Pete Myers
Button collector extraordinaire
I collect political buttons. I have for years. Since they’re getting harder and harder to find, every 4 years I order a set from each major campaign. In late August, I ordered buttons from both the Trump and Biden campaigns. They cost $11 plus postage.
The buttons arrived in early September. Even before the buttons arrived, though, the campaign solicitations started. They came by both email and text and were relentless.
I received pleas for money from the President and Vice President, the former Vice President and Senator Harris, and from a huge cast of characters on both sides of the aisle including both national campaign committees, President Obama, Mrs. Obama, Mrs. Trump, Dr. Biden, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Senator Tom Perez, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Lara Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Senator Bernie Sanders, former astronaut Mark Kelly, Mike Lindell, Cher, Scarlett Johanssen, Senator Doug Jones, and a number of other Hollywood celebrities, just to name a few. Cher personally invited me to a log in to a private concert (for a donation); Scarlett personally invited me to join her fellow Avengers cast members in supporting “Joe” and “Kamala” -I never knew how close I was with any of them!
I received so many emails and text messages that it got laughable.
In October, I received 689 fundraising requests.
On average, the total daily minimum I was asked to donate was $352.50. The daily maximum was $7,220.00.
If I had responded to every message, my October giving would have ranged from $242,872.50 to $4,974,580!
That makes it $1.2 million per button!
I’ve already voted, so I think that on Election Day I’ll make a meaningful donation to a real charity, instead.
Pete Myers is an attorney who once lived in Del Rio.
