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April 09, 2009 05:41 PM UTC

"McLobbyist" In Or Out?

  • 19 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Almost three weeks ago, the Denver Post reported that former congressman Scott McInnis “privately” had announced his intentions to run for Governor. You know, privately, as in “reported by the Denver Post” from a GOP state party function. Which seems not very “private” at all, being the talk of the GOP’s biggest annual event, and reported in the state’s newspaper of record–we’ll revisit that in a moment.

A couple of days ago, word circulated of a letter sent by McInnis to lots of registered Republicans, asking for “advice” solving the “problems” facing the GOP and Colorado in general. This letter didn’t explictly say “I’m going to run for Governor,” but it was clearly intended to plant his name in people’s minds.

This morning, the Denver Post reports:

An “enthusiastic” supporter of Scott Mc Innis has registered six political domain names for the former congressman, including ScottMcInnisforGovernor.com.

Another name is ScottMcInnisforColorado.com.

McInnis told friends and supporters he is running for the GOP nomination for governor in 2010 but has yet to make a formal announcement.

The domain names were registered by Joshua Green of Colorado Springs. Green and McInnis’ former chief of staff, Mike Hess, last year worked together on Bentley Rayburn’s congressional campaign…

We don’t know about you, but do you buy the “enthusiastic supporter who just happens to be a seasoned campaign worker” bit for a moment? Didn’t think so. Because you’re not stupid.

This is where we turn it over for discussion–kind of like Bob Schaffer’s endless stalling of his “formal” announcement that he was running for Senate–how long do they get to “unofficially” set up their campaigns, when everybody knows that’s what they’re doing, before they have to file papers and report donations like everybody else? When does that clock start ticking, or more to the point, when should it?

We’d say the question is worth asking any time these guys try to pull this “shadow campaign” stuff, a seeming favored tactic of nervous Republicans these days–but in the case of McInnis and his history of questionable campaign fund expenditures, we’d say it’s doubly worth asking. Because as we’ve said repeatedly, we’ll believe McInnis is running only when he starts a formal campaign for governor, starts raising money, and starts going around the state as a candidate. Until then…this is just another in a long list of races that McInnis has “strong interest” in running for.

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19 thoughts on ““McLobbyist” In Or Out?”

  1. My understanding is that you have to report when you get donations- formal announcement or not. Which is how it should be.

    It’s also my understanding the penalty for late reporting is a relatively painless fine.

  2. What is the advantage to the delayed announcement of candidacy?  Can a candidate raise money/accept donations when they are not yet a “candidate”?  If donation are accepted before an official announcement, is it reported as simply cash on hand in the first report?  I ask because I just assumed the delayed formal announcement was a tactic to allow someone with gracefully bow out if it became apparent they were not going to get the nomination.  Test the waters before you jump in.  But, I guess I am just naive the way.

    1. It’s a media strategy.

      Look at all the press McInnis has received just by talking about it. When it works as intended, the anticipation builds, and builds and without actually campaigning or having to act like a candidate – the voters’ attention is drawn.

      Then – when the formal announcement shows up – wow! Everyone is just so energized.

      SInce we’re talking Gov- it’s Colorado rules that matter.

      The SOS site needs updating- but I think these rules are the same.  To receive donations, including expenditures on behalf of the campaign, a committee must be formed and those donations and expenditures must be reported.

      I’d bet there is more precise language in the state code , but the SOS site says –

      “A person is a candidate for election if the person has publicly announced and thereafter has received a contribution or made an expenditure in support of his/her candidacy.”

      But the perceived value of the media strategy may outweigh the potential fine.

      Quick! without looking at the Big Line- who are the three candidates in CD6?

      See if Flerlage or Canter could have been building buzz while “considering” whether to run, they could be drawing attention to their campaign. At the very least, that could be a low budget  help to overcome the 90%+ name recognition problem they have.

      Another- less useful and more nefarious – potential advantage is drawing out opponents or discouraging other candidates whom yo udon’t support even if you don’t run. Example- IF Mcinnis doesn’t want Penry to run for gov- and if McInnis thinks maybe by being in the race, Penry will stay out. He’ll “consider”.

      And then you get to all kinds of politcal machination.  Example- perhaps McInnis wants Penry to win. Buthe thinks “well- Josh is going to have an uphill battle getting R support, let alone capturing the center. I know- I’ll “run” and run so far crazy right that I’ll suck out all the really negative press and by comparison Josh will look awesome.  I don’t believe anyone was trying to help Bill Clinton nor George W Bush that way, but I think that kind of perception helped them.

      1. But as we saw with Bob Schaffer, there is also the other, less effective way.

        The problem with McInnis is that very few people really take him seriously when he just talks about running, because he floats his name for everything. This strategy works for Penry or Holtzman, but not for McInnis.

  3. provision in Colorado campaign finance law.  There are specific criteria, however for when you do become a candidate and filing requirements are triggered.  

    Scotty may be trying to figure out how to launder the money from his federal account into a state account.

  4. Has McInnis spent any of his Federal PAC money (leftover from his Federal campaign account) to support his candidacy for state elected office?

    Has he paid Hesse?  Who paid for the mailing?  Did he use money raised under federal rules using federal limits on a state race…which is a no no.

    Would it surprise me?  As Claude Rains said in Casablanca as he collected his gambling winnings while gendarmes raided the casino in the movie Casablanca, “I’m shocked.  SHOCKED.”

  5. …anyone care to speculate as to how long he waits before launching a broadside attack on McLobbyist?  Much like Scooter did the Sweatshop last Oct.  There’s no love lost between these two.

      Maybe Schaffer will endorse Holtzy for the nod.

  7. It remains to be seen whether McInnis plays this game as humorously as Schaffer did.

    As the late, great Colorado Media Matters noted in items published in August and October 2007, Schaffer continued to pretend he was not an official candidate even after having registered his principal campaign committee, “Bob Schaffer for U.S. Senate,” with the FEC. The committee accepted donations as early as May 2007.

    http://colorado.mediamatters.o…

    http://colorado.mediamatters.o…

  9. Gosh, couldn’t they have made them LONGER: maybe “ScottMcInnisforGovernorOfTheStateOfColoradoin2010”?

    Amateur hour. He should have had “McInnis” or “McInnis2010” or something locked up long ago.

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