Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) recently tweeted for voters to never give money to campaign emails. The advice was in response to a report that revealed former President Donald Trump spent 91 cents to raise every dollar in the third quarter.
#DonaldTrump symbolic of common fundraising scam.
Emails inundate citizens – begging for $ to help candidates win. Yet, too often, only 9 cents of their sacrifice benefits cause. 91% skimmed by fundraisers.
My advice: NEVER give $ to campaign emails.https://t.co/9sWioFvvLg
— Mo Brooks (@MoBrooks) October 17, 2022
Brooks joined WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program” on Friday and called for new laws to reform the system around campaign fundraising in the U.S.
“What we need are laws that change the system,” Brooks said. “We ought to be upset with the system and if we had a law that changed the system, i.e., something from the state Legislature … that required disclosure … we ought to have a disclosure here the illuminates how much of the money a citizen is contributing actually goes to the benefit of that candidate, to the payment for the things a campaign pays for such as yard signs, car stickers, radio spots, internet advertising and what have you.”
Brooks said voters would spend their money more wisely if there was a better system in place.
“It would be that, in this instance,” he said reacting to the Trump story, “if contributors to Donald Trump’s campaign would’ve know that only 9 cents of what they were contributing was actually going to help Donald Trump win an election, they wouldn’t have given it. They would have found another way to give it if they were that determined to help Donald Trump win this next election, should he run for president in 2024.”
Brooks’ advice once again was to give money directly to a campaign instead of responding to an email.
“If you want to help a campaign,” he said, “give the money directly to directly to the candidate, or perhaps mail it directly to the campaign address, or perhaps directly deposit it into the campaign’s website, if you want to do it with a credit card. Do it direct. Do not respond to these emails.”
Brooks said he’s not upset with the candidates, but believes the system itself is messed up.
“I’m not upset with the candidate that are put in the position because they need the money in order to get their message out,” he said. “I’m not upset with the people who are paid fundraisers who make 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, in this case 91%, off of the money that is contributed by citizens because they’re in it to make a buck. This is their living.”
Brooks said it’s incumbent upon the voters to change the way fundraising is done in this country.
“The way to get around all this is for voters to do their homework,” he said, “where candidates don’t feel like they have to spoon feed a message to voters, rather voters do their own homework and they know which candidate stands for which things … if the voters would do their homework, well, the influence of the money would be much less.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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