Campaign Finance Reports! Yay! (Sarcasm, sort of.) There is usually a lot of material that comes out of campaign finance reports for State races, which we’ve written about before. Yesterday’s filings show that one NH Senator, Shannon Chandley, raised only $5 in district. Five bucks.
Related: SoS Website – Search Filed Reports
That doesn’t include businesses or PACs located within her district, of course. Just regular Joe Shmoe donors. Of which she had one. And he donated $5.
Each Senator in New Hampshire represents approximately 56,000 people. She got one to donate to her campaign. Probably because she was too busy hosting fundraisers in Rhode Island and elsewhere and didn’t even bother to try to speak to her actual constituents.
More alarming is the fact that she didn’t even have to itemize that $5 donation. Apparently neither she nor her treasurer (Tom Silvia) know anything about campaign finance. Alternatively, she did it on purpose so she could argue for complete “transparency” in Campaign Finance Laws so that EVERYONE must disclose EVERY donation, no matter how small. All about that dark money, after all, right? (Note: Tom Silvia is apparently her husband. As with most “powerful” liberal women, they refuse to take their husband’s name, even though “two shall become one” and all.)
Related: Chandley/Dokmo Take Over The Amherst Citizen
All told, Senator Chandley did raise over $14,000 for this 6 month period. $7,550 of that came from PACs and businesses. $8,775 is from out of state. All but $505 is from out of her district. $500 from Anheuser-Busch, and $5 from a fella I won’t name.
The Rhode Island fundraiser she held did turn out quite lucrative for her, at least. You know, since Chandley raised only $5 in district.
Senator Chandley is being opposed by former Senator Gary Daniels again in 2020.
Campaign Finance Privacy Protection
It’s too late for bills to be introduced this year, but to prevent the poor blokes who give $5 to their favorite politician from being blog fodder, some work should be done. A bill could (and should) be put in the protect the privacy of political donation givers.
Personally, I think all political donations should be private. But, to start, all donations under $25 could be protected by barring campaigns from reporting those who donate. Food for thought.
