MCEA Mails, Politicians Wail

MCEA’s political program started going into high gear last week. Some politicians like it, others hate it, but everybody is talking about it. And of course, that means MPW is talking about it too! (Would you expect anything less?)

MCEA is best-known for its Apple Ballot, a poll piece mailed to Democratic voters and distributed by MCEA members at the polls. The Apple Ballot prompted us to call MCEA the “800 lb Gorilla of MoCo Politics” in our very first blog post. But MCEA does much, much more for its endorsees. Much of it is financed with its members’ PAC contributions, which is the conventional model used by everyone else. But some of it is financed with money contributed by the candidates themselves.

In a pair of emails sent to us by our omni-present spy network, MCEA political strategist Jon Gerson explained the program to the union’s endorsed candidates. (Both are marked “confidential.”) Here’s Gerson discussing the Apple mailing as well as other programs on July 5:

As in 2006, MCEA is once again planning to direct mail the die-cut Apple Ballot (19 different versions, based upon the Council/Legislative District) to every Democratic Primary voter in Montgomery County. In addition, over the past few weeks, we have been working closely with individual/team campaigns who have contacted us to explore other ways to help ensure voters in their district are aware of our support. While every candidate will be featured on the Apple Ballot, the nature and character of any additional outreach (e.g. supplemental mail pieces, neighborhood letters, phone banking, lawn signs for teachers’ homes, coffees, photo/graphic support, etc.) will be unique to each candidate. If you have any questions regarding our program/priorities or want to discuss working together on a specific initiative, please contact me as soon as possible.

Gerson went into more detail in another email to the endorsed candidates on August 24:

This year, MCEA will once again direct mail the die-cut Apple Ballot (19 different versions, based upon the Council/Legislative District) to every Democratic Primary voter in Montgomery County. The entire cost of this mailing (which is considerable, as its unique shape requires processing by hand and delivery to each post office in the county) is paid for solely by our members’ PAC contributions; no outside funds are associated with the cost of producing/mailing/distributing the Apple Ballot. In addition, our members cover the cost of those die-cut Apple Ballots which are distributed at the polls on Election Day (including the Early Voting sites)…

MCEA is promoting our recommended candidates to key voters in other ways as well. We have purchased advertisements in the upcoming issues of Bethesda Magazine (see attached), Washington Jewish Week and other targeted publications, which are scheduled to hit homes/newsstands next week. In addition, our interactive ads on Gazette.net (Home and Montgomery pages) will begin appearing this coming Wednesday, as visits/traffic to the site increases during the election season. Finally, included in each of the 266,000 copies of the September 8th print edition of the Gazette newspapers will be MCEA’s full-color, eight page supplement insert, featuring articles/photos on education, our recommended candidates and other information of interest to voters.

In addition to promoting all recommended candidates, we have been working closely with individual/team campaigns who have contacted us to explore other ways to help ensure voters in their district are aware of our support. While every candidate will be featured on the Apple Ballot, the nature and character of any additional outreach (e.g. supplemental mail pieces, extensive voter id calling, targeted email outreach, social media advertising, neighborhood letters, phone banking, lawn signs for teachers’ homes, coffees, photo/graphic support, etc.) are unique to each candidate. Including the Apple Ballot, MCEA will be sending out over 350,000 pieces of direct mail in the upcoming Primary Election campaign. If you have any questions regarding our program/priorities or want to discuss working together on a specific initiative, please contact me as soon as possible.

To his credit, Gerson is being very direct with the candidates. MCEA is doing a large number of things with member PAC money alone: Apple Ballot mailings, Apple Ballot poll distribution and ads in the Gazette and other publications. But supplemental help was to be given at the option of the candidates, and was to be financed by the candidates themselves. Translation: if you want extra, come to us, work it out and pay for it. Every endorsed candidate was given this opportunity. Some took it, while others – some of whom were intimidated by the Post – did not. In fact, in their endorsement calls to candidates, Washington Post editorial writers asked point-blank whether MCEA-endorsed candidates intended to contribute to MCEA’s PAC and strongly hinted that those who did would probably not be supported by the Post.

So last week, MCEA mailers started going out. Here’s a version from District 39.







Delegate Charles Barkley (D-39) and at-large council candidates George Leventhal, Marc Elrich and Hans Riemer are not in the mailer even though they were endorsed by MCEA.

And here’s a version from District 16.







District 1 Council Member Roger Berliner and at-large council candidates George Leventhal, Marc Elrich and Hans Riemer are not in the mailer even though they were endorsed by MCEA. House challenger Ariana Kelly received a bigger picture than Delegates Susan Lee and Bill Frick.

This week, MCEA purchased an eight-page insert in the Gazette. It contained four articles on MCPS and education topics, a quarter-page listing of every MCEA-recommended candidate and advertisements touting the union’s School Board candidates, Council Member Marc Elrich (two ads), County Council candidates Craig Rice (two ads), and Becky Wagner (two ads including a half-page on the back), Senators Jennie Forehand and Mike Lenett, Senate candidate Karen Montgomery (two ads), Delegate Anne Kaiser and Delegate candidates Bonnie Cullison (two ads), Shane Robinson and Ariana Kelly. Presumably, these candidates plus those listed in the mailers paid for their placement. But when we asked them, two candidates who were not School Board Members or state-wide candidates said they had not paid.

Those politicians who have not been supported by the Teachers are predictably resentful. But even some who have been endorsed despise the program. They believe that the candidate-financed mailings may be perceived by the public as evidence that MCEA favors some of its endorsed candidates over others, or perhaps has not endorsed some whom they have indeed endorsed. One angry MCEA endorsee told of getting a phone call from a relative who received one of MCEA’s mailers, saw that the endorsee was not listed, and asked if the Teachers had retracted their endorsement.

Have you ever bought a new car? First, there is a base price for your model (and different base prices for sub-models). Then, there are prices for add-ons, like mud flaps, stripes, floor mats, GPS, satellite radio and more. All of these prices are negotiable, including your trade-in price and even a loan interest rate. So if you know what you’re doing, you haggle over all of these items and see if you can strike a deal. That’s what MCEA’s program resembles.

But no one wants to go through the hassle of being a car buyer, especially not harried, insecure and paranoid politicians. Here is the typical mindset of a politician dealing with an endorsing organization.

Are you with me? If you are, great. Give me money and help me get more money. You don’t have a lot of money? Then get me bodies, or door-knock, or do an independent expenditure. If you give me a little extra, great, but don’t give anyone else more than you’re giving me. If you’re not with me, I’m disappointed, but don’t endorse my opponent. And if you do endorse my opponent, then don’t help them go negative on me or I’ll never forgive you.

The above represents the level of sophistication of 90% or more of the candidates in this county. And that’s the G-rated version!

MCEA’s response to grumbles from politicians, whether endorsed or not, about their political program is essentially “Tough Twinkies!” And it’s their right to say that and to run their program any way they wish. But politicians don’t deal with any other organization that acts this way, and they’ll remember it – likely at a very inconvenient time for the union.