Big Money to Buy Elections
Big Money to Buy Elections
As most of us political junkies know, there are many many ways to get around the Public Disclosure Commission and its complex set of campaign reporting rules. Indeed, even ignoring the consequ
As most of us political junkies know, there are many many ways to get around the Public Disclosure Commission and its complex set of campaign reporting rules. Indeed, even ignoring the consequences can pay off big as a candidate who wins with the benefit of unreported funds will still hold the office. If anyone knows of any candidate who has ever been forced to relinquish office because of PDC violations, please let me know.
If I understand the process, last Tuesday, Oct 13, was the last general reporting day for candidate contributions before the election. However, especially large donations do need special reporting.
It seems that Kathy Kershner has received a $20,000 check from one donor - and it has not yet been reported. My information is the donor gave it last week, a day after the final, full PDC filing before the election. I've called and left a message for the donor to confirm or deny the fact and have not heard back.
It seems Sam Crawford is putting the arm twist on wealthy conservatives throughout the county. He is responsible for the big checks being given - and after the last full filing. Sam is not up for election, but apparently wants four super-conservative allies on our county council.
Nothing wrong with big money - except we voters should know about it in time to consider it when we vote. Big money given late in the game - and then with delayed reporting - is a method of gaming our weak state disclosure laws. And a solid method for buying elections.
The voting has been on for days. Any who can confirm or refute what I'm reliably hearing, please weigh in with comments. It is absurd for us to wait till weeks after the election to learn who bought which candidates. And we cannot depend on the Bellingham Herald or it's political reporter, Sam Taylor, to inform us of these things. Sam is quick to report liberals being slow with a modest in-kind contribution report, but seems blind to his conservatives blatantly buying elections. Sam is quite conservative and has a hard time seeing news when they pull their antics. As this gets posted Monday afternoon, neither Sam's blog nor PDC filings reflect this $20,000 donation or who gave it.
Update - midnight: Have added the graphic at the top of this article of the PDC filing made by Kathy's campaign after this article was posted this afternoon. Indeed it shows Nick Kaiser donating the huge $19,500 check last week and was required to be reported last week. We can only wonder when it would have been reported without a little exposure here. I doubt Nick is infatuated with Kathy so much as he is wanting to keep Dan McShane off the county council.
Sam Taylor was busy reporting minor PDC delays by the Democrats and apparently has no nose for the huge checks coming in from his conservatives. And I doubt there will be anything in Tuesday's Herald about this. Yet this is political news of the first order. This late surge of big checks is how the elections are won. Giving big early would motivate the opponents to also push for big bucks. So the idea is to hold off on big donations until late in the game and then go late in reporting them. Our daily newspaper allows this to happen each election by not exposing it.
If I understand the process, last Tuesday, Oct 13, was the last general reporting day for candidate contributions before the election. However, especially large donations do need special reporting.
It seems that Kathy Kershner has received a $20,000 check from one donor - and it has not yet been reported. My information is the donor gave it last week, a day after the final, full PDC filing before the election. I've called and left a message for the donor to confirm or deny the fact and have not heard back.
It seems Sam Crawford is putting the arm twist on wealthy conservatives throughout the county. He is responsible for the big checks being given - and after the last full filing. Sam is not up for election, but apparently wants four super-conservative allies on our county council.
Nothing wrong with big money - except we voters should know about it in time to consider it when we vote. Big money given late in the game - and then with delayed reporting - is a method of gaming our weak state disclosure laws. And a solid method for buying elections.
The voting has been on for days. Any who can confirm or refute what I'm reliably hearing, please weigh in with comments. It is absurd for us to wait till weeks after the election to learn who bought which candidates. And we cannot depend on the Bellingham Herald or it's political reporter, Sam Taylor, to inform us of these things. Sam is quick to report liberals being slow with a modest in-kind contribution report, but seems blind to his conservatives blatantly buying elections. Sam is quite conservative and has a hard time seeing news when they pull their antics. As this gets posted Monday afternoon, neither Sam's blog nor PDC filings reflect this $20,000 donation or who gave it.
Update - midnight: Have added the graphic at the top of this article of the PDC filing made by Kathy's campaign after this article was posted this afternoon. Indeed it shows Nick Kaiser donating the huge $19,500 check last week and was required to be reported last week. We can only wonder when it would have been reported without a little exposure here. I doubt Nick is infatuated with Kathy so much as he is wanting to keep Dan McShane off the county council.
Sam Taylor was busy reporting minor PDC delays by the Democrats and apparently has no nose for the huge checks coming in from his conservatives. And I doubt there will be anything in Tuesday's Herald about this. Yet this is political news of the first order. This late surge of big checks is how the elections are won. Giving big early would motivate the opponents to also push for big bucks. So the idea is to hold off on big donations until late in the game and then go late in reporting them. Our daily newspaper allows this to happen each election by not exposing it.
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