PA-Sen: Cancer Research Website Really Arlen Specter Campaign Fundraiser

[ccharles000]

http://www.senateguru.com/diary/707/pasen-cancer-research-website-really-arlen-specter-campaign-fundraiser

Arlen Specter has been promoting a new website - www.SpecterForTheCure.com - which appears to be an effort to raise money for medical research. Take a look at the website for yourself and get a first impression of your own - and please share in the comments those first impressions as well as your thoughts after reading the below article. It turns out that the donations solicited by the website do not go to medical research - the donations go to Specter's re-election fund:

In two national TV appearances Sunday, Sen. Arlen Specter plugged specterforthecure.com - a website he said he launched to "put more pressure on Congress" to increase funding for medical research.
What Specter didn't say: The website is owned by his reelection committee, and contributions made there go straight to Specter's 2010 reelection campaign.

No one doubts Specter's commitment to federal funding for medical research. A survivor of two bouts with Hodgkin's disease, the Pennsylvania Republican-turned-Democrat is pushing a bill that would authorize $40 billion a year in baseline funding for the National Institutes of Health.

But critics say Specter's comments Sunday and the layout of specterforthecure.com itself obscure the fact that what looks like a solicitation for medical research is really just a campaign cash come-on.

"While it may meet the technical legal requirements, it's fair to say it's a bit misleading," said Meredith McGehee, policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan campaign law watchdog.

As first noted by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's PoliTex blog, specterforthecure.com "appears at first glance to be a fundraising site for a reform movement to help Sen. Arlen Specter fund programs that will seek cures for major diseases."

Visitors to specterforthecure.com are greeted with a banner promising "A Giant Leap in Turning Cancer into Cures." While the homepage of most campaign Web sites feature a photo of the candidate, this one offers a picture of a woman with red tape over her mouth. The caption: "Red tape leaves medical research gasping for breath. It's time we let loose the winds of a cure."

The first several paragraphs on the site talk about the fight against cancer, autism, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and diabetes and discuss Specter's efforts to push through legislation increasing funding for research.

"It's time to unleash the cure," the site says.

There's a reference to "The Specter Record on Medical Research" at the top of the page, but there's not a word about Specter's reelection above the fold; that comes nine paragraphs in, after readers have scrolled down from a bit. And it takes 11 paragraphs before a reader would have any hint that the "Donate Now!" button displayed prominently at the top of the screen is for contributions to Citizens for Arlen Specter, the senator's campaign committee.

[kristopher]

1. I don't see a problem with it.

He is arguing that his reelection is critical to this program. To do that, he has to first explain the program. Then he makes full disclosure of why he is asking for donations:
"In 2010, Arlen Specter will seek re-election to the United States Senate. Without Arlen Specter back in the Senate to see it through, Specter for the Cure could be lost to the ordinary politics of Washington that kills real change.

With his unsurpassed record of support for medical research, helping to return Senator Specter to the Senate is a powerful statement on behalf of those suffering with disease.

Become a member, today, of Specter for the Cure. Please contribute to Senator Specter’s re-election Committee – Citizens for Arlen Specter. All contributions, of any amount, will be gratefully welcomed. Those who sign up to donate $10 each month for ten months, will receive members only information on the Senator’s effort to transform medical research and accelerate cures. "

That is a standard approach for selling any product, first you explain the benefits, next establish the value, then ask the price.

[ccharles000]

2. kick

[Abq_Sarah]

3. He's going to build a bridge

Over the Valley of Death if only we send him campaign contributions?

Is it too late to give him back to the repbs?

[Tab]

4. No, I think he's pretty upfront about it

Both on the main page and on the donate page he makes it clear that it is so that he can continue to introduce legislation and that it is for his reelection (because without that, he can't continue the fight).

I question the value, however, of my donating $10/month ($120/yr) so I can receive "members only information on the Senator's effort to transform medical research and accelerate cures." What the hell does that mean? Is it secret information? Or is it to target me for more donations?

I'm not convinced he's the only one that will fight for cancer research, nor am I convinced that he wouldn't fight if I didn't donate. Obviously he can't fight if he's not re-elected, which seems to be the point of this campaign, but it strikes me as slightly cynical.

And believe me, I'm not against a cure for cancer. I currently have Stage III cancer. I'm just not convinced that re-election of Arlen Specter is my one and only hope out there. I wouldn't mind donating to his cancer cause directly (the "CAN" initiative) but just to get him reelected? I don't think so.