Mirroring the donor-backlash against Karl Rove after his American Crossroad/Crossroads GPS super PACs raised upwards of $300 million and produced a dismal 2012 success rate, Mike Murphy, the man in charge of the Jeb Bush Right to Rise USA super PAC is now in the crosshairs. Right to Rise’s dismal results became painfully obvious when Bush dropped out of the race Saturday night after only three primary contests.
CNN reports that donors are not happy:
In the armchair quarterbacking following Bush’s departure from the race Saturday night, Murphy is facing countless questions about the efficacy of the PAC spending tens of millions of dollars on a candidacy that floundered months ago and never rebounded.
Murphy said in an email Monday, “Out of more than 11,000 donors only a handful have complained.”
CNN goes on to report that outside of those dismal results, Murphy may have personally pocketed $14 million. Murphy calls the claim bull sh*t:
One Bush bundler told CNN’s Dana Bash that when it came to Murphy, “strong knives are out.”
“He made minimum of $14 million,” the bundler said, requesting anonymity to speak freely about campaign strategy.
The details of Murphy’s compensation package at Right to Rise are not publicly known. Murphy responded to the $14-million figure by calling it, “Absolute bulls—.”
“That mystery donor should have the guts to call me and get straightened out,” Murphy said in an email Monday.
CNN also points out that Murphy made it rain even more for Meg Whitman, when she ran to be California’s governor in 2010. But the rain was all money and nothing close to a victory:.
Murphy’s failed effort to help Bush follows his strategic oversight of another expensive losing campaign: the $177 million effort of 2010 California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. Despite her campaign’s lavish spending, Whitman lost to Democrat Jerry Brown, who spent a mere $36 million by comparison. …
But he was handsomely paid by Whitman’s campaign during the 2010 gubernatorial race. Whitman invested $1 million in a movie company that he owned before he had even joined her effort. Most months after he joined her campaign, Murphy’s company, Bonaparte Films, was paid $90,000, according to financial disclosure reports filed in California.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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