{"id":21513,"date":"2015-08-30T14:24:37","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T14:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=21513"},"modified":"2015-08-30T14:25:03","modified_gmt":"2015-08-30T14:25:03","slug":"jeb-is-toast-fundraisers-flee-the-sinking-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=21513","title":{"rendered":"JEB is Toast: Fundraisers Flee The Sinking Ship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top Jeb fundraisers leave campaign amid troubling signs<\/h1>\n

The move comes amid weak poll numbers and concerns that Bush’s torrid fundraising pace has slowed.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By ALEX ISENSTADT and MARC CAPUTO
\nwww.politico.com
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ANKENY,<\/a>

ANKENY, IA – AUGUST 13: Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks at Dennis Albaugh’s Classic Car Barn during the Polk County GOP Annual Summer Sizzle event August 13, 2015 in Ankeny, Iowa. Bush is scheduled to attend the Iowa State Fair tomorrow. (Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Three top Jeb Bush fundraisers abruptly parted ways with his presidential campaign on Friday, amid internal personality conflicts and questions about the strength of his candidacy, POLITICO has learned.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are different versions of what transpired. The Florida-based fundraising consultants \u2014 Kris Money, Trey McCarley, and Debbie Aleksander \u2014 have said that they voluntarily quit the campaign and were still working with Bush’s super PAC, Right to Rise Super PAC. Others said the three, who worked under the same contract, were let go because they were no longer needed for the current phase of the campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

None of the three responded to requests for comment. Bush spokesman Tim Miller would only say that \u201cGovernor Bush has the widest and deepest fundraising operation of any candidate in the field. Ann Herberger \u2014 a longtime aide with more than two decades of experience in state and national politics \u2014 will continue to lead the operation in Florida with our team in Miami.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The departures came at a time of uncertainty for Bush. While he has had massive success raising money for his Super PAC, he is overseeing an official campaign that has many more staffers but far less money. Earlier this week, the New York Times revealed that it had taken steps to rein in some of its spending and had gone so far as to cut some employee salaries. And POLITICO reported one Bush fundraiser expressed concerns about the slowing pace of the campaign\u2019s fundraising after Bush\u2019s shaky debate performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bush campaign wasted no time seeking a replacement for the three fundraising consultants and has reached out to Meredith O\u2019Rourke \u2013 one of Florida\u2019s top Republican fundraisers who briefly worked for Chris Christie\u2019s campaign in May but left it in July. O\u2019Rourke, who wouldn\u2019t comment, helped Gov. Rick Scott raise about $100 million for his 2014 reelection campaign and also works for Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who\u2019s likely to run for governor in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

One source attributed the departures to personality conflicts in the campaign. Some identified Bush’s finance director, Heather Larrison, as a shouter with whom it\u2019s difficult to work. She wouldn\u2019t comment. Others singled out Money as a problem due to what they describe as his haughtiness and his heavy-handed donate-or-else attitude with potential contributors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were glad to go. This wasn\u2019t a shock to anybody,\u201d said one campaign source. \u201cThere were just some personality problems. It happens when you have a big organization like this, a big campaign. Some of the national people are tough to work for.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Another campaign source, though, said the three fundraising consultants \u2013 who worked on contract and were not staffers \u2013 were let go because they weren\u2019t raising enough money relative to how much they had been raising during the last financial quarter.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We appreciated their work, but we are entering a new phase of the campaign post Labor Day, and we needed to move in a different direction,\u201d the source said.<\/span><\/p>\n

But another source disputed that: \u201cThey raised a lot of money out of Florida. A lot. So if anyone says they didn\u2019t quit, it\u2019s not true. They\u2019re still working for the super PAC as well. This is not about them\u2026This is about the campaign.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Frontrunner Donald Trump seized on the POLITICO report Saturday morning and took a shot at his rival on Twitter: \u201cWow, Jeb Bush just lost three of his top fundraisers – they quit!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Aleksander, Money and McCarley have deep and longstanding ties to Florida\u2019s GOP power structure. Aleksander has been a member in good standing of Bush\u2019s operation since he was governor. Money is close with former House Speaker Will Weatherford, McCarley\u2019s part of Commissioner Adam Putnam\u2019s political team along with O\u2019Rourke.<\/span><\/p>\n

Donors last week told POLITICO that they still felt good about Bush\u2019s chances and that they weren\u2019t worried about Bush\u2019s recent slip from second to third place in averages of national polls. As the son and brother of former presidents, the former governor of the third-most populous state in the nation has a broad, deep-pocketed and savvy donor base. Some said they\u2019re less concerned with the campaign than with Jeb\u2019s candidacy, which has so far failed to ignite Republicans.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Bush\u2019s fundraising pace has slowed in the late summer months. Still, he\u2019s likely to remain the GOP campaign\u2019s top fundraiser, but Bush is also spending more than other candidates because he has a mammoth operation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJeb has a big army, and that army needs to be fed,\u201d said one campaign consultant familiar with the campaign\u2019s internal numbers. \u201cJeb might not have a fundraiser problem. He might have a spending problem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2015\/08\/jeb-bush-president-2016-fundraisers-problems-213156#ixzz3kJApIsvG<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top Jeb fundraisers leave campaign amid troubling signs The move comes amid weak poll numbers and concerns that Bush’s torrid fundraising pace has slowed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}