Buttigieg Introduces Gimmick To Lower Average Donation Amount

[Marilyn MonHoe 11,011]

Facing sustained criticism from rival Democratic presidential hopefuls over his ritzy wine cave fundraiser and billionaire contributors, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 campaign this week launched a “contest” to see which supporter can give the candidate the smallest unique donation—a competition that’s conveniently timed just ahead of the fourth-quarter filing deadline.

Buttigieg’s campaign described the contest as an innocuous “end of year guessing game,” but critics condemned it as a gimmick that appears designed to lower the mayor’s average donation for the final quarter of the year and create the impression of a genuine surge in grassroots enthusiasm.

Through three quarters of fundraising, Buttigieg’s average donation has been around $40, significantly higher than the $18 and $27 averages boasted by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), respectively.

“Instead of just ending private fundraisers with wealthy donors and refusing to accept donations from billionaires, Pete’s campaign rolled out this cynical ploy to skew the average donation amount by flooding the pool with mass donations of a few pennies,” tweeted progressive activist Jordan Uhl. “What a f*cking joke.”

In a Christmas Eve email to supporters, the “Pete for America Innovation Team” explained the contest:

 

All you have to do to win is donate the smallest amount that nobody else donates. In other words, suppose you donate $1.00. If someone else playing also donated exactly $1, you both lose. We’ll see if only one player donated $1.01, and so on until we find an amount donated exactly once, and that’s our winner.

That’s it—those are the rules! Only donations that are part of this contest count (from this email, and let’s be real, we might send you a reminder or two but that’s it). Multiple donations are allowed; just be creative, pick a unique donation amount, and you could win.

 

“The only reason to do this is to rig the stats,” tweeted activist Rafael Shimunov. “Buttigieg wants to diversify the amounts here, so that in financial filings it doesn’t look suspiciously like the same amount. Encouraging supporters to think up random tiny amounts to make it appear natural and not rigged.”

The contest comes just days after Warren and Sanders both took aim at Buttigieg over his now-infamous wine cave fundraiser in Napa Valley, California and his dozens of billionaire campaign contributors.

Ahead of the debate, Buttigieg drew outrage by leaving more than twenty major bundlers off a list of top fundraisers his campaign released last week—omissions the campaign said were inadvertent.

“The first time I saw this list, I said, ‘There is no way this is comprehensive,” Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, told Politico. “It’s just kind of mind-blowing that they would be this dishonest.”

Source: https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/buttigiegs-small-dollar-contest-seen-as-cynical-ploy-to-lower-average-donation-amount/amp/

[FATCAT 60,888]

Okay that's really clever tho! 

[Chickens in Malibu 7,873]

Are we surprised? He's fake as ****.

 

[Kevbev 498]

His campaign is unbearable. 

[LadariousGarage 1]

so, some of y'all still supporting him lol

[LibraLove 1,281]

2 minutes ago, FATCAT said:

Okay that's really clever tho! 

LOL. It's actually very transparent. Having to literally beg for low dollar contributions is kind of telling of your support base and who you attract. 

[Reginald 13,841]

Sorry, Pete  I already donated to Bernie's campaign twice in the last week 

[Marilyn MonHoe 11,011]

Let’s recap:

Pete tried to fake his black politician support in South Carolina, tried to fake his support for M4A and is now trying to fake his average donation amount.

What’s next? 

[Marilyn MonHoe 11,011]

@Morphine Prince @OG Gaga Stan @HorusRa2 @TheQueenLG @M Monstre

Can y’all believe this mess?

[REALITY 80,162]

You know, in the beginning I really liked him, but I just can't get behind his policies or really anything he does at all. This is a new low

[PoshLife 17,019]

57 minutes ago, LadariousGarage said:

so, some of y'all still supporting him lol

It's almost like there's more to picking a president than dumb sh*t like this

He's not my #1 choice by any means, but if I was going to question why someone was supporting him this wouldn't be what I focused on. It wouldn't even be in the top ten.

[PoshLife 17,019]

53 minutes ago, Marilyn MonHoe said:

@Morphine Prince @OG Gaga Stan @HorusRa2 @TheQueenLG @M Monstre

Can y’all believe this mess?

Get dat external validation

[PoshLife 17,019]

59 minutes ago, LibraLove said:

LOL. It's actually very transparent. Having to literally beg for low dollar contributions is kind of telling of your support base and who you attract. 

Every candidate begs for donations by using gimmicks. Sen. Warren has asked me like 80 times to donate to her so I can enter to win a free beer ("or coffee or whatever!") with her and her husband and her dog   His is just focused on getting particularly small contributions.

[Brainiac 11,171]

Good thing I donated to Bernie 4 times today already  

[PartySick 172,486]

Why is there simultaneously a contest to see who can get the most but still get the least in campaign money?

This is dumb. He should just be straight up and say "I'm not going to play this game with Warren and Sanders. I'll get my money and use it in a way I believe is good."

He's trying to play by their rules and they're WAAAY better at it than he is.

This is a losing strategy imo and makes me question his judgement.