An email fundraising campaign by the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives makes the party look bad, says political scientist and professor emeritus at L'Université de Saint-Boniface, Raymond Hébert.

With a subject line that read "We need your help," the email was sent out Thursday morning by PC campaign director, Nancy Cooke. It asks for a $50 donation to the party to fight NDP attack ads.

The email was sent to a handful of journalists who have no connection to the Tories.

"At best it's amateurish to not vet these lists more closely," Hébert said.

"At worst, I would say it's incompetent. But any way you look at it, I think it reflects poorly on the Progressive Conservative party," he said.

The email was sent to several Manitoba journalists, including at least two at CBC.

Nancy Cooke wrote in an email to CBC that one of the journalists who received the donation request "is listed as having signed up as a supporter of the former PC Party candidate in the riding of The Pas. We regularly send emails to names of supporters listed in our database."

The CBC journalist disputes ever having signed up as a PC supporter. Asking journalists for money shows incompetence within the PC party, said Hébert.

"It's counterproductive. Obviously it's going to come out, if they're putting bona fide journalists on their lists and they are verified as not being active Conservative supporters then it's going to be found out. So why do it in the first place?"

These types of campaigns are becoming more common practice in politics, added Hébert.

"I think probably for their hardcore supporters, all's fair in love and war, sort of thing," he said.

"There are these attack ads going on and I think it's legitimate possibly, at least in terms of the hardcore supporters of the Conservatives, that they launch this kind of appeal. Certainly the federal Conservatives had no qualms doing this kind of fundraising based on fear mongering or whatever you want to call it."

Cooke is looking into the matter to determine how at least two CBC journalists ended up on a list of Tory supporters, she said.

Hébert believes the Tories should just cut their losses.

"For them, just apologize [and] say they made a mistake and move on," he said.

"But they should correct their databases and vet them much more closely."