Three top fundraisers at the Democratic National Committee have resigned at a time when its chairman, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, has come under fire from fellow Democrats for controversial comments and his Republican counterpart has raised more than twice as much money.
Democratic sources link the resignations to Dean’s decision to focus on raising money in small increments through the Internet, as he did during his 2004 presidential bid, and building up the party’s grassroots infrastructure while paying little attention to major Democratic donors.
But other Democrats say the first several months after a party’s losing presidential campaign are naturally a time of transition and it will take time for committee officials to get their “sea legs.”
Dean’s defenders also note that DNC fundraising is ahead of where it was at this point after the last presidential election, when Democrats could still raise unlimited amounts of soft money.
The committee’s finance directors for the two biggest hubs of Democratic fundraising have quit. Bridget Siegel, finance director for New York and the surrounding area, resigned last week, and Lori Kreloff, finance director for California, left the committee last month.
A third top DNC fundraiser, Nancy Eiring, the director of grassroots fundraising, has also resigned, citing strategic differences with aides to Dean, according to a report yesterday in ABC News’ “The Note.”
Siegel told The Hill that she remained at the DNC for the first few months of the year only to help with the transition to leadership under a new chairman and that “Dean is moving the party in a great direction.” Siegel will raise money for Andrew Cuomo’s race for New York attorney general.
Kreloff has set up her own consulting firm, LBK Consulting Inc., and has signed on Maryland Senate hopeful Rep. Ben Cardin (D) as a new client. She said Dean is “doing a wonderful job building the grassroots.”
Eiring did not return a call for comment.
Democratic fundraisers say that there is growing concern over what they call Dean’s lack of attention to major donors and that donors are much less likely to give money if they don’t have sufficient opportunity to meet with the party’s leadership.
“When you don’t have the chairman to fundraise with, or any principals of the leadership, you can’t get major donors to help you,” a veteran Democratic fundraiser said. “You want the leaders of the party to sit down with them so they can discuss their plan.”
“It’s frustrating to be the staff person in charge of that group,” the fundraiser said. “No one wants to stay in a job in which they’re not successful.” The fundraiser added that New York is a competitive place to raise money and that donors often demand detailed explanations of how the money will be spent.
Dean stressed Internet fundraising at a speech he delivered in Washington last week at a “Take Back America” convention of liberal activists and strategists sponsored by Campaign for America’s Future.
In that speech, Dean said many Republicans have “never made an honest living in their lives,” a remark that has prompted criticism from Republicans and caused such Democrats as Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) to distance themselves from Dean.
Concern over Dean’s remarks has fused with concern over the party’s fundraising pace compared with that of Republicans.
Through the end of April, the DNC raised $18.2 million in total contributions, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission, although DNC officials say that $18.6 million is a more accurate total.
By comparison, the Republican National Committee has raised $42.6 million, according to FEC data — more than twice as much.
The disparity comes as a shock to many Democrats who touted the ability of Democrats to match roughly the GOP’s fundraising in last year’s election.
“Governor Dean is focusing on the major donors and the grassroots fundraising,” DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney said. “He meets with our major donors on all the trips.”
Finney said Dean was in San Francisco on Monday and attended an event with donors there. She added that Dean was in Seattle on Sunday; Montana on Saturday; and Kansas, Missouri and Atlanta on Friday and “in each of those places [is] reaching out to the major donors as well as the grassroots.”
Finney also said Dean has raised more money by this point in the presidential election cycle than any other DNC chairman had.
Through the first three months of this year, the DNC raised $14.1 million, ahead of the pace Chairman Terry McAuliffe set in 2001, when he raised $23.5 million in the first six months of that year.
But some donors say the party’s leadership has not been clear about its policy goals.
“What would the leaders of the Democratic Party like to do five years from now?” asked Steve Kirsch, a California-based donor and founder of InfoSeek.com. “You don’t know and nobody else knows, and that’s a problem.”
However, Steve Grossman, who was DNC chairman in the 1998 election cycle, defended Dean.
“In any period of new leadership, in any organization, there’s going to be a transition, a shakedown period, and people are going to find their sea legs over a period of time,” he said.
Pointing out that Dean traveled to Boston three and a half weeks ago to speak to about 100 major donors at two events, Grossman said, “People found him to be electrifying. They’re seizing on the message,” which Grossman described as “strategic, thoughtful and tactical.”
Joe Cari, DNC finance director in 2000 and a DNC member, said Dean is “doing a great job.”
“There is a transition period,” he added. “He’s clearly finding his footing as a chairman, but it takes a while. It takes a while to get the right people in place.”
From
The Hill
