Fundraisers Sought To Continue After Election Seeking to Cover “Debt”

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Dr. Ada Fisher lost the 2006 bid for a North Carolina Congressional seat by a wide margin — 34 points.

But that didn’t discourage her fundraisers, BMW Direct, a Washington-based political firm.

Just a few days after Fisher lost to Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC), an official from the fundraising firm emailed the candidate about mounting a post-election money drive — and maybe signing on for another race.

Ada,

Attached is a debt reduction letter. We still owe outside debt to vendors and this will go to pay it off.

I would also like to set up a time to speak with you about running again. With more time to mail, I think we could do even better.

Timothy

That’s an email from Timothy Webster, a founder of BMW Direct, and it was provided to TPMmuckraker by Fisher. She wasn’t very happy with the firm, which raised more than $400,000 on her behalf but, after taking out the costs of its own direct mail effort, only provided her campaign with about $30,000.

She also provided us with a draft copy of a “debt reduction letter” drawn up by BMW Direct.

Fisher told us she’s not sure whether she ever signed off on the letter and agreed to let BMW send it out.

Read more to see the letter’s full text.

Late Update: Jordan Gehrke, BMW Direct’s director of development, said in a written response to a query from TPMmuckraker: “To the best of my knowledge we did no debt reduction letters for Dr. Fisher.”

XXTITLE/NAMEXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
November 30, 2006

Dear XXTITLE/NAMEXX,

You’re one of the first people I had to reach out to after the recent elections.

Because you’ve been such a faithful and trusted supporter, and I had to thank you for your help in my race for Congress.

Unfortunately, we came up short by a swing of only 17,388 votes — but we had a heck of a run and sure put Mel Watt on notice!

And if the climate for Republicans had not been so bad this year, I’m sure I could have ended Mel Watt’s career.

But we were sailing into a stiff headwind this election cycle and we couldn’t do anything about it!

Even considering all the obstacles we faced, my campaign wattwas credited with running one of the toughest campaigns against Mel Watt he’s ever had to face.

XXTITLE/NAMEXX, it was your personal support that made this possible.

But even with the money we spent in the final months, when all the absentee ballots were counted we came up short.

Nevertheless, we accomplished something nobody thought we could when we gave Mel Watt a real race — because I got solid support from the black community.

We showed him that the black community is not going to blindly follow the Democrat Party.

A smart, black Republican woman such as myself can make real inroads into the African-American community. And that makes Democrats nervous!

Because I had such solid results, I’m being encouraged by friends to seek a rematch.

I’m still deciding what to do. But before I can officially gear up again, I need to take care of roughly $75,911 in late bills that have come up during these last few weeks.

If you would be kind enough to help me retire this debt by signing another generous gift $HPD, $1.5HPD, or even $2HPD, I would sincerely appreciate it.

I know $2HPD is twice what you’ve sent before, but I could really use it. I have vendors calling me and my consultants asking for payment.

So if you can send $2HPD, please do…

…but in this crisis, even a gift of $HPD or $1.5HPD would be a real godsend.

Over the course of my campaign, I had well over 6,000 patriotic individuals send a gift to my campaign.

And while I’d like to think I can count on all of them to send a gift of $2HPD to help me retire this debt in the next 21 days, I know not everyone will be able to give.

But I’m mailing you this letter because I know you’re one of my most loyal supporters. I can always count on you.

That’s why I’ve taken the extra step of enclosing a stamp with this letter because I don’t want you to waste any time in getting back to me.

Please know that I did not intend there to be any debt whatsoever. I don’t believe in debt.

But when Mel Watt started putting up hundreds of thousands of dollars in false, negative advertising against me, I knew I had to respond.

And so I did. I made phone calls to every hard-core voter in the district I could telling them they can count on me to defend their interests in Washington.

Plus, my billboard ads, voter mail, and law signs highlighted the fact that I’m a dedicated conservative who will fight for our values.

I had to spend these funds to define myself in the eyes of the voters…

…or risk it all by having Mel Watt’s deceptive and outright false advertisements define who I am for me.

We did everything we could on what was essentially a shoestring budget — spending less than 10% of what Mel Watt spent on paid advertisements.

And yet we made a solid showing in the African-American community and showed Mel Watt that he’s vulnerable.

Mel Watt is too liberal for North Carolina, he’s bad on protecting American from terrorists, and he votes against our conservative values.

That’s why I am seriously considering running again, and building upon my solid performance this year.

But first, I must retire this debt.

Won’t you help me, XXTITLE/NAMEXX?

I know you’re the type of person who will not abandon me in my hour of need.

Please help me put an end to this debt by sending in a gift of $2HPD, $1.5HPD, or even $HPD in the next 21 days.

It would mean a great deal to me to be able to pay off some — if not all — of these vendors in the next few weeks.

They knew I had to respond to Mel Watt’s lies or else I would lose all credibility.

But now the campaign is over and I need to do my part to pay down this debt.

Please, XXTITLE/NAMEXX, help me today.

I’ve already enclosed a self-addressed reply envelope for you to use.

And I’ve already affixed a FIRST CLASS STAMP for you to send it back to me with your check of $2HPD, $1.5HPD, or even $HPD.

Thank you in advance for sending the most generous gift you can.

I look forward to hearing from you in the next few days.

Sincerely,

Ada Fisher, M.D.

P.S. Please fill out your reply below an mail this entire page back to me with your gift of $2HPD, $1.5HPD, or even HPD so I can pay off these overdue bills.

————————DO NOT SEPARATE————————

FROM: TO:
XXTITLE/NAMEXXXXXXXXXXX Ada Fisher
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Fisher for Congress 2006
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX P.O. Box 96165
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Washington, DC 20090
AF08 ID

DEAR ADA: Enclosed is my generous gift to help you pay off these bills so you can prepare to mount a rematch. Like you said, I won’t abandon you in your hour of need. I’ve made my check payable to FISHER FOR CONGRESS 2006 in the amount of:

( ) $2HPD ( ) $1.5HPD ( ) $HPD ( ) Other $_____

Or make your donation by credit card:

( )Visa ( )MasterCard ( )Discover ( )American Express

Name on Credit Card:____________________________________________

Signature:______________________________________________________

Credit Card Number:_____________________________________________

Exp.:______/_________ CVV:________________

The CVV is last three digits on the back of credit cards issued by Visa, MasterCard, and Discover or the four numbers on the front of the American Express card.

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