I’m not sure why Michael Steele thinks his party is in such a dire situation right now. If the special election held is Massachusetts is any sort of litmus test for Republicans in 2010, it’s looking like they should be alright. Steele wrote last week, “strengthening our party for the 2010 elections is going to take a massive grass-roots effort all across America,” in defense of a fund-raising move that even some members of GOP are questioning. Steele has commissioned a massive mailing campaign all across the country to raise money for his party, the dirty trick is the mail’s emulating the 2010 National Census to dupe those who receive the envelope into giving money to what they think is the United States Census Bureau. Steele and co. named the envelopes “Congressional District Census”, they even printed in bold letters “DO NOT DESTROY, OFFICIAL DOCUMENT” across it.
I’m not quite sure how this isn’t illegal. Especially in a year when the ACTUAL Census will be taken. Director of the Census Bureau‘s regional office in Kansas City, Dennis Johnson, has publicly addressed the issue already, fearing the mail could legitimately affect this year’s Census. The House subcommittee in charge of the census does seem to think it’s illegal: “We believe that the RNC mailings are an attempt to mislead recipients and appear to us to be violations of federal law“, it wrote in a letter to the Postmaster General. The head of the subcommittee happens to be a Republican from North Carolina — Patrick McHenry — and even he doesn’t approve of the tactic. “Congressman McHenry is very concerned about the integrity of the census and would discourage any organization from distributing information that intentionally or not is easily confused with official U.S. Census materials“, his aide stated. A RNC member on the inside, however, told the AP that this is one of the GOP’s most lucrative platforms, saying, “They will likely mail millions this year [with] incredible targeting… Of course, duping people is the point. … That’s one of the reasons why it works so well.”
Yikes. Be on the lookout for any mail of the sort. (The picture above is the actual mailer)
-D
If they think folks will fall for this esp. when it says send money. I think they are stupider than I thought. It is a dirty trick and it can fool the elderly who think they already completed a Census. If that is the cas then the GOP might well hurt themselves as they could wind up losing a Congressional seat or two. How can they think this is a good idea.