June 13, 2012

San Francisco-Bashing GOPer Sean Duffy Raised Campaign Cash in…San Francisco

Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc.)<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/5449729482/sizes/m/in/photostream/">Gage Skidmore</a>/Flickr

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Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc.), an alumnus of MTV’s Real World (Class of ’97, Boston) who rode the 2010 tea party wave into Congress, doesn’t much like the campaign trackers affiliated with the outfit SuperPAC Credo following him around his northwestern Wisconsin district. That super-PAC is arm of the progressive phone company Credo Mobile, which is based in San Francisco. Late last month, Duffy went out of his way to bash the trackers on his trail as “a group of four of these radicals from San Francisco.” Ouch. (Trackers, mind you, are fixtures of the campaign trail in Congressional elections.)

But Duffy’s disdain for liberal San Francisco didn’t prevent him from jetting out west Tuesday to raise some campaign cash. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported, Duffy appeared alongside House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at a $1,000-a-head fundraiser at San Francisco’s posh Presidio Golf Club.

Here’s the invitation:

Via the San Francisco ChronicleVia the San Francisco Chronicle

Duffy hasn’t had any trouble raising money his first term in office. His campaign haul to date totals $1.38 million, and he has $960,857 cash on hand, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Duffy’s haul puts him in the top-third in fundraising for all members of Congress. Not bad for a freshman.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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