On Sunday, our Watchdog columnist Dave Lieber wrote about being careful when donating to political action committees. One PAC he noted for having a misleading web site was SpecterForTheCure.com. While it appears at first glance to be a fundraising site for a reform movement to help Sen. Arlen Specter fund programs that will seek cures for major diseases, it's actually a fundraising arm for Specter's re-election.
A Specter spokeswoman told The Watchdog: "Specterforthecure.com is explicit throughout — including the name itself — that the site raises money for a candidate.
The same morning the column ran, Specter was on CBS' Face The Nation to talk about his recent defection to the Democrats. Specter took a moment to mention SpecterForTheCure.com. See if you can figure out what the site's purpose is from his remarks:
"And one of the items that I’m working on, Bob, is funding for medical research. I’ve been the spear carrier to increase medical research. And I’ve even established a Web site, Specterforthecure.com, to try to get people to put more pressure on Congress to join me in getting more funding." (Full transcript here. pdf file)
LinkSpecter for the Cure It does seem misleading when you read the first page. I'm not surprised that a DEMOCRAT would use misleading methods to raise campaign contributions.
