Ursula Rozum Gives Thousands in Republican Cash to Charity
November 2, 2012 in Congressional Campaigns
Ursula Rozum, who is running for the 24th Congressional District in New York, became the recipient of thousands of dollars in donations from Republican boosters in Florida who are also donating cash to her Republican opponent. Rozum decided to donate the money to local charities rather than return it, to send a message. From Syracuse.com:
Syracuse, NY – Ursula Rozum, Green Party candidate for the 24th Congressional District, thought it was strange when big unsolicited campaign donations started flowing in over PayPal from Florida.
The Grace family, residents of a wealthy ocean-front community in Hobe Sound, had taken a sudden interest in her campaign to tax the rich and other 99 percent sympathies.
Carolyn Grace, a homemaker, gave $2,500. When she hit the maximum, her three children Nicholas, Frederick and Alicia together gave another $1,750.
Some quick research showed the Graces are donors to Rozum’s Republican opponent, Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle.
They have a history of giving mostly to conservative candidates and political action committees, including Karl Rove’s American Crossroads and the Club for Growth.
Rozum thought the Graces were likely to have only one interest in helping a Green Party candidate in a close Republican-Democrat matchup 1,300 miles away: Helping Buerkle.
Even though the Graces’ contributions would more than triple the amount of money she has to spend in the last week of the campaign, Rozum decided not to keep them.
She held a press conference Thursday to announce that she would give the money to charity. Rozum sat at a table in the Green Party headquarters on South Salina Street and happily gave the Grace’s money away to a list of community groups and voter advocacy groups. A few supporters and her dog looked on as she wrote checks.
“It’s rare that I have thousands of dollars to give to organizations that I like,” she said.
She gave $750 each to the Dunbar Association, the Workers Center of Central New York and the Friends of the Ida Benderson Center, a group hoping to reopen a senior center in downtown Syracuse. She gave $500 each to the voter advocacy groups FairVote, Move to Amend, the Election Defense Alliance and No More Stolen Elections.
Here is Ursula Rozum’s campaign ad running this weekend:
upstartgreen said on November 2, 2012
I guess Lenin was right when he said: ” I can purchase a rope in the morning from a capitalist with which I will hang him in the afternoon.”
RMW Stanford said on November 2, 2012
So pretty much she made a decision to limit the number of voters she can reach and did an activity while good that 90+ percent of the elector wouldnt care about one bit.
upstartgreen said on November 2, 2012
Yes holding to her Green Party Values and possibly impacting the lives those groups help as well as building alliances with those groups.
Smart said on November 2, 2012
As a Libertarian, I not only think she did the right thing – i know she did.
B-st-rds trying to boost minor party candidates to hurt the main candidate aren’t any better than the Sheldon Adelsens of the world.
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T.M. Scruggs said on November 8, 2012
That was a great idea, and hopefully the press conference got her some publicity. This is a model for all Green candidates who find themselves suddenly being used by Republicrats to pull votes from the Demopublican. NOW….if there was ranked voting, THEN she should say “Oh, thank you very much” and use it for her campaign. Of course, if there WAS ranked voting/instant run-off voting then no Repug would fund her to begin with.
T.M. Scruggs said on November 8, 2012
Now that was a great idea, and hopefully the press conference got her some publicity. This is a model for all Green candidates who find themselves suddenly being used by Republicrats to pull votes from the Demopublican. NOW….if there was ranked voting, THEN she should say “Oh, thank you very much” and use it for her campaign. Of course, if there WAS ranked voting/instant run-off voting then no Repug would fund her to begin with.