I’m a bit shocked to read this on Peter Morales UUA for President Blog.
The last two successful candidates spent over $100,000.
I don’t know about our UUA election process, how closely it mirrors the best practices of US elections from our democracy standpoint. Are all donors revealed? Whats the timeline? I know we look closely at Obama and McCain, and then analyze. I wonder if that will be done more for UUA now that we have the internet?
7 responses so far ↓
Boy in the Bands » Blog Archive » Influence transparency a must // August 10, 2008 at 8:45 am |
[...] organization — that I think ministerial colleague and blogger Joseph Santos-Lyons (Radicalhapa.com) is correct about fund raising for the Unitarian Universalist Association presidential election [...]
Patrick McLaughlin // August 10, 2008 at 9:46 am |
It’s shocking… but then the cost of things IS usually shocking. Assume no staff for a campaign being paid, just the cost of paper, buttons, etc, plus shipping that stuff to GA (a couple years of that), plus GA costs (travel, registration, booth, housing) for some people to staff the booth. Plus travel costs and housing (and car rental and…) for the candidate to go to various regions to be seen and talked to and checked out.
And I’m sure that I’ve overlooked some significant cost factors, too.
Racks up fast. Shocking, yes. But reality is often shocking. The cost for a search committee to perform search for a minister — some housing and transportation and some shipping/mailing costs as well as printing and phone calls and meals… was pretty eye-opening for members of our congregation. And that’s only a handful of trips and doesn’t include the GA stuff.
radicalhapa // August 10, 2008 at 11:43 am |
Makes sense Patrick. Thats only $50,000 for each candidate. But in an election with around 3000 votes…I’m curious to learn more how money is spent.
Bill Baar // August 10, 2008 at 1:08 pm |
I’d sure like to see an accounting of how it’s spent and the donors.
I think this is just 100K plus spent by each to the two recent winners, and doesn’t include what the losers spent.
Transparency should be a top issue….I’ve been a UU for a long time but paid little attention to UUA. Now that I am, I’m curious what goes on with it… it seems awfully cloistered.
Especially when I’m told the peace-making Statement of Con will be the springboard for UUA to make larger pronouncements… so just who is spending money and what are they planning to say on my behalf?
Philocrites // August 11, 2008 at 12:00 pm |
The UUA rule governing the disclosure of campaign contributions is here: Rule G-9.12.8. It says (in part):
radicalhapa // August 11, 2008 at 3:36 pm |
reading this rule, it looks like no one will know who is giving until it is really too late!
Better UUA Elections Disclosure « Radicalhapa.com Liberation and Mutuality // August 11, 2008 at 3:49 pm |
[...] Photos ← What? $100,000 UUA Presidential Campaign? [...]