Who's Sending You Mail?

You might have gotten this in your mail today. Notice, in the small print, that it's paid for by MassAlliance. Who is MassAlliance? Good question.

According to its website, "Mass Alliance is a powerful, united voice for the broad progressive movement in Massachusetts politics. We are a coalition of twenty-two progressive organizations committed to collaboration, education, advocacy, and electoral work to advance the progressive agenda."

Who's in the coalition? The Boston Teachers Union, Clean Water Action, the Democratic Socialists of America, Mass Teachers Association, Massachusetts Peace Action, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and more.

It's worth noting in its campaign finance report, MassAlliance had raised and spent roughly $600, and the expenses went to consultants. No word of printing or mailing costs. It's also worth nothing that MassAlliance raised $2,000 in 2007, and spent it all on consulting. 2006 was more of the same.

Now, I don't know the details of the law, but I think there's a possibility that a member group can pay for the mailer, and slap the MassAlliance name on it. Put the flyer clearly says "Paid for by MassAlliance." Maybe they're going to pay it off later, and the expense and revenue don't show up in the last report. If true, this is a new practice for an organization that has not done mailers in the past.

Also in the mail today was a pro-Flanagan mailer from the Mass Teachers Association. That's twice in a week from them. Mass Nurses also had a mailer this week. Honestly, I didn't notice if past mailers from Flanagan were from her campaign or interest groups. I couldn't find a campaign finance report for Mass Teachers. Sorry about that. I'm not sure why, but it has me frustrated.

So, in adding up what was spent on this campaign, it's worth throwing thousands of dollars more on the Flanagan side. She's not spending it, but she's certainly reaping the benefits of special-interest groups spending on her behalf. It still falls waaaay short of the $200,000 Knuuttila claims he heard she'd raise, but all the same, worth noting.