There is a popular notion that rich office-seekers are free of the corrupting influences that burden candidates of lesser means. But self-funding hasn’t proven to be a guarantee of righteousness. Rather, the need to spend hugely on campaigns can grind principles to dust and corrupt the entire political process whether the funds come from lobbyists or self-made men and women on ego trips.
In New York City Mayor Bloomberg was able to get approval from the City Council to run for a third, four-year term. His rallying cry? - - that the city would be best served by his experienced stewardship of the New York economy “as it faces the fallout from Wall Street” Bloomberg.com 11/3/08. An updated campaign finance report indicates he spent over $100,000 to win, by a surprisingly slim margin. Perhaps he was the best candidate however the public had upheld term limits in two previous referenda and Bloomberg had supported them as well until they interfered with his personal political aspirations. In any case money was no object in his re-election bid.
In Florida’s Democratic primary battle, billionaire businessman and party-switching candidate Jeff Greene was a late arrival. A real-estate mogul, Greene made out like a bandit, one might say, by trading in those infamous “credit default swaps” so poorly understood by almost everyone and such invasive contributors to the country’s disastrous economic downturn. So, does his $24,000 campaign investment make him a desirable candidate or just a viable one?
And in one of the more ironic races Republican Carly Fiorina is running for the Senate in California, against incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer. Dismissed Hewlett Packard CEO Fiorina left with “a $21 million severance and an additional $21 million buyout of her stock options and pension benefits,” an arrangement ‘that sparked a shareholder lawsuit.’ (Rachel Weiner at Huffington Post) One of her issues is unemployment in California, when she isn’t making fun of Boxer’s hair. The irony of her position is that as CEO of Hewlett Packard she off-shored or otherwise dispensed with thousands of jobs. It would seem a tough case to make, but Fiorina proves once again that she, like so many others, has absolutely no shame about her corporate history or her double standards.
Darrell Issa, self-promoting, self-made millionaire spends most of his time trying to discredit the president with charges of corruption over everything from travel expenses to choices he made about candidates in various races. He will likely retain a gimmee House seat in a Republican sure-thing district this fall. His activity recalls the relentless pursuit of President Clinton by Republicans and the egregious amount of time wasted in that endeavor. Issa is perhaps best known for investing over a million dollars collecting enough signatures to initiate the recall of California Governor Gray Davis.
For the sheer triumph of money over class there’s Linda McMahon, Connecticut’s Republican candidate for the Senate. The former head of Wrestling’s WWE empire she insists her business is entertainment rather than a real sport, a position that freed her from regulations imposed in most mainstream sports. Her WWE promotional spots are something less than dignified, not that dignity is a necessary component of political campaigns. What is more problematic about her place in the ‘sports’ world is the mortality rate among wrestlers and their flagrant use of drugs - - steroids, uppers, downers, sleep aids. According to an Atlantic.com article, for wrestlers ‘the death rate is seven times higher than the general population, and they are twelve times more likely to die from heart disease than others in the same age group.’ McMahon contends, despite most medical opinion, that adverse effects of steroid use are as yet unsubstantiated. Maybe the $50 million she plans to spend on her campaign will mitigate some of the bad press she will likely continue to receive regarding her leadership role at WWE.
Opinion differs on the subject of money. One view is that money isn’t everything but it’s way ahead of whatever’s in second place; another is that it’s the root of all evil. Either way, enormous campaign expenditures highlight the deep gulf between what we call values and all that money can buy. Maybe this election cycle, though, voters, unhappy with the ways of Washington, will be equally disgusted with the obscene displays of wealth by fat-cat contenders sitting atop personal lock-boxes of cash, pretending to understand the devastating financial hardships ordinary Americans are experiencing.
