Investigation: Whitehouse Spent 89% of Campaign Millions Outside RI, Hinckley 40%
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
A GoLocalTV investigation into the campaign finance reports for Whitehouse and Hinckley unveils that between the two of them they have spent more than $2.4 million thru August 22nd with the majority of those funds spent with out-of-state vendors, consultant and printers.
Whitehouse’s campaign spent 89% of his $1.7 million outside of Rhode Island. Hinckley spent 40% with consultants, pollsters and vendors from across the country. See GoLocalTV's exclusive report.
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Comments:
Aaron Regunberg
9:42am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
If you look at the actual expenditures, you'll see that the 89% figure is incredibly misleading. A very large proportion of the money spent out-of-state is on expenses that HAVE to be spent out of state. Huge amounts spent on travel, which obviously have to be spent out-of-state. Large amounts spent on phone bills, which go out of state. Expenditures on Act Blue, an online Democratic fundraising tool, which is headquartered out of state. Expenditures on VAN, a voter database system headquartered out of state. The list goes on and on. When you actually make an apples-to-apples comparison of the money that could have been spent in Rhode Island, the figures are completely different.
Gary Arnold
9:54am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
If you compare Whitehouse to Hinkley it is a clear Hinkley commitment to work with RI services during his campaign. This is a good sign of an individual showing by his actions that he means business and ultimately jobs for RI. Enough said, Hinkley is the man that RI needs.
susan johnson
10:37am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
OK, now that the campaign people have written in. Here's the real story. Hinckly, Whitehouse, Cicillni and Dougherty use Wash media firms to write mailers., print them,make commercials and buy media. Why? Because they don't have any confidence in the people here in RI to get the job done. All other explanations are pure BS.
Reed, Kennedy, and Langevin have used RI shops..
Charles Beckers
10:40am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Percentages...always percentages. Thanks to Aaron Regunberg for putting some reality to the piece. Let's do the arithmetic. Eleven percent of $1.7 million is $187,000. Sixty percent of $700,000 is $420,000. What if Whitehouse had equaled Hinkley with in-state spending? That means that Whitehouse would have spent an additional $233,000 in Rhode Island. (Does anyone out there actually believe that all of that would have gone to touch-labor wages? How much of that would have gone into profit for the owners of those businesses? How much to overhead items like electricity and rent? How much to raw materials, like paper stock? Where does that money go...in state or out? Follow the money.) Oh, and $420,000 is only 25% of the Whitehouse expenditures. Would the article still have criticized Whitehouse if his actual expenditures in dollars had equaled Hinkley's? You betcha, because 25% is still less than 40%, even though the dollar amounts are the same.
Captain Blacksocks
11:04am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Those campaign ads are all pretty crappy. RI does not have media and marketing firms that can produce crappy ads and mailers? I think we have a few that could have done the job.
Charles Beckers
11:12am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Correction, the last sentence should have read: "You betcha, because 25% is still less than *60%* percent, even though the dollar amounts are the same."
susan johnson
11:33am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Its not about one candidate vs another, its about the lack of confidence candidates have in RI firms that contribute to the overall, ie creative, production and media buyers. I know, I was in the biz before I retired. These candidates go to Washington and "drink the cool-aid", then talk about jobs in RI..Please!
Crunch all the numbers you want, it's wrong by any percentage.
Kyle Regan
12:16pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Hi Susan, I normally don't post on these because I am part of the Hinckley campaign but I wanted to let you know that aside from doing work for the Hinckley campaign, I am an independent producer from Rhode Island and I only hire crew and other "creatives" from Rhode Island, not only for Hinckley production but for all of my work. I met Barry over a year ago and I had this very conversation with him about hiring production people in Rhode Island because it is very, very important to me, being part of the film/television community in RI that loses a lot of jobs to MA/CT/NYC production crews. I decided to help him out because of where he stands on issues and this led to me doing all of his production work to this day. (40- 50 internet videos, multiple TV spots, photography, mobile websites, managing all social media, etc.) It has been important to Barry to keep expenses in RI, in fact, we spent a little more on certain things just to keep it in RI. You can see a lot of my work on his youtube channel and on TV now that our ads are playing. You don't have to think my work is any good, I get mixed reviews, my point is that it was done here, by someone who pays his taxes in Rhode Island and hires only RI crew. Please know that he could have spent thousands upon thousands more if he had gone to an out of state production company (just ask Sheldon Whitehouse...) I would be happy to answer questions, or discuss this further privately KyleReganFilms@Gmail.com - We can also talk about the problems with the local film industry, tax credits, and who got the majority of the production work when we actually had a lot of production work in RI... thats another favorite topic of mine! Have a great day. -Kyle Regan
jerry harington
2:55pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
I have not seen your work but its great that you are helping. However, my point is thatmost of the 30 sec TV ads are not written or produced in RI and that's where the big bucks are
susan johnson
3:00pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
I agree with you Jerry.
ashley heino
5:05pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Also Kyle Regan....you forgot to mention that ALL HINCKLEY MAILERS (writing, printing, stuffing, sealing, & stamping are done right here in Warwick, RI - NOT WASHINGTON! A hard-working staff and dedicated volunteers have helped keep the work in RI.
Mark St. Pierre
6:32pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
This story is much ado about nothing
James Bolton
7:27pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Yes and while Our President was chastising the Republican Senators for leaving early on Saturday our wonderful Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was on a plane Thursday night from Washington, I know because i was sat right behind him. go figure!!!
Joel Hovanesian
8:14pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Bottom line, the situation here in RI sucks. If we are not in need of change now then when will we be? After it's too late and our economy is totally destroyed? Vote em all out, they are ruining the State and the nation. Nothing changes if nothing changes. Our electeed officials care for no one but themselves. Case in point, the insider trading scam in which our esteemed senator was part of.
Re elect..................NOBODY!
Kyle Regan
11:15pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Jerry - you are absolutely right, most political TV ads are produced out of state and that is something that I am totally against. Just as I was against Cicilline outsourcing the "P" providence logo to some out of state firm for boat loads of money when he was mayor while you have some of the most creative people in the world right in Providence. Then he turned around and ran for congress talking about creating jobs... My point is that while most TV ads are produced out of state, the Barry Hinckley campaign has produced them in house, right here in RI. I know because it's after 10pm and i'm in the office editing something right now =)
Art West
9:55am on Friday, September 28, 2012
Great comments here.
The fact remains that Whitehouse has "shipped jobs out of state" (paraphrasing his currently running TV spot) WAY more than Hinckley has.
Whitehouse TALKS against shipping off jobs, but his ACTIONS reveal he does not need to take his own advice. And while he's e-x-p-l-a-i-n-i-n-g things so well and so simply in his TV commercials, could he please explain his stand on i-n-s-i-d-e-r t-r-a-d-i-n-g?