In case anyone in AL06 is interested

From: Lawrence Lessig <info@mayone.us>
Date: Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 1:07 PM
Subject: Outrageous.
To: Rob <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Rob – URGENT: We’re under attack in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District. That means we must be doing something right. Fred Upton is the Chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Americans need him to do his job – but instead, he is one of the Congress' biggest special interest congressmen. That’s why we’re targeting him with a $1.5 million campaign to elect a real reformer. Paul Clements. Now the Huffington Post reports: Yet some of the major donors behind [MAYDAY] are themselves getting quite the scare…According to people familiar with the situation, [Upton’s] committee staff director and former super lobbyist Gary Andres has spooked Mayday's donors... The CEOs of some of the companies are concerned they will get rougher treatment when and if Upton survives. Interestingly, he’s not calling all of our large donors. Just those subject to his committee’s jurisdiction. (Insert Peter Schweizer’s great book Extortion here.) If this is true, it is inappropriate. Unethical. And possibly illegal. It also shows we’re making progress.  But we have a message for Fred Upton: MAYDAY is a movement. We do have about 75 large donors. But we also have more than 50,000 small donors – and that’s what makes us a force to be reckoned with. You can’t simply intimidate one or two donors. And what unites both our large and small supporters is a passion to end the system of corruption in Washington – the very game that this 27-year incumbent is now alleged to be playing. If you are as outraged (yet oddly inspired) by Upton’s reaction to our campaign as I am, here is what I’m asking you to do: Click here to earmark the contribution you have already made to support our campaign in Michigan. We've made it easy to Tweet that you are a small-dollar donor to Mayday, you are proud that we’re targeting a corrupt and powerful committee chair, and you won’t be intimidated. By using the #MI06 hashtag, local reporters (and likely Upton himself) will see it. Help us double down. Fred Upton just increased his ad buy (a lot) in reaction to our campaign. Every $100 can help us air another ad on local cable. MAYDAY’s anti-corruption candidate Paul Clements responded to Upton’s tactics in Wednesday’s article in The Herald Palladium, a local Michigan paper: “Members of Congress bullying the very companies they regulate to influence the political process is the definition of corruption. Fred Upton’s behavior is a prime example of how our system is broken and a case study in corruption.” Let’s unseat this “case study” in the way money corrupts Congress. Help us keep the pressure on: Click here to Tweet your support for our campaign.  And click here to donate and help us double down. Thank you for all you have done. Keep fighting. -Lessig  PS: If you want to read more on the background of the dispute, check out my blog post, How Washington Speaks: “Waterboarding isn’t torture” and “Fred Upton is a reformer.”