Two days after the deaths of 59 people in a mass shooting in Las Vegas, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy appeared to use the mass shooting as the foundation for a fundraising solicitation designed to bolster his 2018 re-election campaign.
According to a Hartford Courant report, Murphy”™s office sent his supporters an email with the subject line “Outraged at Congressional inaction on guns?” Murphy requested email recipients to “Split a donation ”“ of any amount ”“ between the leading organizations working every day to take on the gun lobby and make our communities safer from gun violence.”
However, the donation link in the email resulted in an automatic default where funds would be sent to four entities: a trio of gun control advocacy groups and Murphy”™s re-election organization. A day later, Murphy”™s office altered the link so it would not default to donations for his re-election bid.
It is not clear how much money Murphy raised off this solicitation. A spokesperson for Murphy defended the Connecticut Democrat”™s right to raise campaign funds in the aftermath of the Las Vegas tragedy.
“The notion that this political fight needs to be suspended in the wake a mass shooting is an argument perpetuated by the gun lobby and those who want the status quo to never change,” the spokesperson said.
Murphy has been feeding off of the tragedy at Sandy Hook for the past five years, why for him would this event be any different?
Murphy, Malloy… just two of the problems plaguing Connecticut. If we can scape off those dead weights, we might be able to make some progress!