Since writing about the Fed Ex/UPS dust-up here and here - and taking a fair amount of heat for it (see the Comments) – I’ve occasionally been checking the web for new articles, columns, and updates.
This morning, before I even checked my Google alerts, I saw a Corner post referring to this story on Politico. It seems that FedEx has leaked letter from the American Conservative Union detailing the suggested terms for an expensive email campaign on FedEx’s behalf. (Politico has all the cut-and-pastes from the letter.)
“Oops.”
Where to begin?
Before I lament the loss of integrity or rip the ACU for being so stupid as to detail a “pay for play” proposal in writing without a strict confidentiality clause, I don’t think David Keene would have sent such a letter without an invitation to do so. I bet someone at FedEx asked for a proposal, thinking the ACU could be a natural ally in their anti-union fight. Don’t have any facts to support that theory, but I’m guessing that’s what happened.
Obviously FedEx passed on the ACU’s offer to run a $2 to $3.4M (yes, million) email campaign and is now going after Keene and the ACU because he/they recently threw in their hat with UPS via a coalition letter on ACU letterhead and signed by various grassroots conservative groups. Whether or not the ACU took any money from UPS in exchange for public support is anybody’s guess. ACU reps are saying “no.”
A purist would say something like, ”Better to lose on issues and at the ballot booth than debase the conservative movement with questionable tactics.”
A strategist would say, “The other side does this kind of thing all the time, raising gazillions of dollars as they go, and we have to do it also in order to have a chance against them.”
E!! says: Smooth move, genuises. Now the reputation of one of the oldest, biggest conservative grassroots organizations in the country is tarnished, and it will be even harder for the ACU to raise money in this already anemic fundraising environment. Or to have any political clout when they take a stand on issues.
