Thread: Carly Fiorina’s first political campaign had a surprising problem: Money (Character)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...395_story.html

Carly Fiorina’s first political campaign had a surprising problem: Money

By Robert Samuels October 4 at 8:31 PM

Famed California pollster Joe Shumate was found dead in his home one month before Election Day 2010, surrounded by sheets of polling data he labored over for the flailing Senate bid of Carly Fiorina.

Upon his death, Fiorina praised Shumate as “the heart and soul” of her team. She issued a news release praising him as a person who believed in “investing in those he worked with” and offering her “sincerest condolences” to his widow.

But records show there was something that Fiorina did not offer his widow: Shumate’s last paycheck, for at least $30,000. It was one of more than 30 invoices, totaling about $500,000, that the multimil*lionaire didn’t settle — even as Fiorina reimbursed herself nearly $1.3 million she lent the campaign. She finally cleared most of the balance in January, a few months before announcing her run for president.

“Occasionally, I’d call and tell her she should pay them,” said Martin Wilson, Fiorina’s former campaign manager, who found Shumate after the pollster collapsed from a heart attack. “She just wouldn’t.”

Fiorina has emerged in recent weeks as a top-tier candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, impressing voters with a pair of crisp debate performances and a promise to put her bottom-line inclination as a Fortune 50 chief executive to fix a broken Washington.

But that fiscal sensibility was largely absent from Fiorina’s other run for office — a quixotic and unsuccessful attempt to unseat longtime Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

In more than two dozen interviews, staff members, friends, contractors and operatives who worked on Fiorina’s 2010 campaign singled out one big problem: how the team managed its cash.

Many said Fiorina spent too much on television ads with narrow appeal, while others said she was an anemic fundraiser who did not keep close enough tabs on her coffers. There also were concerns that some events were too lavish.

At the 2010 state Republican convention, Fiorina spoke on a stage in the round, surrounded by bright lights and big screens, before debuting an elaborately produced eight-minute video of Boxer being transfigured into a talking blimp. The whole thing was far more TED talk than stump speech.

“It had to be in the six figures for that speech alone,” said one longtime California Republican official, who was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke anonymously. “Even Reagan did not have so many bells and whistles.”

Those who waited the longest to be paid were small businesses with a few dozen employees who did the grunt work of the campaign: building stages, sending out mailers, selling polling data. And at least one is still waiting.

Jon Seaton, the managing partner of East Meridian Strategies, confirmed that his group billed Fiorina’s campaign for $18,000 on Oct. 6, 2010, for printing 21,290 mailers.

A Fiorina staff member wired money for the postage immediately and promised the remaining $9,000 “early next week,” according to e-mails obtained by The Washington Post.

Six weeks went by and nothing came. So Seaton asked again. Then again. As of last week, he said he was still waiting.

Jan van Lohuizen, whose small firm did surveys for Fiorina, said he wasn’t paid the $7,500 he was owed until this year. Van Lohuizen said he assumed Fiorina was running for Senate again because her campaign reached out to settle up days after Boxer announced she was retiring.

“Turns out my instinct was right, but I got [the] office wrong,” van Lohuizen said.

Fiorina, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment. Her supporters say the criticism was misplaced.

“People are just upset and angry and throwing her under the bus,” said Jon Cross, Fiorina’s operations director for her Senate campaign. “If we didn’t win, why do you deserve to get paid? If you don’t succeed in business, you shouldn’t be the first one to step up and complain about getting paid.”

Her supporters cautioned that little could be gleaned from her California campaign. They maintain that Fiorina’s corporate experience is more akin to managing a presidential campaign than a bid for office in one of the nation’s most liberal states.

“We know many people didn’t win their first election, so I think you should never overstate that fact,” said Sue Ellspermann, Indiana’s lieutenant governor and a Fiorina supporter. “And I wonder if that fact would be a perceived disqualifier if she was not female. Ben Carson and Donald Trump have never run for anything.”

Fiorina campaigns with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at a town hall style campaign event at Andiamo Celebrity Showroom in Warren, Mich., in January 2008. (Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)

‘She had the resources’

Fiorina first waded into politics as a surrogate for Republican Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, and she drew immediate respect for her innate political instincts. She was a warm spirit when shaking hands with voters and a sharp-tongued critic of Democrats behind the lectern. One big gaffe — saying that neither McCain nor his vice-presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, could run a corporation — led to her being pulled off television. But California Republicans were still eager to recruit her to run a campaign of her own.

Democrats were worried, particularly about Fiorina’s money. If she self-financed her campaign, her opponents said they feared it would embolden the argument that Boxer was a longtime senator beholden to special interests.

“Everyone was talking about how she had the resources to spend to win and was willing to spend it,” said Rose Kapolczynski, Boxer’s campaign manager. “Thankfully, she didn’t.”

When Fiorina opted not to fully finance her own campaign, two members of the National Republican Senatorial Committee said they weren’t worried. They figured that Fiorina’s relationships in corporate America would enable her to court the $50 million or so she would need to win. In the end, she raised about $23 million — nearly $7 million of which was her own.

Rather than raise money, staff members said, the corporate executive wanted a more grass-roots campaign. Forty-five percent of the money she brought in came from small donors online, said Becki Donatelli, president of Campaign Solutions, who managed Fiorina’s digital presence. It was a specific strategy crafted alongside a team that included many who worked with another successful outsider-turned-Republican politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Unlike the famous actor, Fiorina did not electrify massive crowds, but she did not have to be intensely coached on policy ideas either, said Wilson, her campaign manager. She was also fun, unafraid to sing along to “Eye of the Tiger” and craft songs about her Yorkshire terriers, Snickers and Max, while cruising along the freeway.

Early polls showed Fiorina with a shot. Her campaign thought the winning votes she needed could be found in the struggling communities in the state’s agricultural heartland, where she felt she could charm Democrats and independents with in-person visits. The Central Valley had been wrecked by drought, which farmers thought was made worse by a water policy that favored endangered fish over their irrigation needs.

Robert Silva, the Democratic mayor of the city of Mendota, invited Fiorina to campaign there to see the policy’s effect on his small town, where drug use had spiked and farmworkers had lost work.

“Sometimes, the politicians can forget the Central Valley exists,” Silva said. “So we thought very highly of her that she even came by.”

Fiorina walked along dusty streets and shuttered grocery stores, listening to farmworkers in T-shirts and ripped jeans lament how government policy hurt their livelihoods.

“What she saw in Mendota haunted her,” said Mason Harrison, Fiorina’s former field director. “She made a pledge at every single stop after that she will never forget the people who sent her to Washington.”

Still, as a political strategy, many inside her camp and outside questioned whether her focus on the Central Valley was a waste of time and money, in such a big and expensive state.

“The more time she spent talking about agriculture in the Central Valley, the better it was for us,” said Kapolczynski, adding that their concerns were too distant and specific to resonate with swing voters hundreds of miles away. She added: “You would think a former CEO would have thought of this.”

[This is the ad that could sink Carly Fiorina's campaign]

On election night, Fiorina carried Mendota, indeed. But she lost across the state by 10 points.

“In the end, we could not overcome the registration advantage that Democrats had, particularly in L.A. County,” Fiorina said at a news conference.

Fiorina greets supporters in Elk Grove, Calif., on Nov. 1, 2010. (Max Whittaker/Getty Images)
Declining to pay after loss

As the race came to a close, Fiorina was unaware that her campaign was out of money, said three people who worked for her.

They said Fiorina had delegated responsibilities for finances to staff members, who decided to advertise heavily on TV, including ads highlighting the plight of the Central Valley.

When Fiorina learned that the campaign was in debt, she was furious. But she also refused to pay up, saying the problem belonged to the campaign itself — Carly for California.

Many campaigns end up in debt, including that of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who did not close out the $20 million she owed from her 2008 presidential campaign until January 2013. Struggling campaigns often set up payment plans or hold fundraisers to pay their bills. Fiorina’s staff members said they asked her to do the same. She declined.

In a meeting the day after, campaign workers said, she thanked her professional staff and shared a meaningful memory with each of them.

“Carly’s focus is a strength, and it can be her biggest weakness sometimes,” said Deborah Bowker, her chief of staff and one of Fiorina’s closest friends. “We designed the campaign as a broad critique of Barbara Boxer — not as a way to defend Carly — and I think she became so entrenched in the critique she was giving that she missed some of the political realities of our campaign.”

Returning to Silicon Valley, Bowker said the two appreciated how unrealistic their quest might have been. They considered how hard it was for a conservative to win in California. And how hard it was to deal with unexpected complications on the trail. One week before the election, Fiorina was hospitalized to deal with an infection related to her breast cancer.

“It was a moment of ‘What were we thinking?’ ” Bowker recalled. “But it was fun.”

Alice Crites contributed to this report.

Well, she couldn't manage Lucent, she couldn't manage HP, she couldn't comply with Iran sanctions, she can't tell the truth about a phony Planned Parenthood video, she can't tell the truth about her family, and she cheated her workers and small businesses who worked for her Senate Race, so she can't even manage a campaign without screwing it up or taking advantage of people .... until it's time to run again for another position she's not qualified for or capable of handling.

Talk to Putin. Don't Talk to Putin. Talk to Putin. Don't Talk to Putin.

Carly Fiorina has no character, no substance, no honor, no decency.

KICK HER TO THE CURB, so we can move this primary election forward with real candidates who can manage their affairs, honor their agreements, pay their workers, and want to be in this race, not to improve their own lives, but to improve ours.

Yeah, I know, that's a very small field.

Yeah, I know, it's a Field of One.

TRUMP, THE ONLY ONE.

Just for future reference, unless ALIPAC has changed its policy, links are supposed to be at the bottom, not top, of the article. Thank you.

Newt Still Owes His 2012 Campaign Vendors Millions

"Who's going to contribute to Newt 2012?"

Arthur DelaneySenior Reporter, The Huffington Post
Paul BlumenthalMoney in Politics Reporter, The Huffington Post
Posted: 07/27/2015 02:00 PM EDT | Edited: 07/27/2015 03:36 PM EDT
CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich owes millions from his failed 2012 presidential bid.

WASHINGTON -- Much like Donald Trump today, at one point Newt Gingrich held the frontrunner position in the 2012 Republican primary election. His campaign plodded on using borrowed money for months after most people realized Gingrich didn't have a chance, and when Newt 2012 finally ended, it crashed in a heap of debt that may never be repaid.

The campaign still owes $4.6 million to dozens of businesses that provided things like transportation, voter canvassing and yard signs. The former speaker of the House’s debts put him in company with fringe weirdo Lyndon LaRouche, a perennial presidential pretender since the 1980s who owes $3.2 million across four campaign accounts.

The next-highest accumulator of debt among non-active presidential campaigns is President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign committee, which owes $2.4 million in debt. The big difference: The Obama campaign can bring in big money by renting its massive voter data base. Federal Election Commission records show that the Gingrich campaign’s list has only brought in a little more than $1 million since he dropped out of the race, and his debt has only declined by $300,000.

Gingrich did not respond to requests for comment sent to multiple spokespeople.

There are still a number of open campaign accounts by past failed presidential candidates with large debts, but none reach the heights of Gingrich’s. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, a Republican and Libertarian Party candidate in 2012, owes $1.4 million, and MSNBC host Al Sharpton owes $925,714 from his 2004 presidential bid. Even disgraced former Democratic Sen. John Edwards still owes $331,586 from his 2008 campaign.

So, what exactly does Gingrich owe so much money for? The biggest service that he has not paid for yet was personal air travel during the campaign. He owes $1.8 million to charter jet service provider Moby Dick Airways, business travel provider AirPlus and to himself for jet fare. (Candidates can receive reimbursement from their campaign committee to cover their own costs for things like travel.)

Gingrich’s largest debts are to a host of consultants and firms that helped him with strategy, polling, advertising, telemarketing and all of the other routine activities needed to run a presidential campaign.

Bo Harmon said Newt's campaign still owes him about $25,000 from services rendered in 2012. Harmon said he organized volunteers who made phone calls and knocked on doors in Iowa, South Carolina, Nevada, and Arizona. Harmon himself spent three months living out of hotels, paying for his rooms, airfare, rental cars and meals. He expected the Gingrich campaign would pay him back. It didn't.

"I contacted them regularly for two years after the campaign ended to find out if there was a way to be paid, all with no reply from the campaign," Harmon said. "Especially with someone like Newt, you hope they conduct themselves in a different way than that. So it's very disappointing. He's not the first politician to disappoint his supporters, and he won't be the last."

Campaign documents filed with the FEC say the debt to Harmon is $5,639.99 for travel. The campaign documents also indicate a debt of $50,500 to 4 Components Strategies LLC, a firm for which Harmon says he was one of four principals.
Harmon said he used to be much angrier, but his anger has faded with time and the sad realization that he will probably never get his money back.

"Who's going to contribute to Newt 2012?" Harmon asked.

Gordon James of Phoenix, Arizona, figured someone who had loaned Gingrich even more -- Moby Dick Airways, for instance, to which Gingrich owes $1 million -- would initiate a lawsuit of some kind that he could join. It's the main way that companies and individuals could go after the money they are owed, but it hasn't happened.

The FEC forms show that Newt 2012 owes $127,727 to James' company, which employs 14 people and handled event planning, media outreach and logistics for the campaign.

James said it wasn't easy to absorb the loss.

"My life was upended. I had to make a lot of financial adjustments to survive," he said. He added that he stopped paying himself a salary and used savings to cover his bills.

Massive campaign debt does not appear to have hampered Gingrich's lifestyle -- including exotic vacations and fancy events -- glimpses of which he is continuously sharing on social media. As HuffPost's Christina Wilkie reported in 2012, Gingrich has a long history of launching political organizations and moving on as they collapse under a pile of debt. Legally, Gingrich himself is never liable for the money owed.

James said he doesn't harbor bad feelings toward Gingrich. He regrets that he didn't pull out of the campaign before the Florida primary.

"I let my emotions get away from me," he said. "I wanted him to win. I thought he was going to win. I thought it was going to be a great ending to a hard-fought battle."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b0224d8832dbcc

Much like Donald Trump today, at one point Newt Gingrich held the frontrunner position in the 2012 Republican primary election. His campaign plodded on using borrowed money for months after most people realized Gingrich didn't have a chance, and when Newt 2012 finally ended, it crashed in a heap of debt that may never be repaid.

Donald Trump isn't using borrowed money to fund his campaign.

Newt Gingrich isn't running for President in 2016.

The next-highest accumulator of debt among non-active presidential campaigns is President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign committee, which owes $2.4 million in debt.

Fiorina is like Obama and Gingrich.