NEGATIVE VOTES FOR P. DIDDY
CITIZEN Change - the not-for-profit organization Sean ("P. Diddy") Combs created to get out the vote - needs some changes itself.
The group had to cancel this weekend's fund-raiser at Combs' house in the Hamptons, following a disastrous event in Miami last weekend coinciding with the MTV Video Music Awards. The Miami turnout was so sparse that the Mansion club opened its doors to paying customers midway through the night.
Created to "educate, motivate and empower more than 42 million Americans aged 18 to 30 that are eligible to vote on Nov. 2," Citizen Change was launched over Memorial Day weekend at Combs' wildly successful "White Party" at the Playstation 2 house in the Hamptons.
But many Citizen Change events have been busts. For instance, Combs was supposed to participate in the opening of the Freedom Center in Cincinnati last week, but backed out because First Lady Laura Bush was reportedly not interested in sharing the photo op with him.
"There have been a series of fund-raisers, none of which have been raising money," said a source. "Nobody's writing big checks. Celebrities are not signing on. Puffy thought it would be like 'We Are the World.' It isn't.
"Even Ben Affleck and Russell Simmons stayed away [from Combs] during the DNC in Boston," the source added.
"I'd heard they were disorganized," said another source who has worked with Citizen Change, adding, "I didn't have positive dealings with them."
The group has failed to raise the kind of money necessary to staff it, so almost everyone who holds a Citizen Change title has an outside job as well. Its marketing director, Jameel Spencer, is also marketing chief of Combs' Badboy Worldwide Entertainment Group. Campaign director Doug Scott's day job is general manager and v.p. at the publicity firm Bragman, Nyman, Cafarelli. Only executive director Alexis McGill is full-time.
At least MTV seems happy with Citizen Change, the network's partner in its "Choose or Lose" campaign. "Puffy has been a dream to work with," MTV's spokeswoman said.
Jamal Simmons, a spokesman for Citizen Change, said the organization has "over $1 million in pledges and has been creating programming that will air in the fall."