Willis (salary) $4,000
Steve Willis (phone, office, payroll) $4,062
Perry Willis (campaign management) $4,400
Stephanie Yanik (administrative services) $1,000
TOTAL: $38,420
In addition, firms connected with long-time Browne associates received for their labors:
New Media $4,000
Optopia $3,654
Web Commanders $1,422
TOTAL $9,076
Payments to outside vendors were reported to include
The Firm Multimedia (TV Ad $16,936
Campaign)
Polaris Productions (TV Ads) $14,000
Hotels (catering) $12,888
Seabreeze (Travel) $7,700
Mount Vernon (printing) $6,919
Newman Communications (publicity) $4,666
Accumail (postage/mailing) $2,008
Call Center (answering) $2,000
Other payments covered rent on the campaign headquarters, telephone and computer services, and close to $2,000 for credit card services. In July, the campaign’s associates received more than 28% of all spending.
Together with their firms, they received more than 35% of everything spent by the campaign.
