Really Good Question

This was a great question in my comments section that I wanted to post, since some people may not read them:

Anonymous said...

Dear Shaleen, quick question, who is paying for the salaries of all Trust's staff while they are working at voting sites? I agree with the Trust's mission, don't get me wrong, but I find it troubling that as a taxpayer, I may be paying for staff to conduct a political activity regardless of its good intentions.

August 19, 2008 9:02 PM
Shaleen said...

Good question! I had to take vacation time to help with the campaign. The Trust has been very strict with that. Nothing for the campaign can be done while at work or with work computers cell phones, etc.

Back to this post:
It is in fact against the law for taxpayer money to be used for campaign purposes. This is why over a year ago, a political action campaign was created. That group began fundraising and raised over $1 million for campaign ads, flyers, yard signs etc. Most of the money is for campaign ads given that they are the most expensive part of a campaign. For most of the past year, the PAC has been staffed by just two people - a campaign manager, a political strategist who is doing this pro bono. In the past month or so, they were joined by a team of volunteers (a LOT of college students home for summer).

For most of the past year, Trust staff were, purposely, left completely out of the loop with regard to anything related to the campaign - for the simple fact that we actually wouldn't be able to answer questions on work time b/c we don't have the information.

In the past month, when the campaign really got started is when many of us contacted the campaign to see how we could help - and they gladly accepted since the early polling was not looking positive.

Anything that I do about the vote, sending emails, making phone calls etc is done in the evenings and weekends. The only time I'm actually taking off of work to help is the rest of this week and election day - the 26th.

I would add, that the majority of the staff aren't working full days like I am. I just finished a major deadline so I had some 'downtime' in my schedule, so I decided to take the time off. Most people who are volunteering, Trust staff or not, are doing it during weekends when there are more people voting.