This was shared with me by a certain person who removed the name of the source who sent it to her, because she doesn’t trust me with such information.
This is an encouraging message, because the governor is actually advocating reform in this pitch, as opposed to what I got out of the previous one from Tom Davis, which emphasized the governor’s strange belief that government in South Carolina is overly blessed with resources.
This message, paired with the promise of Reform SC to disclose its sources of income, has calmed me down a tad on this subject, for now.
Anyway, here’s the message:
From: Mark Sanford [mailto:mark@sanfordforgovernor.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 3:09 PM
To: DELETED/crs
Subject: Reform SC Fundraiser with Governor Jeb BushI hope the weekend treated you well.
I am writing to ask for your help.
We are now three weeks out from our one fundraising push on behalf of Reform SC, and if you could help us I would appreciate it.
From a South Carolina perspective, this is really important because there is no way our government’s structure will change until enough people are talking at a grass roots level on the need for it. I have said to a number of friends that until someone is asking their cousin in Hampton why we are the only state in the country with a Budget and Control Board – and in turn they are talking to someone else about how that drives up the cost of our state government – change will be exceedingly tough. We have a fatally flawed governmental structure that costs all of us in a variety of ways and changing it is the lynchpin to changing many of our government’s outcomes.
So all this makes our current push toward October 16th very important, and indeed its why I would ask that you join in if this currently isn’t on your radar screen – and that you redouble your efforts if it is.
If you could scrape up the $500 an individual, $1000 a couple, to attend one of the events in Spartanburg, Columbia or Charleston, it would help very much – and I think you would be in for a treat. Jeb has a very unique vantage point on the need for reform in government.
If you can’t I would still ask that you help financially at some level and talk to friends about doing the same because a little help from a lot of friends adds up. There will be plenty of additional ways to help beyond that, but again this is our one big push in trying to fill the gas tank financially so that the important work of educating on reform can begin.
In either case we need to be getting checks in so we know how many people to expect and plan for on the 16th. So if you can help us please send any checks to Reform SC, P.O. Box 123, Columbia SC 29202.
Thank you for your consideration on this – I appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Mark
P.S. If you are interested in one of the events and need further details, please let me know.
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It is odd that you got the “warm huggies” from a fund raising letter.
All I got from it was “give ME more money” so that I can act like I am a leader while I accomplishing nothing.
So I suppose it is hats off to Sanford, as once again he shows he can rasie money and get good press…even as the ship of state takes on water.
This is an encouraging message, because the governor is actually advocating reform in this pitch.
-Brad
No, he’s groveling for money. We’ve already had restructuring and it failed. Why should we go through that charade again?
Does having the word “reform” in the title of this organization blind you to what is going on? The stated purpose of Governor Sanford’s new advocacy group is to function as a PAC, supporting candidates who back Sanford’s agenda to “modernize” the state government by giving the Governor more policy-making authority. You miss two important points. So far Governor Sanford’s thrust in modernization has been to shift the tax burden (drop top income tax rate, shift property tax on high-end properties to sales tax) more toward middle and lower income citizens. The other key point he has pushed is private school vouchers. His main tool has been public deceptive bashing of the public schools laced with Libertarian rationale and shadow groups targeting the Republican and Democratic opponents of his scheme. The seed money for this group came from his left-over war chest funded largely by out-of-state and local well-heeled donors. He plans to use PAC money to threaten legislators who don’t back his agenda as thoroughly as he wants. If it walks and quacks like a PAC, it’s a PAC. Wake up, Brad.
Oh, I’ve been awake, Harry. Go here and check my response to your observation.
Your collegue, Ms Scoppe, informed me in an earlier email that you would likely address this issue when I wrote her about it months ago. My contention, however, is that this corrupting effort should be addressed in an editorial, likely to be read by a much larger audience than a blog post. This “Reform SC” effort is not small potatoes when you consider how close Sanford and his allies came to unseating a midlands Republican who opposed vouchers and funding a low-country legislator who was elected without substantial financial support outside the voucher lobby. Any positive press for this group reminds me of admiration for Hamas because of their “Humanitarian” work. The purpose of Reform SC is to use special-interest money to corrupt the electoral system. Period. If you don’t think they will sponsor deceptive attack ads, email rumor, and push polls, you don’t know Sanford.