Solicitations keep the post office busy
| Friday, Sep 03 2010 05:05 PM
Last Updated Friday, Sep 03 2010 05:05 PM
Mary Marlow isn't especially fond of Barack Obama. A self-identified conservative Christian, she has some concerns about the president's direction. But could he really have said and done all of the things she was reading about him in the mailings she receives a half-dozen times a week at her Bakersfield home? Some of it seems odd and far-fetched, even for a wanton liberal.
"I don't like the idea of people not quoting the president accurately," Mrs. Marlow told me last week, having turned up disquieting evidence of misrepresentation. Put another way, the minister's wife -- well into her retirement years -- believes Obama ought to be permitted to hang himself with his own words, not the words detractors put in his mouth.
Imagine: A voter interested in some semblance of truth. If only America had 300 million Mary Marlows. But it can be challenging to get at the truth when we are dealing with sophisticated propagandists.
"They send surveys asking you how you think the president is doing, and the wording is, you know ..." she said. "I don't agree with the president on everything, but he is our president and I'm just not interested (in these surveys) ... I guess I must have given money a time or two and they sold my name (to a list-compilation company). Big mistake."
Especially egregious, she said, is the "national survey" that asks "page after page" of Census-like questions and concludes, of course, with a donation pitch.
All of those "surveys" went into the trash, Mrs. Marlow said, so it's impossible to say with certainty where they came from or who stood to benefit, but her description sounds a lot like a Republican National Committee solicitation that landed in mailboxes across the country earlier this year. That questionnaire, which masqueraded as an official 2010 U.S. Census survey, came with a cover letter that announced, in big, black letters, "2010 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT CENSUS" and even included a "Census Tracking Code." Among the (leading) questions: "How much does it concern you that the Democrats have total control of the federal government?" and "Do you believe the Obama Administration is right in dramatically scaling back our nation's military?" The U.S. Postal Inspection Service's general counsel reviewed the survey and determined it was not deceptive enough to be illegal, but it was confusing enough that U.S. Census officials expressed dismay.
It's not the first time Republican groups have used iffy tactics to collect donations.
In 2004, the College Republican National Committee raised more than $6 million with a fundraising campaign that collected money from senior citizens who thought they were giving to the election efforts of President Bush and other top Republicans. Little of the money actually went to campaign efforts. But, using official sounding-names such as "Republican Headquarters 2004" and "Republican Elections Committee," the College Republican tapped donors like Monda Jo Millsap, 68, of Van Buren, Ark., who emptied her savings account and then got a bank loan of $5,000 and sent that, too. Many of the top donors, according to IRS records, were in their 80s and 90s.
In 2007, the Republican National Committee sent voters -- a vast number of them senior citizens -- copies of a "Voter Registration Verification and Audit Form" declaring that their voter records contained "some irregularities." A contribution, the letter suggested, would help set the record straight.
In 2008, a fundraising company closely tied to the Republican National Committee raised $220,000 for California Congressional candidate Brian Chavez-Ochoa -- almost all of it collected after Chavez-Ochoa dropped out of the race, never having appeared on a ballot. As was the case with many of BMW Direct's other campaigns, most donors disclosed their occupation as "retired." BMW Direct also raised money for Charles Morse, a long shot challenger to Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank. All but 4 percent of the $700,000 raised for Morse went to fundraising costs.
Perhaps this leaves the impression that Republicans go in for shady fundraising schemes and Democrats don't. I doubt that's true, but I had no success finding orchestrated, wide-scale campaigns to elicit donations with same lack of forthrightness on the part of Dems.
Perhaps it comes down to this: Older Americans tend to respect authority (or mailings that have that look of authority), donate to causes they value (more so than any other age group), and are largely conservative. Add it up and you have the perfect pigeon for a politically motivated come-on. Maybe if that third factor were different, and seniors tended to be liberal, it would be the Democratic National Committee taking advantage. Who knows?
The bottom line for seniors, and anyone with a checkbook and an interest in helping elect candidates of acceptable ideology: Think long and hard before taking out your pen. Or adopt Mrs. Marlow's philosophy: "If they send me a pre-paid envelope, I'll send it back and ask them to take me off the list. If they don't, I just rip them up."
rprice@bakersfield.com
