CPAC

The American Conservative Union sent a message to Beau Correll, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney in Martinsville, VA, and former National Coalitions Director for Rep. Tom Tancredo's presidential campaign, who created a facebook group right after CPAC 2008 to gin up excitement for CPAC 2009. The letter informed Beau that ACU would take legal action to get the facebook group removed. Beau sent the letter out to the whole group. All of the letters are below.

ACU is wrong and doesn't get it.

First of all, these are supporters who have publicly declared their intention to go to CPAC, mostly a year early. Why on earth would you antognize them? These are mostly people who have attended in the past. Beau and the other organizers tried to bottle the excitement from the last CPAC and drive it forward for the next. I do not recall a CPAC in recent years that I did not get an invite to join a similar group immediately after CPAC. This is standard practice, and if ACU didn't do it, they were clearly behind the curve.

Second, this shows how so much of the old conservative movement doesn't understand how organizing has changed. The barrier to entry for supporters to organize is so low, especially on social networks. You no longer controll your brand, just as candidates can no longer control their message. They can shape it, but there is such a cacophony of organizers and activists who share your goals that all you can do is share information with them. Again, I know Beau, and I cannot imagine that he would not have helped.

It seems like we run into this routine every couple of months. Candidates try to take over groups, turning organizers into adversaries because they insist on total control and won't play nice. Why won't candidates or organizations learn?

See all the correspondence after the jump. And join the group.