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The Delaware Way: This is called keeping your bets hedged

When Libertarian 5th District Senate candidate Scott Gesty and I were first discussing his campaign, he talked about the fact that the choices offered to Delaware voters by the Republicans and Democrats are pretty much indistinguishable.

This was the specific example he gave:
Last cycle, I got direct mail from the teachers union supporting my democrat opponent [Chris Counihan], and then the next day I get the same direct mail with my Republican Senators [Cathy Cloutier] face on it!  It was nuts.  I didn’t vote for Senate in 2010.  There was no choice . . . 
At first I found this difficult to credit, but when I was looking up the campaign donations for each candidate in that race, I made an intriguing discovery.

In 2010 the law firm of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor used its PAC on 29 September to give $300 to Christopher Counihan.

Almost exactly one month later, Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor used its PAC (25 October) to give $300 to Catherine Cloutier.

Both records can be accessed via the Commissioner of Elections website.

Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor is one of Delaware's heavy-hitter law firms, which invests heavily in our elections, spending nearly $29,000 in contributions via its PAC in 2010.

One of the few glimpses into the inner workings of such a major player in our electoral politics came in 2010, when Above The Law ran a post on how Young Conaway controller Joe Lofink accidentally "outed" all of the firm's non-equity partners.  For those interested in the interconnections of Delaware politics, cross-indexing that list against the list of candidates receiving Young Conaway campaign donations is interesting.

But the question does remain:  what interests would you be protecting by donating to both the Democrat and Republican in the same race?

And Scott?

Let us know when the check comes, will you?

Comments

Jim Fryar said…
I remember my father, a WW2 veteran saying there was an expression, "Praise the Lord and respect the Devil and you can't go wrong." This could be something similar, except perhaps its, "Praise Lucifer and respect the Devil."
Nancy Willing said…
ooh, can't wait to dig in.
Scott Gesty said…
I have a gut feeling that particular check wont be heading my way.

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