Time to Focus on Chris Jankowski

Last year, I kept hearing from Republican candidates and consultants about some weird activity that was going on within the party.  Republicans were at a serious financial disadvantage because Democrats had all the star power for fundraising with Tim Kaine, Mark Warner and Jim Webb.  On the other hand, John Warner was never interested in raising big bucks for local Republicans, Tom Davis was focused on his wife and Bill Bolling/Bob McDonnell are not big enough names to bring in massive money yet.

That left anyone willing to pile in big bucks to Republican campaigns as a much bigger player than they might have been in other cycles. Republicans were desperate for money to even keep spending close in a lot of campaigns, a big reversal from other cycles.  The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) stepped in big time.  The RSLC was the 9th largest donor of any party/PAC or individual in Virginia last year, to the tune of almost one million dollars ($897,576).

Which brings us to the weird activity last year.  Chris Jankowski, a lobbyist in Richmond was hired by the RSLC to coordinate their Virginia activity and expenditures.   The RSLC money was used in a very heavy handed way- often forcing candidates to drop their existing vendors (mail, tv, radio) in favor of Chris' friends who he had selected as receiving all the business.  As you can imagine, this did not get a good reaction from many candidates last year, and the disruption it caused probably cost the Republicans more seats than the money helped them buy.

The bigger problem with the leadership from Chris was the crap it produced.  Here's one example of a Virginia ad they ran:

Wow, that's effective.  Not.

That having been said, even if you are politically tone deaf like Chris in the message going out, money is still money and as always it buys access.  One of the things Chris did in order to increase his access was putting money for House candidates directly through Speaker Bill Howell's PAC while funding his chosen Senate candidates directly.   You can see on that link, Chris delivered over a quarter million dollars ($275,000) just to Howell's PAC, which made him the #1 money source by far to the Speaker this year.  To put that in context that is almost double what the Speaker himself put in through his committee.

The close ties between Chris and the Speaker don't stop there.  Chris also employs Bill Howell's campaign manager from the last cycle, Andrew Lamar.  Clearly Chris Jankowski is a guy with serious access at the highest levels of the Republican Party in Virginia.   

Which is why another story coming later this week is so important...

Comments

That is a dumb ad for sure.

[Not Ray Allen]

Will be interesting to see where NLS is taking this

As I recall, there was a Jankowski involved with NAM in DC. Any relation?

This is the worst AD I have ever seen in my life

There were several RSLC ads like this. They just took bullet points from literature and made these weird text based internet youtube ads.

[Timothy Watson]

What the heck? I wonder what the Wachowski brothers would say if they saw that.

[Timothy Watson]

On HB2339:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?031+amd+HB2339AG

"Even the bill's proponents concede that HB 2339 makes no substantive change to existing law. The Attorney General stated shortly after the April 2nd vote: 'even if the Governor elects to veto the bill, I remind our colleges and universities that illegal aliens are . . . . ineligible for in-state tuition rates.' I have consulted with independent counsel who has informed me that, absent a change to federal law or Virginia law, undocumented students are not eligible for in-state tuition rates in Virginia.

Even without making a substantive change, HB 2339 has the potential to harm the Commonwealth's ability to attract good companies and good jobs. Indeed, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and other groups have asked me to veto it."

[Dem Legislator in Search of Clue]

Lamar loves big money like bees love a honeycomb.

[this was a lame post ben]

The beatings would have probably been a lot worse had RSLC not become involved. They provided cash flow to campaigns that needed it and really didn't have the resources themselves to get it. Good examples are Cuccinelli and Richard Stuart.
And as far as the whole "forcing vendors" on campaigns...list the campaigns Ben. I think this story comes out of one displeased campaign, and you're applying it to all the races that RSLC was involved in last year. And something tells me that if they suggested a campaign use a different mail or tv vendor, it was because the ones in place SUCKED and produced ineffective work.

[this was a lame post ben]

I wanted to add one more thing, anyone who has ever met Andrew Lamar or Chris Jankowski know they are both completely harmless individuals.
Trying to paint them as scandalous money whores is weak at best.

And before I forget, the reason RSLC funded Senate campaigns directly instead of going through any Senate Leadership PAC (like they did in the House) is because Senate Leadership is run by a bunch of incompetent, politically inept pinheads who wouldn't know how to win a race even if it were demonstrated with a paint by numbers exercise. Putting money in their hands to spend is a) irresponsible and just stupid and b) it would ensure that money would go to the people THEY wanted it to, instead of the people that really needed it, i.e. the campaigns in Northern VA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsHLVmR5r5E

Ben -- can we PLEASE have a separate post to discuss how awful these ads are?

They are absolutely the worst quality I've ever seen. Forget Morris Meyer's cheesy video -- at least that had some earnestness behind it!

[Freedon Fighter]

I have always heard that Chris Jankowski was campaign manager for Senator Richard Stuart.

The campaign called Susan Simpson of Stafford "campaign director," but Jankowski was calling the shots. Susan is also chairwoman of the local Republican committee in Stafford.

You should investigate if Chris ran any operations associated with the Stuart campaign through his lobbying firm.

Andrew Lamar was also doing work for Richard Stuart in Stafford County.

[Freedon Fighter]

You will also notice the Virginia Republican Leadership Trust poured over $500,000 into the Stuart race. Do you think they would do that if a local committeewoman was running the race?

Chris has connections to the Trust as well as the RSLC.

[Hon. Jewington Analplay]

Lame,
You claim that Senate leadership couldn't be trusted with financing campaigns, but that Howell was a good steward of House money.

Howell lost 5 seats this cycle alone. Brian Moran has been mopping the floor with him for years. He's become such a liability that next year Morgan Griffith is going to challenge him. (and he'll get a lot further than Marshall did) Howell raised less than $1000 from his home district for Huckabee- and was his state chair.

So no, it seems unlikely that Jankowski would give him a ton of money based on his track record. And yes, it seems very likely that something else was going on.

What about the Senator O'brien and Senator Devolites race.

They spent money on commercials and lost badly as well. Are the political consultant firms also favored?

Stevens, Reed, Curcio and Pothom lost with ads for Senator Devolites. Carlyle Gregory did the ads for Senator O'brien and lost.

Both Republican senators were incumbants which makes it a bad loss. The Virginia Senate turned to the democrats because of poorly run campaigns waged by the republicans.