Monday, January 12, 2004
Republican Primary up for Sale?
Two of three major candidates in the Republican primary for California's third congressional district are multi-millionaires who have vowed to spend "whatever it takes" to buy themselves a seat in Congress. The third, who by comparison makes a paltry $480,000 a year as a hot shot Washington lawyer, could benefit from a new loophole in federal law that could allow him to raise three times as much money from big donors as his competitors. The idea of this so-called Millionaire's Loophole is to allow non-wealthy candidates to compete with the millionaires. But as a practical matter, it means that voters will get to choose between two super rich candidates, and one sorta rich candidate who is backed by many sorta rich donors. Doesn't leave much room for ordinary Americans to either run for office or have their contributions influence the election, does it?
Details can be found here in the Sacramento Bee.
Two of three major candidates in the Republican primary for California's third congressional district are multi-millionaires who have vowed to spend "whatever it takes" to buy themselves a seat in Congress. The third, who by comparison makes a paltry $480,000 a year as a hot shot Washington lawyer, could benefit from a new loophole in federal law that could allow him to raise three times as much money from big donors as his competitors. The idea of this so-called Millionaire's Loophole is to allow non-wealthy candidates to compete with the millionaires. But as a practical matter, it means that voters will get to choose between two super rich candidates, and one sorta rich candidate who is backed by many sorta rich donors. Doesn't leave much room for ordinary Americans to either run for office or have their contributions influence the election, does it?
Details can be found here in the Sacramento Bee.
Comments:
Post a Comment
