RedState

RedStatehttps://redstate.com/erick/2011/06/07/selling-endorsements/feed/Conservative News & Politicsen-usFri, 12 Jun 2026 08:05:50 -0400Selling Endorsements? [updated]<![CDATA[I want to thank Ben Smith at the Politico for letting me know about an email that went out from Eagle Publishing, our parent company. I had not seen and did not know about the email.Just to start it off, no, my endorsements are not for sale. I don’t know who the guy is who sent the email, but he certainly did RedState no favors.About two months ago, Hillsdale College approached me to see if I’d be willing to promote their townhall event. I was glad to. The project was a success and we subsequently followed it up with the Heritage Foundation. We’ve been approached by a few others I didn’t much care for and I have declined to help. I guess the sales team decided to take the ball and run with it.A sales guy at Eagle sent out an email, which you can read below the fold, which neither I nor my boss at Eagle saw before it was sent out. It all but says my endorsement is for sale. It is not.The focus of these ad campaigns are for conservative organizations I support and am glad to help, never for candidates or groups I don’t much care for. In fact, a certain Presidential candidate asked me to do one for an ancillary project and wanted me to use the word “endorse,” which I would not do.That’s the situation. With me in Georgia and operations in Washington, I guess something like this was bound to happen eventually.You can read the email below the fold.[updated] ***By the way, this is an appropriate time to answer the question of why I have not endorsed a candidate or two you all expect me to endorse and have demanded I endorse. Apparently, one or two candidates I’d like to endorse signed on as sponsors to the RedState Gathering before the sales guys understood that I don’t want candidates to sponsor out of an appearance of impropriety should I endorse them. Consequently, I don’t think I can in good faith endorse candidates who have sponsored the Gathering. I may like them, but the appearance of impropriety would be too much in my mind. I don’t want to mention the candidates, because it is not their fault, but for those of you emailing to have me endorse particular candidates we both like, there’s why I have not and will not.]]>Tue, 07 Jun 2011 11:23:26 -0400<![CDATA[Erick Erickson]]>https://redstate.com/erick/2011/06/07/selling-endorsements-n39274