There is only one Democrat candidate in CD6 who's raised any real money, and it's not the campaign of state Rep. Joe Miklosi (D-Denver), who pulled in a laughably low $104,000 in the 4th quarter. It's the campaign of Dr. Perry "Massage Therapist Millionaire" Haney — although nearly every cent has come from the candidate himself, $421,000 worth to be exact. Of the few donations received from others, Haney's campaign didn't even bother to collect their personal information, resulting in an incomplete filing to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
A Colorado Peak Politics review of Haney's FEC filing found a rank amateur operation being run more or less by the personal bank account of the candidate.
Donations as far back as September still do not have the legally required occupation and employer information. Even more striking, 72% of all the money donated to Haney by others in 2011 does not have complete donor information listed. In all of 2011, Haney only raised $16,125 outside his own donations and loans to the campaign. He started fundraising in June.
There is no excuse for making mistakes like this when you consider Haney has spent $3,000 on fundraising consulting, along with $43,667.19 on "strategic consulting." There's not much strategy involved in making a fool of yourself through your year-end FEC report.
Another interesting note in Haney's filing: he's spent nearly 30-grand on opposition research. His FEC filing lists $26,125.85 worth of payments to Stanford Campaigns in Austin, TX. Stanford Campaign's website is www.oppresearch.com. The firm is run by Jason Stanford, who recently co-authored a book about Rick Perry called "Adios, Mofo." We're guessing with Perry out of the race book sales are going about as well as they are for Dan Maes's "Running Without Cowboy Boots," which is to say not well.
Was Stanford Campaigns' looking into Dr. Haney's issues with overcharging clients for "excessive-use of massage" for which he had his medical license restricted?
If so, he could have saved himself some serious cash, as we reported that back in May.
Does Dr. Haney have other personal issues that haven't come to light yet?
If he does, we'll most likely find out in due time, as his staff hasn't even been able to properly record campaign donations, let alone shield him from further embarrassment.
Dr. Haney — here's our (much cheaper) two cents of strategic consulting: don't bother. Self-funders with no political experience, who lean heavily on expensive consultants and can't raise any money from other people, don't do well in politics.
Just ask Joe Gschwendtner.
(Picture via Haney FB page)