Peter Schiff launched a new campaign website last night, to coincide with a one day “money bomb” that was planned to start just after midnight.
But according to Schiff’s brother and campaign spokesman, Andrew Schiff, the website was the target of a cyber attack moments before the money bomb was supposed to start. The campaign has notified the FBI.
“These are coordinated attacks,” Andrew Schiff said in a brief phone interview.
It wasn’t the first time the website has been hit, Andrew Schiff said. The campaign had been targeted several times in the past and recently upgraded its website.“They attacked us many times so we got more sophisticated,” Andrew Schiff said. “We just spent thousands of dollars on internet security.”
He said the campaign has “no idea” who is behind the attacks, which have slowed or knocked out the site and resulted in frequent error messages.
For a guy who relies heavily on the Intertubes for his fundraising, this is not a good thing.
I was interested to note that there are some visits to Connecticut RTC’s on Schiff’s event calender. Not that I think it’ll do him much good, but at least he’s trying.
Update: Just got an e-mail blast from the Schiff campaign. Despite the cyber problems, the money bomb raised over $65,000. And he’s on Glenn Beck tonight.
21 responses so far ↓
What’s with the twitter tags?
Yes, there was a challenge in NY-23, but that doesn’t mean that many more districts will do the same thing. To wit:
1) NY-23 did not have a primary. If it had had a primary, either Dede or Hoffman would have won, and it’s highly unlikely that Hoffman would have run in the general on the Conservative line had he lost the Republican primary.
2) Dede Scozzafava was hardly a Republican. Before Hoffman became a factor, there was serious talk that she’d switch parties. She was left of the Republican party on basically every issue.
3) Hoffman was largely unfamiliar with the local issues in the district (army bases, highways and bridges to Canada), which turned him off to some local voters.
In Connecticut, whomever the Republicans chose to run against Dodd is going to have pretty solid Republican support. Some Schiff supporters may decide to vote for the Libertarian party candidate if Schiff doesn’t win (and he won’t), but they were never going to vote Republican anyway.
Even Linda McMahon would get most Republicans to grudgingly support her. Many Republicans may not donate to her campaign, but that doesn’t matter, since she has more than enough to self-finance. If Simmons gets the nod, there’s not going to be widespread defections, and there aren’t even going to be that many people who refuse to vote. Dodd is going to be on the ballot, and Republicans want to see Dodd defeated. There’s also going to be a governor election and probably a competitive election in the 4th CD. Add in local races and Republicans are not going to have a hard time with GOTV.
I just don’t envision a scenario in which there is a serious rift in the Republican party after the nominee is chosen. I think that Linda McMahon would probably have the most lukewarm support among Republicans (myself included), but we aren’t going to start backing a third party nominee, we aren’t going to stay home. Yeah, there’s no way I’m going to donate to Linda’s campaign, but even if no one donates, I think she’s got enough money. Furthermore, anyone running against Dodd is going to get a lot of financial support from across the country: like it or not, Dodd is one of the more vulnerable Democrats up for reëlection (Harry Reid is also vulnerable).
Now, around the country, there will be primaries for various Senate and House seats, between various conservative and more centrist candidates. However, very few districts will have a serious third party challenge in the general.
The new website looks great!
We didn’t do it.
Maybe Lieberman did
I’m still surprised that last cycle Schiff could have raised over $1,000,000, and spent over $100,000, and still not have to file a quarterly report with the FEC.
Is that really legal?
Sure, he didn’t “officially” declare until 9/17 on Morning Joe, and yes, he had 15 days after that to form his candidate committee, but what Schiff is doing is definitely outside the spirit of the law, if not the letter.
Also, does anyone know where in Weston that Peter actually lives? I checked with the Tax Assessor earlier this week, and Schiff does not own property a house there, nor does he have a car on the Weston tax rolls.
>Also, does anyone know where in Weston that Peter actually lives?
Planning on stopping by for lunch or just peeping through the windows?
I thought I heard somewhere that he’s a renter. I also thought I heard Darien. Could be wrong about both, never really cared.
>Some Schiff supporters may decide to vote for the Libertarian party candidate if Schiff doesn’t win (and he won’t), but they were never going to vote Republican anyway.
If you’re basing that off of the support Ron Paul got, I would estimate the breakdown like this: 5-10% ex-Democrats of the non-socialist variety that were pissed at the Democratic party for failing to live up to its rhetoric of being anti-war and pro-civil liberties; 25% Constitution and Libertarian Party supporters; 25% ex-Perot type unafilliated supporters; and 40-45% Republicans that were pissed at the Republican party for failing to live up to its rhetoric of being fiscally responsible and protecting individual rights. By the end, nearly every one of that last group also ended up being anti-war
even if they didn’t start out that way. I’m fairly typical of that last group in that I had registered as a Republican in college (during Bush’s 1st term), dropped my Republican affiliation shortly after the 2008 primary, and now feel nothing but revulsion at the thought of having to fill out that paper again just to vote in the Republican primary. Those are the type of voters the Republican party can easily win back if it stops running scumbags like Rob Simmons.
>If Simmons gets the nod, there’s not going to be widespread defections, and there aren’t even going to be that many people who refuse to vote.
Clearly you’re not a man who spends much time talking to the Tea Party activists or the Glenn Beck 9/12 groups. They’re several times larger than the support Ron Paul had. They’re large enough, and growing rapidly enough that they can easily cost the Republican nominee the election. And they thoroughly despise both Simmons and McMahon. When it comes down to it, some would still employ the ‘lesser evil’ strategy. But I’m working on that.
Moveon has raised $3.6 million to challenge moderate Democrats. Is this worthy of a Twitter tag?
Sure, he didn’t “officially” declare until 9/17 on Morning Joe, and yes, he had 15 days after that to form his candidate committee, but what Schiff is doing is definitely outside the spirit of the law, if not the letter.
It sounds like Schiff read the rules first, then structured his campaign so that he didn’t have to do the quarterly. In the business world, companies do things like this frequently. Completing a merger a day or two before a 10Q or 10K filing is due (so the acquired company doesn’t have to make one last filing). Doing a reverse share split to reduce the number of shareholders to get under the threshold for which 10Qs or other filings are required. If you can’t have more than 99 investors, you have 98 investors, and each investor is a partnership with 99 investors… Many regulations in the business world are pushed to the max. Not broken, just pushed to the limit. Seems like Schiff is applying that same principle to his campaign.
As you yourself heard, Scooper, the FEC told them they didn’t have to file… so they didn’t.
Scooper… generally-speaking, I think trying to ding somebody on campaign finance reporting is a waste of time. There’s nothing intuitive about it. There’s nothing moral or immoral about it. So no one will care, regardless of party affiliation.
As for him not owning, he’s bragged about that. And it’s totally logical. He said the housing market was inflated. So he rents… I believe it’s in Weston and his office is in Darien. I have no idea about a car, but maybe it’s a company car registered in Darien?
GMR… agreed. In Nov 2010, even diehard Republicans will come home and vote for Linda if she’s on the ballot. Republicans turning out and voting for the GOP candidate will not be an issue. The bigger issue is the non-Rs who want Dodd gone. That could be Us or Ds or Libertarians or even good-government greens who are simply disgusted with Dodd’s coddling of The Great Vampire Squid.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28816321/inside_the_great_american_bubble_machine
Sara… I like your pieces… but why the tagline on every post? Is it a twitter thing? I find that it clutters the headline and distracts from your writing.
I just watched a clip of Senator Bernie Sanders (Populist – VT) discuss his HuffPo piece:
Bernie notes that TBTF have gotten even bigger in the past year.
Of course, Bernie is a gentleman and didn’t mention his colleague. But now I have a question for the my senior Senator – The Banking Chairman.
Over the past year, TBTF have only gotten bigger. What have you been doing to stop them?
Perhaps you’ve been preoccupied trying to track down Ben Bernanke so you could fulfill your promise to Jane Hamsher and ask Bernanke for the names of the banks that got the $12 trillion in Fed bailouts?
Sorry… forgot the link…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/too-big-to-fail—too-big_b_348251.html
Dodd should’ve been focused on Banking, not HELP, in the past 12 months of the Obama administration. Dodd made the choice. And now we, the American people, have to live with his choice. Thankfully, we get a choice next November… still wondering though if Nancy Dinardo and AG Blumenthal are going to sitback and allow CT to have such an easy choice.
IOKIYAAR?
Man, you guys don’t get it, do you.
1. There remains a substantial question of whether Peter Schiff actually lives in Connecticut. What is clear is that he doesn’t maintain a permanent residence here. He pays no property tax to the city of Weston, (which he said was where he lived on “Face the State”.), and he’s not listed in the phone book.
2.Last quarter Schiff definitely violated the spirit of the CF disclosure law, if not the letter of it. I’ll warrant there has never been a candidate ever that raised over $1,000,000 in “exploratory” mode. Schiff can try to say he wasn’t a candidate until 9/17, but it’s easy to argue he was a candidate well before then. In any case we’re meant to know who is funding Schiff, and what he’s spending his money on. Particularly I’d like to know what % of his money came from CT? My guess is less than 10%.
Look, I think Peter Schiff is a fraud and a con man. (It’d be interesting to see his income tax return, as I wonder is he’s paying any.)
But worse than that the guy called the US economy the “Titanic”, and he’s betting heavily on the ship sinking. Does he really want to go to D.C. to patch things up? (Because that would be a massive conflict of interest with his investors losing heavily.) Or is he just using this Senate race to promote his fund and the doom and gloom snowball it needs to succeed?
Scoop… on the CF stuff, I now see your point about the spirit of the law. And I tend to agree with you, but from my perspective… too many do it on both sides of the aisle for your concern to gain traction. Don’t get me wrong though. I’m not saying it is right for one to defy the spirit of the law. But consider…
Crusher will immediately turnaround and ding Malloy, Susan B and whoever else is running for governor for defying the spirit of the law, right?
If I understand that situation correctly, that’s what they’re doing by remaining in “exploratory” mode, unlike Amann. And frankly, I think Crusher has more of a case due to CTs public funding.
Again, if Schiff intentionally waited until 9/17 to defy the spirit of the law, while obeying the letter of the law, then you’re right. But since it seems that most people play these games for high-level offices… and since CF law is not intuitive… I just think it’s an argument that would need to be made in the court of public opinion… and in the court of public opinion… most people will just scratch their heads and not be too concerned.
TBTF. Remember, you heard it here first: http://donpesci.blogspot.com/2009/03/in-defense-of-chris-dodd-or-why-wolf.html
I just googled your acronym… now I get it…
My view has nothing to do with being an R. My thing is that I tend to look at CF law in terms of right and wrong.
When Torricelli got money from lobbyists for North Korea (if I recall correctly), that was wrong of him to take that money. And I would say the same of a Republican… such as with Ted Stevens and his wine & furniture.
But whether Schiff releases his contributor list on Oct 15 or Jan 15… I just don’t see it as an issue of right and wrong. And I’d say the same about a Dem.
Scoop… as for questioning the permanent residence status of Schiff… you can question it. But your rationale seems to question every renter in CT who has no car and uses an unlisted number – typical of cells.
When Schiff donated Ron Paul, Murray Sabrin, and Alan Grayson in 2007-08 he listed his address as Darien, Westport, and Darien respectively.
Tim,
It’s the Democratic varient of the birthers nonsense. Pay no attention.
1. There remains a substantial question of whether Peter Schiff actually lives in Connecticut. What is clear is that he doesn’t maintain a permanent residence here. He pays no property tax to the city of Weston, (which he said was where he lived on “Face the State”.), and he’s not listed in the phone book.
Say what? Some people rent their homes. What this entails is that every month, they pay someone else to borrow the house. A contract that sets the terms for this is called a lease.
When you rent a house, you don’t pay property taxes, because you don’t own the house. But the owner of the house still has to pay property taxes, and this is factored into what the owner charges for rent.
Many people in the state rent, and they are still considered permanent residents. They can send their children to local public schools, they can get beach permits, they can get the in-state rates at UConn, etc. Peter Schiff apparently falls into this category. In fact, I’ve never heard anyone else question the fact that he lives in Connecticut, except you. As far as I know, he didn’t move to Iowa for several months, which is what the sitting senator did before topping 1% in the Presidential caucus there.
Many people are also not listed in the phone book. You can ask not to be listed, and many people in the public eye choose this, so that random people don’t call them and start accusing them of something really outlandish, not like being a resident of the state they live in.
2.Last quarter Schiff definitely violated the spirit of the CF disclosure law, if not the letter of it. I’ll warrant there has never been a candidate ever that raised over $1,000,000 in “exploratory” mode. Schiff can try to say he wasn’t a candidate until 9/17, but it’s easy to argue he was a candidate well before then. In any case we’re meant to know who is funding Schiff, and what he’s spending his money on. Particularly I’d like to know what % of his money came from CT? My guess is less than 10%.
What the heck is the spirit of the law? The law stipulates a bunch of things, and he followed them. This is something done all the time in the business world: in tax law, companies employ legions of accountants to stay within the letter of the law. Campaign finance regulations are a set of strict procedures you have to follow, everyone is going to try to game the system.
But worse than that the guy called the US economy the “Titanic”, and he’s betting heavily on the ship sinking. Does he really want to go to D.C. to patch things up? (Because that would be a massive conflict of interest with his investors losing heavily.) Or is he just using this Senate race to promote his fund and the doom and gloom snowball it needs to succeed?
If he were to be elected to the Senate, someone else would take over management of the fund.
He believes that the US economy isn’t in great shape, and that certain corrective actions need to be taken. His prognostications on financial shows during the past two years have proven to be remarkably prescient. Much more so than most others. As to what his true motives are, I have no idea. Many of the people running for office don’t really think they’ll win, but want some other job. Take Rudi Marconi, a supposed candidate for Governor. He must know he can’t win, but that this will up his profile.
I almost certainly will not vote for Schiff in the primary, but not because he rents his house, has an unlisted number, maanges to avoid a campaign finance filing due to a cetain legal loophole, or even because he thinks the US economy is in trouble.
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