Meehan 5.2M campaign acct:Do the right thing

Congressman Marty Meehan is resigning his congressional seat this July to become the new chancellor of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.  His desire to succeed John Kerry as Senator has now been thwarted by Kerry not running for president in 2008 and running for reelection instead in 2008. Meehan is the most assiduous fundraiser in Congress ...a talent that commended him to the UMASS-Lowell board.  

Indeed Meehan leaves ...at the moment anyway...5.2 million or so in his campaign account. Money that we all asked him to donate in 2006 so we could get more Democrats elected.

We should all remember his name from the "Use it or Lose It" campaign.  To update people this was a campaign begun by Chris Bowers of MyDD in the fall of 2006 to get Democrats with large warchests in very safe seats to donate to party committees when it became apparent that we could not only win but win big.

He was a major target because he had so much to donate and he didn't.  Fortunately we won back Congress without him but we could have won even bigger with him. With this Iraq war vote it would sure be nice to have a few more Democratic votes to play with...maybe even crucialto the right outcome.

What can he do with his money...I'm still checking out.

I suggest that Rep. Meehan can still do the right thing and donate that money to some upstart campaigns that almost won in 2006 and who are trying again...like Larry Kissell, Darcy Burner, and Eric Massa. Of course there is the DCCC and the DNC.

I am waiting to see what he does.  I am pretty sure he's allowed to keep it, but I don't know what all the rules are on how to spend it.  I do know that he can keep it to donate to political campaigns as John Kerry did with the Washington State governor's race.  So keep some of it but set out a plan of how to spend it to benefit the Democratic party.

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO DO THE RIGHT THING

See links for stories re Meehan

http://www.politico.com/... 7/3113.html
http://www.examiner.com/... has_been_key_UMass_Lowell_backer_in_Cong ress.html

•  great diary and an excellent reminder

  recommended.

  by thereisnospoon on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 02:55:21 PM PDT

  •  Thanks

    I really do hope he does the right thing.  It's unclear to me what candidiates can do with leftover campaign funds.  I know Tom Delay used his to hire lawyers!

    Maybe Marty Meehan can use his to to buy a crystal ball to see that doing the right thing for your party gets you rewarded by your party.  Maybe he does want to run in 6 years.  Being a chancellor is a pretty high profile position in the state of Massachusetts.  

    by debcoop on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:07:28 PM PDT

    •  A

      'test of character'?

      :}

      by shpilk on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:12:54 PM PDT

  •  debcoop, Good memory.

    Top priority is to give to give some to whoever the leading Dem candidate who runs for that seat. Make 110% sure the seat stays Dem.
    No slip-ups now please.

    And the remainder to the names suggested is an excellent idea.

    by homerun on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:13:59 PM PDT

•  Yeah

  with Kerry running for re-election, he should have zero expectations of running for the Senate any time soon--at least till Kennedy retires in 2012 which I think he will. Hoarding 5.2 million bucks for the next six years till he is able to run is really outrageous. He should absolutely donate the money to the DNC.

  by michael1104 on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:00:47 PM PDT

  •  Meehan is waiting out _Teddy_

    He's not giving up any of that money, as outrageous as it is.

    He should, but I'll bet he doesn't give much if any of it.

    by shpilk on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:11:40 PM PDT

  •  Kennedy won't retire in 2012.

    He will be 80 at that point, but remember his mother lived to be 104 and her mother was about 99 when she died.

    My guess he serves one more term (finally retiring in 2018) after 56 years in the Senate, a record which will never be broken unless normal lifespans start shooting past 120 years.

    by Randall Sherman on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:18:47 PM PDT

    •  I generally like Kennedy, but..

      we could use some new blood there.

      I voted for him a couple of times. Still, 50 years is a long time for one person to hold office - it's bound to cause abuse-of-authority and political stagnation even in the best of circumstances.  And it's not as if the seat is going to go to the GOP.

      by BlabberMan on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:29:41 PM PDT

      •  Ted Kennedy

        is still among the most liberal members in congress.  He's like a touchstone to remind us all what progressivism really means.  He's someone who really understand what the principles were that FDR gave to this country and our party.

        His replacement just won't be the same.  And certainly it shouldn't be Marty Meehan.  

        by debcoop on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:44:15 PM PDT

    •  Senate record for Kennedy

      I hope the Senate record Kennedy winds up with is passing Thurmond's: 100 years old!
      That would make him Senator until 2032!
      How about that?

      by homerun on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:52:29 PM PDT

      •  And to think...

        A Kennedy family friend had to be appointed to the Senate vacancy that was created in 1961 when his older brother John became President... Ted was over a year too young at the time to meet the Constitutional requirement of 30 years of age!

        Since there was nearly four years left in John F. Kennedy's Senate term (he had been re-elected in 1958), there was an election for the final two years of the term in 1962.  Ted Kennedy, having turned 30 on February 22 of that year (Senator Kennedy was born on the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth), ran for the final two years of his brother's unexpired term.  He won that election, allowing him to take office immediately afterwards, instead of having to wait for the January start of Congress.  Because of that, Ted Kennedy, rather than Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, is second in Senate seniority to Robert Byrd.

        by Randall Sherman on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 08:44:08 PM PDT

•  Donate to Massa

  He lost a close race and definitely could win if he has enough of a war chest to fight of Repug dirty tricks.  We need people like Eric Massa in congress.

  by Port City Moon on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:01:47 PM PDT

•  Meehan doesn't want to make a difference.

  He wants a bigger paycheck and the chance to be a bigger fish in a tiny pond.  If that's his state of mind right now, then maybe we're better off without him.  It's not like his Massachusetts seat is going to go to the GOP.

  If he keeps the money, that will be the sad final word on someone who I think everyone thought better of.  It will be a real disappointment.

  by BlabberMan on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:03:46 PM PDT

•  So it's official

  Meehan's out.

  I'm betting $50 hypotheticals on Niki Tsongas. Any takers?

  by Nathaniel Ament Stone on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:07:53 PM PDT

•  Asking here...

  What else could he do with the money except apply it to political campaigns? He obviously can't use it for his own purposes (i.e. legal fund, if he needed it).  Does he give it back to the donors?  Does he need to ask their permission to apply it to other accounts?

  Never knew what becomes of congressional warchests...

  by Mogolori on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:27:35 PM PDT

  •  good question

    I'm not sure either but there is speculation above that he's waiting out a Kennedy decision not to run in '12, and, as a result, would want to keep that cash available.

    by Prison4Bushco on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:34:46 PM PDT

•  The guy is just too damn mean

  Thats my opinion.

  He wont take one or rather give, for the good of the party.
  I doubt it.

  by wuod kwatch on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:31:19 PM PDT

•  Burner, Massa and

  any other Dem challenger for a Repub held seat in '08 would benefit greatly from a large infusion of early money. C'mon Marty, give it up.

  by Prison4Bushco on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 03:36:04 PM PDT

•  Since most of the money came from Mass

  I would hope that he donates it to the Massachusetts Democratic Party and to local causes and people.  The money came from people in this state and should be used for people in this state.  I don't approve of the massive transfer of money to other places just because people there can't raise cash.  I didn't donate money to Meehan to see if go to some hopeless candidate somewhere else.

  I would hope that Marty donates most of it locally, where it belongs.

  by TayTay on Tue Mar 13, 2007 at 06:56:34 PM PDT

•  Donation limits

  Remember that the maximum to give to any particular candidate is $5000. Either Meehan finds 1000 candidates to give that much to, or he finds party organizations that can take more.

  The DCCC and DSCC can take huge amounts (they got virtually all the Use it or Lose it funds); how much could the DLCC or DNC or state parties (especially, as pointed out above, Massachusetts) legally accept?

  Meehan should definitely save $5000 for the winner of the Democratic primary for his district. That bit's a no-brainer.

  by sardonyx on Wed Mar 14, 2007 at 07:04:53 AM PDT