Outrageous! Politicians Kissing Up for Cash

When politicians and big donors get cozy, the rest of us end up paying for their sweetheart deals.

By Michael Crowley
From Reader's Digest
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Politician Kissing Baby
Photo-Illustration by Lou Beach
Contributors are writing checks in their children's names in order to get around campaign finance laws.
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We've come to a point where no candidate for office can be competitive without a personal fortune or access to many wealthy people ... When you follow the money and the tiny fraction of mostly wealthy Americans who donate it, you understand gas prices, health care, student loans, taxation, defense contracting and pretty much every other policy in a whole new light.

Tax-Funded Campaigns

You don't need a map to know that Florida is a long way from Alaska. But that didn't stop Don Young, a Republican and Alaska's lone Congressman, from making a February 2005 trip to the Sunshine State for a fund-raiser that added $40,000 to his political coffers. Among the hosts: a wealthy Florida developer with an interest in a transportation bill drawn up by a committee Young chaired.

Shortly after the event, that bill got a little tweak -- slipped in after Congress approved the legislation but before the President signed it. Ten million dollars originally meant for general improvements to Florida's Interstate 75 was earmarked for building an interchange at a specific spot, along Coconut Road. The site just happens to sit near 4,000 acres owned by that Florida developer -- property that's likely to soar in value if the interchange is built.

Young hasn't commented on whether he was behind the last-minute change to the bill. But it sure seems like he was trading $10 million of your taxes to help a rich guy get even richer in exchange for feeding his campaign fund. It's yet another example of how big-money interests are doing their best to drown out those whose only influence is the old-fashioned vote. "We've come to a point where no candidate for office can be competitive without a personal fortune or access to many wealthy people," says Massie Ritsch of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. "When you follow the money and the tiny fraction of mostly wealthy Americans who donate it, you understand gas prices, health care, student loans, taxation, defense contracting and pretty much every other policy in a whole new light."

Look at the 2008 White House race, shaping up to be the most money-soaked ever. The cost of TV advertising alone could reach $3 billion. That puts huge pressure on candidates to take cash from wherever -- whomever -- they can.

And that’s how we wind up with donors like one named Carlyn who last year gave $2,300 to Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Carlyn's donation wouldn't be remarkable -- except that she's two years old. Yup, still in diapers. Obama also got money from a seven- and eight-year-old brother and sister (each gave $4,600). And his campaign, which said it would return the donations and stop taking money from kids, wasn't alone in drawing pint-size financial backers. Republicans Mitt Romney and John McCain also took checks from kids.

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Remaining Character Count:
 
When Nancy Reagan explained her opposition to the replacement of FDR with her late husband on the dime, she said that Ronnie considered FDR to have been the greatest president of the 20th century (probably the only thing he and I ever agreed about). The fact that he released capitalism from its control by democracy (the "deregulation" scam) shows just how cynical he was in serving his corporate puppetmasters.

By 6Osrad, on 05/12/2008
When democracy controls capitalism, everybody benefits; when capitalism controls democracy, fascists benefit.

By 6Osrad, on 05/12/2008
test

By quality9, on 05/03/2008
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