U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman
That paragon of journalism excellence, BuzzFeed, has blown the lid off investigative reporting by Googling U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman’s name.
A search of Coffman’s name brings up a site which leads to a page about the (VA) scandal where you can enter your email and donate.
Give those guys the Pulitzer Prize, they’ve discovered the rare and elusive campaign website.
Discover is not an accurate description, more like, was led by the nose of the Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee (DCCC) to the site.
It took us a while to figure out what BuzzFeed was griping about because they didn’t provide a link or screen shots in their story. We finally found it the same place as BuzzFeed, over at the DCCC.
So here’s the breakdown, as better explained by Lynn Bartels at the Denver Post:
BuzzFeedNews reported that Coffman asks online “Will you stand with me to hold the VA accountable to its vast mismanagement and disservice to our veterans?” That document features a person in a military uniform in a wheelchair. BuzzFeed reported that when it is filled out, the user than is directed to a page asking about donations.
(Coffman Spokesman Tyler Sandberg) said that all petition pages on Coffman’s campaign account automatically link to fundraising pages. The petition was part of the congressman’s effort to reform the VA, he said. So far, it’s not clear if someone who signed the petition also donated.
Democrats who planted jumped on the story are actually accusing Coffman of “shaking people down for money just to do his job.”
Seriously?
It would be more accurate to say the federal government is shaking the public down for tax dollars TO NOT do their jobs.
Coffman is actually doing his job, publicly standing up to the VA secretary about the $1 billion Aurora VA hospital construction fiasco, which earned him a counter-attack FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.
By authoring and pushing legislation to take away obscene financial bonuses from VA employees who created the mess TO PAY FOR THE MESS, that earned him even more attacks from the VA.
Then he rallied support from the House VA committee to conduct an oversight hearing specifically on the Aurora hospital, to actually FIX THE PROBLEM. That’s leadership, that’s being a congressman.
But the question before us, was it okay for Coffman to enlist support from his constituents to help put pressure on the VA to fix the problem by gathering petition signatures? The answer is Yes.
Is the proper and legal place for this petition on a campaign or congressional website? The answer is, campaign website.
Finally, do campaign websites have automatic triggers that send you to a donation page? The answer is, duh.
Democratic Internet troll operatives jumped on the bandwagon to accuse Coffman of using the scandal to raise money.
Coffman, a Marine Corps combat veteran and the only member of Congress to serve in both Iraq wars, is not campaigning on the misery of others.
Coffman has actual accomplishments, has conducted extensive work to fix the disastrous problem within the VA.
The only remedy that will satisfy Democrats is for Coffman to just shut up about the VA, on the campaign trail, and in the halls of Congress.
We hope he doesn’t.