Specter the Weasel

Last week I pointed out that Arlen Specter's flip may turn out to be a flop, since his voting patterns don't seem to have changed. Sure, he's better than most Republicans, but he still voted against Obama's budget, and he opposes the important labor bill and some of the basic elements of the future health care reform.

Now it looks like he could also prove an embarrassment connected with a fund-raising effort.

As reported on TPM, in a fundraising website specterforthecure.com, Specter touts a bold new plan to fund cancer research (he is a survivor of Hodgkin's disease). The implication in the web site is that you would be contributing to cancer research.

The main heading of the website is: "Specter for the Cure: A Giant Leap in Turning Research into Cures." It is described as "a bold new initiative to reform our government's medical research efforts, cut red tape and unstrangle the hope for accelerated cures."

But it is actually a sly -- maybe even deceptive -- political fundraiser for Specter's re-election campaign. The reasoning goes like this: we need Specter in the Senate to ensure the passage of this legislation, so contribute to his re-election. And it does, in fact, say at the end "Please contribute to Senator Specter’s re-election Committee – Citizens for Arlen Specter."

But it seems that many people might contribute thinking they are supporting cancer research.

And they will be, but only indirectly. Not a dime of the money will go directly to cancer research or to fund treatments. If he loses the election, or if the legislation does not pass, research will not have benefited even indirectly.

It should be very clear that this is a political contribution and therefore is not tax-deductible. That is the clear distinction. Nowhere on the web site does it say that contributions are not tax-deductible, as they would be for medical research.

My previous impression of Specter as an unreliable weasel remains unchanged.

Ralph