Bennet campaign rocked by corruption

soliciting contibutions to lobby the Senator on specific legislation?

Holy shit.  Bennet campaign staff are saying that if someone wants to discuss a pending piece of legislation with the Senator they have to max out first?  This is the type of corruption that a lot of of on here keep saying is happening.

They can fire interns all they want, but Firewalker is right -- there is no way that someone who has access to schedule a United States Senator was acting outside established parameters.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we found the secret being Bennet's fundraising -- pay to play politics at it's worst.

Sorry Michael Bennet, but I'm a real person too

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by: StrykerK2 @ Thu Jul 08, 2010 at 23:20:27 PM UTC

Was that Pat Caddell's kid?

I heard they fired some kid for going rogue.  I didn't know who or what, so this is interesting to me.

Should the Romanoff campaign, who actually had PAID staff like Pat Caddell, who trashed SEIU and unions on Fox news, and then had to be fired, really be talking about keeping their people in line?  

Really?

I feel bad for the kid to do something so stupid in his twenties. Any thought of a political career is over. I credit Bennet for firing him right away when they heard about it.

(Seems like I heard that last line not long ago, but with Romanoff's name substituted.)

My opinions here do not reflect any organization or group with which I may be affiliated.  

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by: peacemonger @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 00:08:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

trying to deflect?

This is a serious allegation and no -- no one has EVER accused the Romanoff campaign of something like this, despite your innuendo.

This isn't a staffer saying something dumb or getting caught drunk at an event.  This is corrupt pay to play politics.

Fuck maybe Bennet will hire Blagoavich to run their fundraising next.

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by: Firewalker @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 00:17:54 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Fire

There are two different roles for Bennet right now. One is as US Senator, and one is as candidate for the US Senate. He keeps them very separate.  He is meticulous about it, in fact.

Bennet has never required anyone to be a donor to listen to them. I am as poor as a rock, relatively speaking, and so are most of my friends.  My contributions have been pathetic for every candidate, every race.  I support them vocally, and with GOTV.

Before I knew Bennet, my friends and I had lots of access to him, and there were numerous times we talked to him about health reform, immigration, and gay rights. He was AWESOME. AMAZING. RESPONSIVE. RESPECTFUL. He was and is the most accessible and responsive federal legislator I have ever met, and I've met a lot.

That is the Senate side of Bennet.

On the campaign side, he does have to choose larger fundraisers versus smaller ones, this close to the election. Unlike Andrew, he has children and a full-time job, so he only has one day a week to campaign.  Would he choose a fundraiser on that one day that might potentially net lots of contributions over one that would not?  Of course. Any candidate with a brain would do that.

I happen to know Andrew does the same thing. I was sitting with some Romanoff supporter friends the other day at dinner. They were telling me about a campaign event they went to, and they were disappointed Andrew wasn't in attendance. They were told he had a bigger fundraiser to go to. I'm glad Andrew was smart enough to do that. If he ends up being our Democratic candidate, it's good to know he has a shred of campaign financial sense. I wish he had more even.

The intern in this story was never hired by the Bennet staff, and received nothing in return. I am told he used his own friend's list and his own email account to try to stir up support for a candidate he personally supported -- much like people do everyday. Like thousands of other volunteers for candidates in this state, he alone is responsible for his personal communications.  

It is sad a young kid made a mistake that is getting so much press.  You trash Bennet for scapegoating him, but by blowing this out of proportion, aren't you hurting this kid many times more?  All Bennet did was remove him from his internship.

My opinions here do not reflect any organization or group with which I may be affiliated.  

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by: peacemonger @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 18:57:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

say what?

"The intern in this story was never hired by the Bennet staff"

Umm...who exactly was he an intern for?  That would be the Bennet campaign.  I know you want to defend Mikey, but this is just sad.

Sorry Michael Bennet, but I'm a real person too

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by: StrykerK2 @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 19:37:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Interns are volunteers.

They are not hired.

My opinions here do not reflect any organization or group with which I may be affiliated.  

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by: peacemonger @ Mon Jul 12, 2010 at 02:22:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well, sorta...

Most internships include at least a cursory review of a resume and letters of recommendation.  So, they're not paid, but they certainly are hired.  I know you know this.

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by: conductrix @ Mon Jul 12, 2010 at 23:23:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Conductrix is right as usual

I have personally been on a candidate's steering committee and took part in the process of hiring interns. The applicants' resumes were scrutinized, and the applicants were interviewed just as if it were a paid position.  So yes, it is a hiring process -- or at least it should be, if the campaign is acting with any kind of reasonable due diligence anyway.  

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"Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that." --- Britney Spears, September 2003

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by: Mucius Scaevola @ Mon Jul 12, 2010 at 23:45:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

"I credit Bennet for firing him right away when they heard about it." -- Peeps Monger

Yeah, me too, Peeps.  Fire that 22-year-old rogue from Middlebury College, Sen. Bennet.  It is outrageous, this puke making these types of decisions on his own.  Why, I know when I was an entry level clown working on my 1st U.S. Senate campaign, I ALWAYS had to ask the Senator how much cash'ola he wanted for a meeting before ever making the pitch, even if I had the itch.  It's just bad protocol not to ask first.  That attorney the WSJ dug up is right on the money: its poor training.

For my part, I hire a lot of 20 somethings to work in my crime syndicate, and most of them won't go to the bathroom without first getting permission, let alone take the initiative to go out and knock off a sperm bank on their own.  What I wouldn't do to get my hands on this type of talent! I can see the kid now...

"Oh, I think I'll ask this professor from Boulder for $2,400.  I'll couch it that 24 smackers will buy an hour of the senator's time.  Then I'll just sneak him on the senator's schedule.  Michael will be so proud of me!"

I. Love. This. Kid.

Bennet will regret not taking notice of Mr. Jeffrey Garofano's true talents.

The Joker

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by: The Joker @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 01:05:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I don't know who you are

but I think I love you.

Sorry Michael Bennet, but I'm a real person too

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by: StrykerK2 @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 05:03:15 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

These solicitations are a very serious breech of ethics.

You would think that with all the corporate cash the Bennet campaign is already swimming in, they would strive to avoid this sort of flagrant impropriety, but no.  So even if the top Bennet campaign staff are not complicit in this breech, they are still at best majorly incompetent for not ensuring this kind of thing didn't happen.  

On the other hand, given the Bennet campaign's known attitude toward campaign finance, perhaps it's not shocking that they would attract staff who assume this kind of influence-peddling is standard operating procedure.

@Monger,  
By the way, Caddell was an unpaid consultant. Just because you put "PAID" in all caps doesn't make it true. What an irrelevant thing to bring up anyway, as if it constituted equivalence.  

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"Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that." --- Britney Spears, September 2003

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by: Mucius Scaevola @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 01:07:39 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Does this man look like he'd ask for $2,400 to a meeting?

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by: The Joker @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 01:12:28 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

"Arrghh! Take it down, Jimmy, take it down!" --- S. Colbert

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"Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that." --- Britney Spears, September 2003

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by: Mucius Scaevola @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 01:39:20 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

His campaign staff had a hard time getting him to ever ask for money.

It's just not who he is.  Fortunately for CO Dems, he hired a kick-ass financial team.

My opinions here do not reflect any organization or group with which I may be affiliated.  

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by: peacemonger @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 18:58:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I know!

I mean his finance team rocks at training interns to ask for specific contribution amounts in exchange for the Senator's time.

Sorry Michael Bennet, but I'm a real person too

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by: StrykerK2 @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 19:38:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That campaign just does not have its shit together.

I've been to events and seen turnover of field staff but nobody really seems to understand what they're doing. I understand people want to get ahead and people want to go through the motions to get there but I find them disingenuous and wanting only to climb their ladder which has a lot to do with my democracy. This doesn't surprise me.  

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by: Melissa @ Thu Jul 08, 2010 at 23:32:31 PM UTC

totally

I don't know how the keep the facade that it's running well -- the Bennet campaign is imploding more and more each day.

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by: Firewalker @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 00:07:00 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I think that's a gross exaggeration

They've kept under the radar about a lot of things and silly season is just heating up (obviously).

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by: Melissa @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 05:05:28 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Rogue Staffers

Wow, I love how when shit hits the fan, its some rogue staffer.  I remember there being a "rogue staffer" during a Republican primary that was taking pictures of yard signs being pulled out of the opponent's lawn.  I remember how many people believed that story.
Now I've helped on a few campaigns, I've seen interns, paid staffers and even senior staff.  No one that I've seen on a campaign, new or not, does anything without asking someone.  Now if any paid staffer is stupid enough to say "go ahead" to this idea, well, I'd have to say that they suck at their job.  I know that 20ish year olds can get overzealous when they have bought into the hype, but sending out a price list is a bit beyond any intern I've ever seen on a campaign.  

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by: Song @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 02:38:50 AM UTC

The most damning element in the information we have so far

is that this intern was apparently operating under the impression that he could deliver Mr. Bennet's time in exchange for the donations:

"With a donation of $2,400 or more," Garofano allegedly wrote, activists pressing for the fuel-standards bill "can schedule a one-on-one hour long meeting with the Senator." Hosting "an event for $5,000 or more," the email said, would offer "a better chance to lobby Michael."

It really doesn't make sense that he would just make it up on his own if he didn't expect that he could hold up his end of the "bargain." I mean, obviously, these influence purchasers are going to show up seeking the senatorial face time they paid for.

It's apparent that the kid believed he was authorized to do this. So, where did he get the idea that he had that authorization?  

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"Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that." --- Britney Spears, September 2003

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by: Mucius Scaevola @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 03:21:54 AM UTC

Another question...

how many 22 year olds know what the individual max donation is?  Especially his first week on the campaign?

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by: Song @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 03:49:06 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

ding ding!

we have a winner!  Peter once again you come through as the logical voice.  He got it...from his bosses

Sorry Michael Bennet, but I'm a real person too

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by: StrykerK2 @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 03:53:49 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

This story has made me think...

So, I'm sure that there are plenty of folk who may take this story at face value.  So, an intern made a boo boo.  Here is something that occurred to me.  So Wall Street Journal and Washington Post political reporters have probably seen their fair share of stupid intern tricks.  They know that ambitious young people do make mistakes.  These are not news.  They don't even get blogged, much less an actual story.  So here it is, what makes this specific story newsworthy?  Why would a seasoned political reporter write up the aforementioned stupid intern tricks into anything more than a blog?  Maybe they sense that there is more here than just an ambitious 22 year old?

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by: Song @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 04:29:12 AM UTC

Or not

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by: Melissa @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 05:03:15 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Unlikely

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by: Song @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 05:31:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

An amusing yet pathetic sidebar to this story

is how BennetPols is trying to pretend the story doesn't even exist.

If a development one-tenth as damaging as this had popped up out of the Romanoff campaign, BennetPols would be drooling all over it.  A few months ago, BennetPols unsuccessfully tried to gin up a phony controversy over a photo collage on Romanoff's website. Then, day after day, they kept rehashing the same baloney over and over, complete with breathless over-the-top front-page hype proclaiming that it must be a big deal because people (i.e. themselves) were still talking about it several days later.

Pols used to be at least somewhat credible.  Now the site is little more than a subsidiary organ of the Bennet campaign, with a bunch of people swearing like 7th-graders and hurling nasty names at anyone who disagrees with their opinions.

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"Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that." --- Britney Spears, September 2003

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by: Mucius Scaevola @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 14:49:45 PM UTC

FWIW

Credible hasn't ever been a word that describes Pols.  They've always been somebody's mouthpiece.

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by: WeatherDem @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 16:52:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oh SNAP!

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by: Fong @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 17:31:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Looks like your scandal

is getting more legs

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by: Fong @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 17:43:56 PM UTC

and arms!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

http://www.denverpost.com/news...

in fact, it's becoming a monster

Sorry Michael Bennet, but I'm a real person too

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by: StrykerK2 @ Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 19:41:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

How do you sleep at night, Stryker?

Seriously. You love sensationalizing a story to attack a good person.  Do you get paid to hurt Bennet for Andrew?  If so, you should reveal your paid staff position here.

My opinions here do not reflect any organization or group with which I may be affiliated.  

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by: peacemonger @ Mon Jul 12, 2010 at 02:24:24 AM UTC