AOPA financial support for Bush?

[Mike Noel]

A pilot friend mentioned an alleged conversation he had with Phil Boyer, the
president of AOPA. Supposedly he asked if the AOPA would support either
presidential candidate and was told that AOPA had already supported George W
Bush through political contributions. I can find nothing to back up this
claim. Does anyone else have any information?

--
Regards,
Mike

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/amountainaero/fspic1.html

[Vaughn]

"Mike Noel" > wrote in message
...
> A pilot friend mentioned an alleged conversation he had with Phil Boyer, the
> president of AOPA. Supposedly he asked if the AOPA would support either
> presidential candidate and was told that AOPA had already supported George W
> Bush through political contributions. I can find nothing to back up this
> claim. Does anyone else have any information?

I hope that is just a nasty rumor; but If true, they will have one less
member. I have high regard for Mr. Boyer and think that he is way too smart to
alienate a large percentage of his membership by getting involved in partisan
politics.

Vaughn

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, "Mike Noel" > said:
>A pilot friend mentioned an alleged conversation he had with Phil Boyer, the
>president of AOPA. Supposedly he asked if the AOPA would support either
>presidential candidate and was told that AOPA had already supported George W
>Bush through political contributions. I can find nothing to back up this
>claim. Does anyone else have any information?

Are you sure Boyer didn't mean the AOPA PAC? AOPA itself isn't supposed
to be giving money to politicians, that's why they have a separate PAC.


--
Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
The language that these files use is just like BASIC, only with all of
the good parts ripped out. Oh, and did I mention that it's case-sensitive?
I could eat a K&R and ****** a better language.

[Dude]

He better have given money to Bush, and if Kerry wins, he better get money
too.

Until the system changes, that is what we have to do to buy influence and
keep planes flying.




"Mike Noel" > wrote in message
...
> A pilot friend mentioned an alleged conversation he had with Phil Boyer,
the
> president of AOPA. Supposedly he asked if the AOPA would support either
> presidential candidate and was told that AOPA had already supported George
W
> Bush through political contributions. I can find nothing to back up this
> claim. Does anyone else have any information?
>
> --
> Regards,
> Mike
>
> http://mywebpage.netscape.com/amountainaero/fspic1.html
>
>

[RobsSanta]

>> I hope that is just a nasty rumor; but If true, they will have one
less
member.

Make that two !!!!

Rob

"Vaughn" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Mike Noel" > wrote in message
> ...
> > A pilot friend mentioned an alleged conversation he had with Phil Boyer,
the
> > president of AOPA. Supposedly he asked if the AOPA would support either
> > presidential candidate and was told that AOPA had already supported
George W
> > Bush through political contributions. I can find nothing to back up
this
> > claim. Does anyone else have any information?
>
> I hope that is just a nasty rumor; but If true, they will have one
less
> member. I have high regard for Mr. Boyer and think that he is way too
smart to
> alienate a large percentage of his membership by getting involved in
partisan
> politics.
>
> Vaughn
>
>
>
>

[dancingstar]

RobsSanta wrote:
>>> I hope that is just a nasty rumor; but If true, they will have one
>>
> less
> member.
>
> Make that two !!!!
>

At least three!!!

Antonio

[Al Marzo]

Then you must have forgotten to read the interviews in the last
election. It clearly supported Dumya. rather than lie, the candidate
that was not awarded the presidency admitted he knew very little about
the subject questions. The winner obviously lied as none of his
promises were kept.

On Sun, 26 Sep 2004 13:36:34 GMT, "Vaughn"
> wrote:

>
>"Mike Noel" > wrote in message
...
>> A pilot friend mentioned an alleged conversation he had with Phil Boyer, the
>> president of AOPA. Supposedly he asked if the AOPA would support either
>> presidential candidate and was told that AOPA had already supported George W
>> Bush through political contributions. I can find nothing to back up this
>> claim. Does anyone else have any information?
>
> I hope that is just a nasty rumor; but If true, they will have one less
>member. I have high regard for Mr. Boyer and think that he is way too smart to
>alienate a large percentage of his membership by getting involved in partisan
>politics.
>
>Vaughn
>
>
>

[xyzzy]

Mike Noel wrote:

> A pilot friend mentioned an alleged conversation he had with Phil Boyer, the
> president of AOPA. Supposedly he asked if the AOPA would support either
> presidential candidate and was told that AOPA had already supported George W
> Bush through political contributions. I can find nothing to back up this
> claim. Does anyone else have any information?
>

Rumors are worthless. The information is easily available.

http://www.campaignmoney.com/committee.asp?committeeID=C00131185&cycle=04

(scroll down to see whom they give to. You can change the last two
digits of the URL to 02 or 00 to see those election cycles).

Money given to both parties, though it skews Republican. I'm a Democrat
but I'm OK with that skew if they are really selecting candidates to
fund based solely on support for GA. That's their purpose. I give to
AOPA PAC and will continue to.

No money to Bush, Gore, Kerry, etc. Looks like they stick to
Congressional races.

[Ron Natalie]

"Mike Noel" > wrote in message ...
> A pilot friend mentioned an alleged conversation he had with Phil Boyer, the
> president of AOPA. Supposedly he asked if the AOPA would support either
> presidential candidate and was told that AOPA had already supported George W
> Bush through political contributions. I can find nothing to back up this
> claim. Does anyone else have any information?
>
AOPA the organinzation is NOT permitted to provide financial support to any
candidate. To do this they have a seperate organization called the AOPA PAC.
Your dues don't go to the PAC, the PAC are those obnoxious junk mailers and
telemarketing scum that go sucking for money.

As near as I know the AOPA PAC is only active in funding candidates for the
House and Senate.

[RobsSanta]

>> the PAC are those obnoxious junk mailers and telemarketing scum that go
sucking for money.

I had them phone me once a week for a 'pledge' of support to the AOPA PAC
that no one in this household made. In the end I lost my temper and told
them to stick it where the sun don't shine. They weren't just taking "no"
for an answer.

Rob




"Ron Natalie" > wrote in message
m...
>
> "Mike Noel" > wrote in message
...
> > A pilot friend mentioned an alleged conversation he had with Phil Boyer,
the
> > president of AOPA. Supposedly he asked if the AOPA would support either
> > presidential candidate and was told that AOPA had already supported
George W
> > Bush through political contributions. I can find nothing to back up
this
> > claim. Does anyone else have any information?
> >
> AOPA the organinzation is NOT permitted to provide financial support to
any
> candidate. To do this they have a seperate organization called the AOPA
PAC.
> Your dues don't go to the PAC, the PAC are those obnoxious junk mailers
and
> telemarketing scum that go sucking for money.
>
> As near as I know the AOPA PAC is only active in funding candidates for
the
> House and Senate.
>

[Vaughn]

"RobsSanta" > wrote in message
news:Gnt6d.36790$aW5.11985@fed1read07...
> >> the PAC are those obnoxious junk mailers and telemarketing scum that go
> sucking for money.
>
> I had them phone me once a week for a 'pledge' of support to the AOPA PAC
> that no one in this household made. In the end I lost my temper and told
> them to stick it where the sun don't shine. They weren't just taking "no"
> for an answer.

I bitched straight to AOPA and the calls went away.

I will take a "business" call from anyone I care to do business with, but
not a "solicitation" call. WHat I mean is you cannot sell me anything by phone,
or even give me anything by phone, and you certainly cannot induce me to donate
anything by phone.

Vaughn


>
> Rob

[Montblack]

("Vaughn" wrote)
> I will take a "business" call from anyone I care to do business with,
but
> not a "solicitation" call. WHat I mean is you cannot sell me anything by
phone,
> or even give me anything by phone, and you certainly cannot induce me to
donate
> anything by phone.


Then explain those 1-976 charges on last month's phone bill :-)


Montblack

[G.R. Patterson III]

RobsSanta wrote:
>
> >> the PAC are those obnoxious junk mailers and telemarketing scum that go
> sucking for money.
>
> I had them phone me once a week for a 'pledge' of support to the AOPA PAC
> that no one in this household made. In the end I lost my temper and told
> them to stick it where the sun don't shine. They weren't just taking "no"
> for an answer.

I simply called AOPA and told them not to call me anymore. That was over 10 years
ago, and they've honored my request.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

[Ben Jackson]

In article >,
G.R. Patterson III > wrote:
>
>I simply called AOPA and told them not to call me anymore. That was over
>10 years
>ago, and they've honored my request.

AOPA started sending me renewal notices 3 or 4 months after I renewed
in 2003. I found that irritating, and suspected it was a trick to get
people who weren't paying attention (such as bill-paying spouses) to
renew year(s) in advance.

They also sent me dozens of credit card offers, insurance solicitations
and offers to join their legal plan. The latter two especially were
filled with dire warnings about what could happen to me if I didn't sign
up.

Finally I called them and said look: Quit spending my membership dues to
try to extract more money from me. If you have enough self-restraint to
leave me along until my renewal in 2004 then I'll renew. Otherwise I
won't.

Guess what? Even after a month+ grace period to process their lists
they were still sending me crap. After I let my membership lapse I got
offers for discounts and freebies if I'd re-up. They even had a
telemarketing company call me.

So if you're wondering where your AOPA dues are going now you know: To
try to lure me back. I'm just glad it's not my money anymore.

--
Ben Jackson
>
http://www.ben.com/

[Dave Butler]

Ben Jackson wrote:
> In article >,

> Finally I called them and said look: Quit spending my membership dues to
> try to extract more money from me.

I believed them when they said that sending me those mail solicitations actually
reduce my cost of membership, because those companies pay AOPA for the
privelege of mailing stuff to their members. Have I been duped?

[xyzzy]

Dave Butler wrote:

> Ben Jackson wrote:
>
>> In article >,
>
>
>> Finally I called them and said look: Quit spending my membership dues to
>> try to extract more money from me.
>
>
> I believed them when they said that sending me those mail solicitations
> actually reduce my cost of membership, because those companies pay AOPA
> for the privelege of mailing stuff to their members. Have I been duped?
>

No you haven't. People can get emotional about junk mail and overreact.
I just keep a shredder next to the table where I put the mail and
don't stress over it.

[Ben Jackson]

In article >,
Dave Butler > wrote:
>I believed them when they said that sending me those mail solicitations
>actually
> reduce my cost of membership, because those companies pay AOPA for the
>privelege of mailing stuff to their members. Have I been duped?

I'm sure some of those mailings are subsidized or even bring in revenue.
But any organization like AOPA re-invests a large percentage of its take
in attracting and retaining members.

--
Ben Jackson
>
http://www.ben.com/

[Victor J. Osborne, Jr.]

Do what I do and send the stuff back. Use their envelope and put it all
back in and send it.

Victor J. (Jim) Osborne, Jr.

[xyzzy]

Victor J. Osborne, Jr. wrote:

> Do what I do and send the stuff back. Use their envelope and put it all
> back in and send it.

A totally useless gesture. There's this myth that it will cost them
money or teach them a lesson. All it will do is annoy the minimum wage
employees in the mail processing company that the sender hired to
process their mail. The return postage for people who do this is such a
drop in the bucket that it doesn't even show up as a line item on the
bill that the processing house sends to the organization that hired them.