The DNC Goes Broke | FrontPage Magazine
By Arnold Ahlert On October 2, 2013
While Americans are focused on a government shutdown precipitated in large part by America’s debt crisis, the fundraising arm of the party that advocates spending trillions of dollars in borrowed money has a debt crisis of its own. As a result of spending during the 2012 election campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is nearly broke, even as it struggles to pay its own vendors.
The numbers paint a bleak picture. At the end of May, the DNC had $6 million in cash and $19.8 million in debt, and was paying off its bills at a rate of less than $1 million per month. Through August, the DNC owed $18.1 million to its various creditors. Several of those creditors, speaking anonymously to avoid any blowback from the DNC, described the organization as one falling further and further behind in its ability to pay past due bills. Moreover, senior strategists with close ties to the money-raising arm of the Democrat party have expressed concerns that the DNC has no apparent strategy for returning to solvency. ”They really thought they could get this money raised by the summer,” said one of those strategists. “But the fact is, from talking to people over there, they have no real plan for how to solve this.”
DNC officials note that their problems are exacerbated in part by the White House, as well as DNC head Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who reportedly has no strong relationships with anyone in the administration. Tellingly, Wasserman Schultz has personal debt issues that mirror the organization she represents. She is currently over a million dollars in debt, with two mortgages worth at least $750,000 in total, and another $350,000 in home equity and personal loans. In 2012, Wasserman Schultz also carried more than $50,000 in credit card debt. By contrast, she has $100,000 worth of spouse-held stock in the community bank where her husband is employed, and other smaller accounts that include college savings plan for her children.
Yet while Wasserman Schultz is incompetent, the DNC’s woes are not completely her fault. Organizing for Action (OFA), Barack Obama’s former campaign apparatus reincarnated as a nonprofit advocacy group, has emerged as a fierce competitor for donor dollars. Last March, Fred Wertheimer, head of Democracy 21, a campaign finance reform group, aptly described what OFA is all about. ”It is operating as an arm of the presidency and it’s funded by private money including large contributions and bundlers raising large amounts,” he explained.
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The numbers paint a bleak picture. At the end of May, the DNC had $6 million in cash and $19.8 million in debt, and was paying off its bills at a rate of less than $1 million per month. Through August, the DNC owed $18.1 million to its various creditors. Several of those creditors, speaking anonymously to avoid any blowback from the DNC, described the organization as one falling further and further behind in its ability to pay past due bills. Moreover, senior strategists with close ties to the money-raising arm of the Democrat party have expressed concerns that the DNC has no apparent strategy for returning to solvency. ”They really thought they could get this money raised by the summer,” said one of those strategists. “But the fact is, from talking to people over there, they have no real plan for how to solve this.”
DNC officials note that their problems are exacerbated in part by the White House, as well as DNC head Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who reportedly has no strong relationships with anyone in the administration. Tellingly, Wasserman Schultz has personal debt issues that mirror the organization she represents. She is currently over a million dollars in debt, with two mortgages worth at least $750,000 in total, and another $350,000 in home equity and personal loans. In 2012, Wasserman Schultz also carried more than $50,000 in credit card debt. By contrast, she has $100,000 worth of spouse-held stock in the community bank where her husband is employed, and other smaller accounts that include college savings plan for her children.
Yet while Wasserman Schultz is incompetent, the DNC’s woes are not completely her fault. Organizing for Action (OFA), Barack Obama’s former campaign apparatus reincarnated as a nonprofit advocacy group, has emerged as a fierce competitor for donor dollars. Last March, Fred Wertheimer, head of Democracy 21, a campaign finance reform group, aptly described what OFA is all about. ”It is operating as an arm of the presidency and it’s funded by private money including large contributions and bundlers raising large amounts,” he explained.
-go to link-
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