I think people are overlooking the intimidate factor here. Suddenly you get mailings from the Govt showing how much you donated to his opponent and asking for a similar donation? I think this is a calculated move of political thuggery. People should be ringing their legislature phone off the hook demanding this be investigated. While it may be legal, it is certainly unethical
Believe me, no-one is overlooking it on the GOP side. Seeing it as intimidating is the most common response to the letter that we have encountered.
The problem is that the letter was written so very nicely, without a single bad word about Roy Brown or any other Republican.
So if anyone makes a public stink about it, the Democrats point to this sweet letter and ask, “what was wrong with it? We were nicely reaching out to Republicans.”
And to independents who aren’t terribly engaged with politics (about a third of the MT electorate,) probably there would seem to be nothing wrong with it.
It was very skilfully done. The governor is an incredibly good politician.
As pointed out in the comments section of the blog, if W had sent a similar letter to big Al Gore supporters in the run-up to the 2004 election, one suspects that many Dems would have seen it has overtly intimidating.
Especially coming from an incumbent. I don’t know much about the GOP party in Montana (I hope it is better organized than it is in Washington!). Perhaps FReepers can mount a campaign to raise awareness.