I attended the Sounds and Tastes of Virginia fundraiser for Governor Tim Kaine’s PAC, Moving Virginia Forward, last night. I arrived in time to attend the VIP reception, which started at 6pm. The crowd gathered in the room were treated to the soft jazz of the Skip Giles Trio and some wonderful Virginia food, including mini crab cakes.
I had the opportunity to chat with several of our fine candidates, including Bobby Mathieson, Adam Tomer, Jeanette Rishell, and Steve Heretick, as well as a number of campaign staff members, and other political activists. The Governor joined us around 7pm. Since the Jefferson Hotel is located in the 71st House District, Delegate Jennifer McClellan introduced the Governor, who gave brief remarks. Just as the Governor began to speak, gospel music from the Virginia State University Gospel Choir filled the air from the lobby below.
The Governor said that this night was expected to raise $750,000 for his PAC and pointed out that none of this money was for himself, nor was any of it for federal campaigns. He said that the money was solely for the general assembly races, where he hoped to get more help for his agenda by electing more Democrats.
I headed to the general reception, which started at 7pm in the Grand Ballroom. I entered the room and joined about 500 others, including bloggers teacherken and Mark Brooks. Mark was taking pictures so I hope he’ll post some of those soon. The crowd at that point was being entertained by blues singer Gaye Adegbalola, resplendent in white tails. Milling around, I ran into Webb staff and former blogger Conaway Haskins, Charley Conrad, president of the Virginia Partisans, numerous gubernatorial staff members, numerous members of the Democratic Party of Virginia, and activists from throughout the state. (I saw at least one chartered bus outside.)
Just before the Governor addressed this group, I spotted a woman who I’ve seen around at various events in Hampton Roads and headed her way. Unbeknownst to me, she is the wife of our presumed candidate in the 1st Senate District, John Miller, who was also in attendance. I got to chat very briefly with him, as Senator Henry Marsh III was beginning his introduction of the Governor.
After the Governor’s remarks, in which he poked fun at the fact that Marsh’s law firm refused to hire him when he first came to Richmond, the bluegrass band Locust Mountain Boys, took the stage. Throughout the room there were various food stations set up, with more wonderful tastes of Virginia, including barbeque and crab dip. It was at this point that I had a chance to chat with our 2006 (and 2008) candidate in the 1st Congressional District, Shawn O’Donnell. Shawn has never stopped running for this seat. I see him everywhere!
On the way out, Finance Secretary Jody Wagner offered her own taste of Virginia, distributing boxes of Jody’s Gourmet Popcorn. (Get your own here.)
All in all, it was a wonderful evening.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Rob, I think you make a fair point regarding the $125 price point being a matter of perspective. This was certainly not the highest dollar event that Governor Kaine has headlined and is probably one of the most-affordable for the widest possible audience. Some people aren’t going to make the decision to spend that money on a political function, however.
The question, I think, is not whether or not these fundraisers are too expensive, but whether Governor Kaine is also accessible to people who don’t want to pay to go to a fundraiser. I’m a big fan of Kaine, so I might be biased, but I do think that he’s pretty good about being accessible to folks throughout the community from different walks of life. He spends a lot of time at community events, particularly on holidays. And if you’ve ever run into him at one of these events (I have, last July 4 in Norfolk), you probably won’t be able to walk up to him and shake his hand, but that’s because he’s pretty good at walking up to people and introducing himself first.
For some politicians, money is either the door for gaining access or the gate to keep out undesireables, but for most of the successful politicians, the goal is to be as widely accessible as possible, and fundraising is just another part of the operation. Keep an eye open and an ear to the ground, and judge for youself which camp a pol falls into.
A major point here is that his event and the money it generated goes to the candidates, not to Tim Kaine and his campaign.
When I talked to Ann Kaine at the event she mentioned that people need to know that Tim created this PAC specifically to help candidates in the upcoming leg elections.
So thanks to Tim and Ann for a great evening and caring for our state.
Linda b:
So…raising money for democrats == caring for Virginia?
Does that mean that raising money for republicans == hating Virginia? 🙂
Just curious.
I don’t want to take anything FROM Tim Kaine and his efforts, but I also don’t understand how taking money from people and then giving it to candidates they may (or may not) agree with is laudable. Especially since that money is specifically not going to be used to help feed the homeless, insure our children, or do anything for the common good. That $750k is destined to line the pockets of people who sway public opinion and nothing more. It goes to advance a political party, not our state. It is, effectively, buying votes.
I see that it’s a requirement to play the game of politics (clearly campaigns need to have a budget raised from like-minded individuals), but I certainly wouldn’t equate it with caring or nurturing. It’s his job; to use his clout to make money for his party. Tim and Ann get no kudos from me for that, nor do they deserve any enmity; it’s just the way things are.
anon 16:
I think it needs to go bigger than those who are willing to take time out of their life to go see their politician. I believe the least represented and most in need of representation are the millions of us too dang busy to put our lives for our representative. Tim Kaine can go his entire political career without pandering to the really needy and disenfranchised (aka: people who need his help the most) because he’s busy pandering to the wealthy and affluent (aka: the people who need his help the least.)
I hear an assumption here, maybe it’s my ears – the assumption I hear is that the best, most efficient, most effective way to win someone’s vote is to pay companies money and have them “advertise” you to victory. Does that about sum it up?
Rob – for some reason, your last comment ended up in the spam filter.
As to this:
You are making raising money = pandering. I don’t think that is the case by any means. Just look at what the governor had been advocating: preschool for 3 & 4 year olds, better teacher salaries, more resources for public safety, transportation – are those not the issues of all of us?
No, it’s not about advertising someone to victory. It’s about getting your message out. As a candidate, you have to reach as many people as you can by going where they are. That means knocking on doors, putting up a website, putting out mail, and so forth. How else can a candidate reach the voters? How else will the voters know a candidate’s position?
Or would you rather it be a name recognition contest only? That means a challenger would almost never win.
If you have some ideas, I’m all ears.
Vivian,
I join Linda in asking for you to attend one of our meetings in Newport News. Many of our mmbers do not actually know about the revolution on the internet in reference to politics and you would be the perfect speaker. Now for this debate about the $125.00 for the recent event. It was not really low enough for the typical middle class grassroot workers. An event in the $50-$60 range would be accessible to more grassroot workers. However, all one has to do to meet and talk with the Governor(or Tim) is follow his schedule because he makes many appearances around the state that are easily and cheaply afforable to a wider audience of dedicated Democrats.
“dedicated Democrats” yeah, I’m not one of those. I’m a dedicated Virginia, a dedicated American, etc. and I’m not so much with the “I support a party”.
VJP, great post, i just haven’t had time to rattle off my ideas on how a governor could use his title/clout to raise money for the issues he supports instead of for the politicians his party supports.
VJP, yes those issues are issues for us all, but, I’m not likely to find anyone stating that they’re against those sorts of things, nor are we likely to solve any of those problems under Tim Kaine, right? I mean most all people support better teacher salaries, don’t they? Are many politicians stomping VA clearly against teachers and their “give me more money” attitudes? No, I don’t think so.
So, what makes Tim Kaine different from anyone else in this respect? Do his candidates really need $750k to tell voters “Hey, I like puppies and teachers!”
My ideas; have politicians stop raising money for each other and start raising money for Virginians! How about rich and powerful people getting their 10 minutes alone with the governor and the proceeds from that go to support whatever cause the governor purports to be supportive of, DIRECTLY? Or through a PAC, if need be, but the point is that the politicians themselves, not the parties, should be bringing something to the table here, and it is certainly out of line for an elected official to be acting in the best interest of his party since there may be equally good people in the opposite party, thus making Virginians choose between parties instead of politicians.
Perhaps that would make it a “name recognition contest” but, really, we have that today. The names are “Republican or Democrat”. Either of those names will win over 95% of all elections so, really, I see the real world as you’ve described; a name recognition contest which no one other than a blue or red will win. I seek to make politics about the person, not the party, by making the politician beholden to the people they represent, not the party which bought their election.
The way to do this, in my opinion, is to make impact through action, not through finance. If a politician can’t get someone to front them a website then they don’t deserve to be elected. If hundreds of people won’t volunteer their time and energy, then again why bother supporting them? If a politician isn’t charismatic enough to win and garner money to the charities and causes he purports to support, why should he be elected?
I’m new to this game, but I can tell I already don’t like the rules.
rob, u make some truly valid comments. I usually don’t attend functions like this but it worked out this time.
I agree that the money could be used for the homeless.
However, in order to help those in the long run, we need a legislature that cares about those things. we don’t have that now.
You have truly valid reasoning.