My interest was piqued by something Jake Adams left as a comment on my article about a political advertisement for an opponent of Joe Arpaio. He said:
We can beat Joe and his $4 million raised from birthers across the country.
$4 million dollars is a hell of a lot of money for a county sheriff’s race. All along, I’ve thought that the Maricopa County Cold Case Posse faux investigation of Barack Obama’s documents was all about revenge for the US Justice Department’s investigation of him and I speculated about financial gain through WorldNetDaily. I thought the investigation was bad politics at home and I never considered what a fantastic fundraising opportunity it might be nationally.
So where is Arpaio’s money coming from? Thanks to finance campaign disclosure laws in Arizona, candidates must report contributions of $25 or more, and the details are available at the County Recorder’s website. The $6.8 million dollar figure is the total contributions to date to the Arpaio campaign as of May 31, 2012, more precisely $6,864,685.68; $4 million is what Arpaio has left to spend.
The bulk of the quarter million dollars spent on the campaign in January – May went to the Phoenix-based Summit Consulting Group for, of all things, fundraising! Well done, Summit, well done!
Unfortunately for a researcher, the two campaign finance contributor reports total over 1,000 pages of scans of mixed computer-printed and hand-written documentation, not a data file. It is easy to see, however, that a large number of the contributions come from persons who describe their occupation as “retired” (the next largest category is “housewife”) and a large number come from out of state. $430 is the maximum amount an individual can contribute to a local election in Arizona. It’s hard to summarize numbers by scanning 1000 pages visually.
I quickly skimmed the most recent report (562) pages, but didn’t see any names I recognized; however, I didn’t see the vast majority of the names, and I don’t keep up with folks’ real names anyway.
We do know that Taitz had extraordinary difficulty raising $20K to pay her sanction in Georgia. We know this because for about 6 months she gave frequent updates on her blog, and at that point she had only raised half of it. Given that, I find it difficult to see how Arpaio could be raising millions off the same issue.
My guess is most of Arpaio’s fundraising has been off other issues.
Birthers didn’t raise him $6.8 mil.
Those are real merikans that gave that money.
You know, racists and morons. (thanks Blazing Saddles.)
They use Joe to exact “justice” (hatred) because they themselves can’t.
Basically their idea of a hanging judge.
Or those with the money have more faith in the Maricopa County Sheriff as someone who can actually do what Orly doesn’t seem to be able to (not that I agree with that assessment, but there are people who are counting on Arpaio to finish the job).
By the way, has anyone seen “john” lately?
I think John crapped himself, then packed a suitcase for Canada. I believe it was Hawaii’s official statement that sent him runnin’ skeerd.
…That or he just fell in.
For one thing Arpaio has hired an experienced and professional fundraising organization. This is not folks hearing about something on the news and seeking out a way to donate. These donations were solicited, and probably by direct mail or possibly email. Republicans (and the Summit Group is a Republican bunch) are known for their working the mailing lists. One can only speculate what the appeal is, but I would expect it is right wing nut job,nativist, anti-immigrant more than birther, even though lots of them are birthers too.
The same thing about the financial benefit to Arpaio occurred to me the other day as well. And these documents certainly do support that hypothesis.
So Arpaio’s campaign accumulated $6.8 million by May 31. Contrast that with this breakdown of Presidential campaign contributions from the L.A. Times:
http://graphics.latimes.com/usmap-presidential-candidate-contributions/
In Arizona, Obama has raised $2.04 million, while Romney has raised $2.1 million. Thus, in a race for county sheriff in Arizona, Arpaio has raised more money than Obama and Romney have raised COMBINED from Arizona donors.
I find that odd.
That seems to be something all of the professional birthers are good at, making money.
$6.8 million dollars, that will buy a lot of votes… and of course having a professional outfit working the mailing lists is a sure sign that the old maxim ‘A fool and his money are easily parted’ has definitely gone high tech.
Speaking of money and Canada . . . the average Canadian now has a higher net worth than the average American. Those damn Canadians with their socialized health care!
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/18/12817825-canadians-are-now-richer-than-americans
Doc C, this should have occurred to you quite a long time ago! I’ve been beating this drum for quite awhile!
It’s been awfully difficult to get folks to believe that the idiot shurref finds this to be a very lucrative campaign activity, but I keep trying!
If Euegene Delgaudio, whose fund-raising approach appears to consist mostly of sending an apocalyptic “the Gays are Taking Over! Fund me!” email to a mailing list every month, can net over $1m in a single year, then I am sure that a well-crafted nativist skeermongering letter from Sheruff Joe (who has an infinitely higher national profile than Delgaudio) could easily bring in millions.
I’ve seen ads for these yahoos all over the winger-net:
http://www.americansforsheriffjoe.com/
here’s latest on Intrade & 538
Intrade:
Obama 59.0 Romney 38.5
.
538 :
Obama 67.2 Romney 32.8
.
Birthers won’t like that!
Romney’s birth certificate has no pencil marks on it. He won’t get the birther vote unless he can come up wiith one that has a few. Pencil marks are all that matters!
Wow. Romney’s only at 38.5% on Intrade? I check Obama’s numbers over there from time to time but never bother with Romney. I’m surprised he’s so far behind. I’d have expected something closer to 45-47%, just because I have this belief that Romney’s chances and Obama’s chances should add up to 100%. Though now that I give that belief some thought, I realize it doesn’t really make much logical sense.
Hmmm… I just abandoned a belief because it didn’t make sense. Guess I’m disqualified from being a birther.
> $4 million dollars is a hell of a lot of money for a county sheriff’s race.
This is particularly true considering that the job pays slightly north of $100K.
Interesting, I had seen a $72K figure somewhere … according to:
http://www.azdatapages.com/datacenter/government/salaries-maricopa-county-details.html?fmyid=405
a database listing all Maricopa County employees, Papa Joe pulled down $97K that year.
As with all political positions, it isn’t about the pay, it’s about the juice. How much are we spending as a country to elect a President? Billions. For a $400K job? Apparently a lot of unaccounted value in this Presidency business!
I think your conclusion needs a little tweaking. The figures for Obama and Romney may indeed be only from AZ donors. The 6.8mm which Arpaio has raised is not ONLY from AZ donors.
Doc awards RuhRoh a gold idea bulb.
💡
I may have been the first here (not that I derive any pride or authorial concern) to have used the word “grifter”, probably in relation with Mario (if I recall correctly).
It has always been crystal-clear that folks like Corsi, Mario and Arapaio, of course, others are meretricious and venal. What is truly sad is how many naive, deluded, gullible bigots fall into their snares.
Maybe so, but I have been calling out Arpaio’s tricks, and his reason for it, even before he actually jumped in boots and all.
Yes, that’s exactly right. But that’s part of why I find it odd. You would expect a county sheriff race to draw virtually ALL of its campaign contributions from in-state donors. Or really, in-county donors.
The fact that Arpaio has raised so much in contrast to those Arizona numbers for Obama and Romney means either (or both) that 1) Arpaio is attracting money from Arizona donors in a way that neither Obama nor Romney are, or 2) An incumbent candidate in a Arizona sheriff’s race is attracting a surprising amount of money from *outside* Arizona. Either way, it’s still odd.
And he’s accomplished this even though the contribution limit is $430 per donor, versus the Presidential limit of $2500 per donor.
There is a large percentage of Tea Party Freeper Birther types who refuse to vote for Romney because they consider him a RINO. They refuse to budge. They are basically saying it will never happen.
Well, I think Obama raised what, 750 million for his 2008 campaign? Maybe 500 million? I forget, but it was something huge. And the Presidency only pays $400,000 a year salary.
Hmm… Lemme do the math.
4 million = 40 times the 100,000 sheriff’s salary.
500 million = 1,250 times the 400,000 president’s salary.
I guess you could factor in that the presidency is a lot more powerful and prestigious than a count sheriff’s post, but still… 1250 versus 40. That’s a hell of a leap.
Isn’t there also a contingent of liberals who are disappointed with Obama and aren’t voting for him?
Yes. I know of a number of progressive people who do not intend to vote for Obama because they are so disappointed with his adoption of Bush-era authoritarianism and his inability to tell the GOP where to go screw themselves. That is not good. Obama has lost some of his base in the last 3.5 years. I am certainly disappointed by a number of things he has done or not done, and, like a lot of Democrats, he needs to grow a spine and starting calling out some of the GOP screwballs.
POLL: Only 9% Believe Obama Has Documented His Eligibility
http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2012/07/poll-only-9-believe-obama-has.html
Many of the national opinion polls show that a large segment of the citizens still have questions about Obama’s questionable history, and they still want answers! In a July 2012 poll 45% of the general public and 69% of Republicans have doubts about Obama’s birthplace. Many voters have been influenced away from voting for Obama because of the obvious cover up of Obama’s past. Just type these search words into Google and see for yourself: obama eligible poll. The ineligibility movement has educated the voters beyond the circumstances of Obama’s birth and the citizenship of his father. Now people are aware that Obama’s history of education, medical history, travel and passport history, the history of his parent’s marriage and divorce, adoption records, the records of the Illinois bar, Illinois State Senate records, his beliefs, past associates, personal behavior and many other mysteries still remain unresolved. The uncertainty created by Obama’s cover up will significantly affect voting outcome. Most presidential elections are decided by a very narrow margin. Given that about half the American people are uncertain about Obama’s history, the 2012 vote will be more influenced by the ineligibility movement than any demographic group. That is a victory of the “think for themselves” citizens over the ambiguous cover ups offered by the ruling elite! Yet another clear victory for the birthers!
Evidence Obama Ineligibility Movement is Winning
http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2012/07/evidence-obama-ineligibility-movement.html
Utter bull-guano, Sammy. Why don’t you grow up and buy a clue.
You expect anyone to take a WND poll seriously? WND pays the polling firm to poll their own readers and come up with numbers they want.
Sam is cherrypicking a result from this question:
http://www.wnd.com/files/MarchObamaQ2.pdf
And ignoring the 32.9% that stated “questions [i.e., birther concerns] are not valid”.
It was a 10-question poll. You can see the other by changing the integer in the URL.
So then they will stay home? Yeah right! But, here’s hopin’!
LMAO! *rolls eyes* Keep telling yourself that Sammy! You sure seem to need to wrap yourself tightly in your delusions, don’t you?
The ineligibility movement is a farce and a joke, consisting of a relatively small-group of malcontents whose votes are already baked into the political voting calculus. There never were any potential Obama voters admist the Birther crowd to begin with. That remains true to this day.
I wonder what new lies you’ll have to make up to tell yourself, after November…
But NOT the LAST presidential election, Sammy… NOT the last one…
…And that’s the reality that you simply can’t deal with…
Good luck with overcoming that 9.5 million voter deficit…quite a high bar there.
Because Mitt Romney sure doesn’t seem to have much of any appeal in his argument towards the truly unaffiliated, except that he’s “not Obama”…
…that’s sure not much of a leg to stand on, outside of the ODS crowd.
It’s obvious that the birther mind is already preparing for an Obama victory. And since it cannot be that the birther movement was a complete failure, they have to switch to “a majority agrees with us, Obama only won by election fraud”. The preparation is already in progress, the “we have won” is being hammered into their minds so that they will accept the “election fraud” meme all the better. It’s quite obvious someone hopes to instil enough bits of “the presidency is illegitimate” into enough minds as to incite one lone wolf…
PRAVDA THE COMMUNITS NEWSPAPER RIPS OBUMMER
n March 7th, 2012, Pravda called out the U.S. press for its deliberate neglect of the largest scandal in modern American history. Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio released credible forensic evidence that Barack Obama, presumed President of the United States, presented to the world a forged Birth Certificate on April 27th, 2011.
Since then, the scandal has only expanded. Former United States Postal Service worker Allen Hulton has recently come forward with compelling testimony given under Oath, which leads to only one conclusion: Barack Obama attended College in the United States as a Foreign Student.
DON’T TREAD ON ME !!!
NBC *NATIONAL BABOON COMMISSION*******
PRAVDA THE COMMUNIST NEWSPAPER RIPS OBUMMER
n March 7th, 2012, Pravda called out the U.S. press for its deliberate neglect of the largest scandal in modern American history. Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio released credible forensic evidence that Barack Obama, presumed President of the United States, presented to the world a forged Birth Certificate on April 27th, 2011.
Since then, the scandal has only expanded. Former United States Postal Service worker Allen Hulton has recently come forward with compelling testimony given under Oath, which leads to only one conclusion: Barack Obama attended College in the United States as a Foreign Student.
DON’T TREAD ON ME !!!
NBC *NATIONAL BABOON COMMISSION*******
Some spam is stickier than other spam … remove with care, lysol, and rubber gloves.
@JOHN WAYNE:
We know you are really John Wayne Gacy. Two questions:
– We thought you had been executed by Illinois.
– How did you get resurrected?