Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) is taking a little bit of heat today for linking a cancer research-related website to his 2010 campaign donations. The major issue is that it is not quite as explicit as it could be in informing readers that donations go to Specter’s re-election bid.
In two national TV appearances Sunday, Sen. Arlen Specter plugged specterforthecure.com — a website he said he launched to “put more pressure on Congress” to increase funding for medical research.
What Specter didn’t say: The website is owned by his reelection committee, and contributions made there go straight to Specter’s 2010 reelection campaign.
No one doubts Specter’s commitment to federal funding for medical research. A survivor of two bouts with Hodgkin’s disease, the Pennsylvania Republican-turned-Democrat is pushing a bill that would authorize $40 billion a year in baseline funding for the National Institutes of Health.
But critics say Specter’s comments Sunday and the layout of specterforthecure.com itself obscure the fact that what looks like a solicitation for medical research is really just a campaign cash come-on.
“While it may meet the technical legal requirements, it’s fair to say it’s a bit misleading,” said Meredith McGehee, policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan campaign law watchdog.
A campaign manager for Specter gave this comment:
But Specter campaign manager Christopher Nicholas said that no one could be “genuinely confused about where contributions to this website go,” noting that language on the site specifies that contributions are meant for the campaign.
“The senator’s political opponents are feigning confusion in order to distract attention from the profound public policy importance of the senator’s Cures Acceleration Network legislation — a long overdue effort to turn medical research into effective treatments and cures and to transform America’s ‘sickness industry’ into a genuinely preventative healthcare system,” Nicholas said.
Update (5/9): Senator Specter has modified this website to make it more clear where donations will likely go, per Ben Smith.
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