February 19, 2009

GOP’s 2012 Field Forced to Ante Up

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Yesterday I noted that Louisiana Governor and hardline Republican Bobby Jindal is contemplating turning down stimulus funds as a way to burnish his conservative credentials in advance of a 2012 or 2016 presidential run. Now it looks like the rest of the GOP’s potential presidential candidates are doing the same. Here’s MSNBC’s First Read:

A half-dozen Republican governors are considering turning down some money from the federal stimulus package, a move opponents say puts conservative ideology ahead of the needs of constituents struggling with foreclosures and unemployment. Who are these GOP governors? They’re a “who’s who” of possible presidential candidates in 2012 — Sanford (SC), Jindal (LA), Palin (AK), Perry (TX), and Barbour (MS).

This is a dangerous game. For the sake of making a ideological stand (and scoring some political PR points), these governors are endangering the livelihoods of their constiuents. There is no serious argument for turning down stimulus funds, after all. Sure, these governors may have (wrongly) thought that tax cuts would serve as a better stimulant of their local economy, but now that the federal money is available, it’s not as though it can make things worse. And if we have a national tax increase 15 years from now to pay for all this spending, certain states won’t be exempted because of the actions of their governors today.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate