Gov. Blunt,
Congratulations on your role in the successful media event surrounding Gov. Mitt Romney’s exploratory committee. Your participation in yesterday’s dialing-for-dollars push marks the public beginning of what could prove to be a profitable relationship between your campaign team and Romney.
I imagine that you’ve already worked out the broadstrokes of the deal surrounding your upcoming Romney endorsement; still, I’ve taken the liberty of laying out a few detail-oriented ideas for your consideration. You will see that the primary objectives of each suggestion are to both maximize your political capital and help your fellow Missouri Republicans. By doing so, you can begin building a reputation as a leader in your party and hopefully cement a legacy as such.
Before we begin, I’ll be assuming you have already found a legal, above-board way to incorporate the Missourians for Romney Inc. operation into Missourians for Matt Blunt Inc. The last thing you want are those pesky Dems — or other Republican presidential candidates — filing ethics complaints over piddly offenses. You are paying Lathrop & Gage a lot of money to make sure you are following the letter of the law, and you have a direct line to a most excellent campaign finance attorney over there. We’ll assume that the money, staff, and information flow between the two campaign entities is seamless, and so the terms “Missourians for Romney Inc.” and “Missourians for Matt Blunt Inc.” may be used interchangeably throughout this letter.
Other than the basic costs you’ve already factored into the Missourians for Romney Inc. budget — polling contracts, video production contracts, media buy contracts, consulting contracts, printing contracts — here are a few suggestions on how to spend the rest of the Missourians for Romney Inc. windfall:
– Hire the most qualified campaign chairman/manager and staff. You need someone with a wealth of experience, a good reputation, and a history of running hard, clean, ethical campaigns. This makes someone like Lloyd Smith an obvious choice. It may be too much to assume that Lloyd would want to dive straight into another statewide race, but you should at least make the gesture. If Lloyd’s unavailable — or if Jo Ann Emerson doesn’t want to give him up — you need to look no further than the Bond operation. How about Jason Van Eaton? He’d bring along some people you might not otherwise recruit. To run the western and eastern sides of the state, how about Matt Roney and Patrick Werner, respectively? Both run/have run their sides of the state for Bond, so they know the lay of the land as well as anyone. I doubt they’d be interested, but there’s no harm in asking.
– Take care of the MRP. Sure, I’ve been known to poke fun at Missouri Republican Party leadership for their half-assed Internet efforts. But I watched The Ringer over the holidays, and resolved to not make fun of them anymore. Besides, can you imagine how hard it is to build a real-life Internet operation using only those big fat Crayolas, construction paper, and safety scissors? (Okay, okay, I’m done. For real.) But seriously, how long has it been since MRP field staff — the hardworking men and women that travel the state and defend you every week — got a significant pay raise? They’ll have more work to do now that they’ll be out promoting both you and Romney, so their salary should increase accordingly. And put a little extra in the state party’s general coffers to help MRP leadership do whatever it is they do.
– Show some love to HRCC. Governors that are viewed favorably within their own party are able to help their House campaign committees via their presence in campaign materials or at fundraisers. Since our House members don’t have that luxury, why not at least make sure they’re provided for financially?
Besides, you owe it to them. You may be the name that everyone in this state associates with First Steps and MAWD and the other snafus, but they’re the ones that had to go back to their districts and face the music. Furthermore, they were caught flat-footed by reporters for being among the last to know about your plans for MOHELA, the “65 Percent Solution”, etc. etc. etc.
But the past is the past and, in fact, you’ve done a much better job communicating with House leadership this winter. Methinks a couple hundred thousand in HRCC’s coffers would accelerate the healing process and help preserve — or expand — our majority in the ‘08 elections.
– Look beyond 2008. I know it’s hard to look beyond the presidential primaries right now, but you must. Ask Rod Jetton for permission to talk to Dave Hageman about redistricting plans. As Executive Director of HRCC, nobody on our side knows the 163 House districts better than Dave. Dave is sticking around HRCC for a while, but who knows — maybe he’d like to do some consulting some day. You’ll have lots of people on the payroll listed as consultants — you may as well include somebody that will outline a real, long-term strategy that’s in the best interest of our legislators.
And while we’re talking about 2010, why not start feeding some data and cash to Kenny Hulshof’s campaign? This may be Sen. Bond’s last term in the U.S. Senate, and giving his heir apparent a head start on the Dems would be a nice gesture. (Warning: feeding cash to a potential U.S. Senate candidate’s campaign team may be seen as playing favorites, so be willing to accept the fallout.)
– Provide county GOP organizations with Romney data. Central committees are always complaining that Voter Vault isn’t complete enough, or has too much outdated information. You can show some leadership by passing along data collected by the Romney campaign — phone survey results (including party ID info), e-mail lists, contributor data, etc. Most importantly, you should provide this data free of charge, with no strings attached, for the county committees to use on behalf of the statewide primary candidates they choose to help.
– Cash in your stem cell chips. I know that you’ve been adding up the costs in your head, and I know what you’re thinking: “Johnny, I can’t possibly afford all this!” Au contrere, mon frere. Let me remind you that you have one valuable chit in your possession, the proverbial Willy Wonka Golden Ticket — a favor from the Stowers. Not counting John Danforth (obviously), you were the highest-profile Republican to support Amendment 2. You were certainly the highest-profile Amendment 2 supporter among people who call themselves conservatives. And for that, the Stowers owe you huge.
The Stowers family contributed about $30 million to their campaign for Amendment 2. You should ask them for $3 million — a mere one-tenth of what they spent last year. Let’s say they play tough with you and only give you half, or $1.5 million — that’s still enough to fund all of the initiatives above, with plenty left over for you to keep.
And don’t worry — taking this cash won’t negatively affect your fellow Republicans among our pro-life base. If you take the cash this summer, that gives us a full year to channel the money in and out of committees enough times to make sure it’s never directly connected to either Peter Kinder or Sarah Steelman in 2008.
You gambled on Amendment 2, and it cost you dearly among your base. You would be foolish to walk out of the casino empty-handed.
– Don’t forget the Hollywood crowd! Okay, this is a long shot, but it’s a shot worth taking nonetheless. You know those Hollywood celebrities with their evil gay agenda that we Republicans have been railing against for years? Why not hit them up for some cash? You can make a convincing case that you deserve their support. You repealed a ban on gay sex, and you support a presidential candidate who has made overtures to the gay and lesbian community. And you have to admit — those Hollywood movie-making types would find something especially compelling about the story of a fresh-faced Navy boy who reverses his position on homosexuality in exchange for cash. I’m just saying.
And let me assure you again that there’s no need to worry — taking money from Hollywood liberals won’t affect your fellow statewide GOP officeholders. Peter Kinder is still a friend to the pro-life community, and Sarah Steelman sponsored the bill that put the gay marriage ban on the ballot in 2004 — a fact that cultural conservatives won’t forget in 2008.
The above are simply suggestions — to quote a late-20th century philosopher, it’s your prerogative — you can do what you wanna do. If you choose to take the easier route of keeping the money for your own campaign operation, the media will undoubtedly accuse you of feathering your own nest. One final suggestion — if and when that accusation is leveled, think of a better comeback than blaming the media. Our friend Jim Talent faced a media pool much more hostile than the one you find at the Capitol, and how many times did you hear him complain about liberal media bias? Exactly.
As you can see, the above suggestions allow you to maximize the political capital you have today, while building a better environment for Republicans tomorrow. I hope you take these suggestions in the spirit in which they are given.
Truly,
JC
(and maybe a few others who happen to agree)