SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - Bloomberg: Constitution ‘must change’ to give government more power

Platapus · 04-25-13, 05:43 PM

A friend of mine is running for a State House position in Virginia. This is a part time position that pays about $17,000 per year.

In order to run for this office, he told me that he has to raise $1,000,000 for his campaign. For a small part time job as state house member.

He then told me that in the very near future, for the same position, it will probably cost $5,000,000.

That is one of the problems with politics. It costs so much money to run a campaign that the candidate has to get the money from somewhere. Local donations won't cover it so they turn to the Political Party for funds. Multiple strings are attached at multiple places.

It really should not cost a million dollars to run for a state assembly position. But it does. And the funding race keeps getting bigger and bigger.

You will have a tougher time winning an election by spending $500,000 if your opponent is spending $1,000,000. So you might as well spend $1,000,000. Then next election your opponent spends $1,500,000. Wadda goin to do?

There is no such thing as string-less donations.

I don't know what the solution is, or whether any solution may be worse then the disease.

But if you have to spend $1,000,000 to get a $17,000 part time job, that opens up a lot of potential for corruption.

04-25-13, 05:43 PM	#1
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,384 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	A friend of mine is running for a State House position in Virginia. This is a part time position that pays about $17,000 per year. In order to run for this office, he told me that he has to raise $1,000,000 for his campaign. For a small part time job as state house member. He then told me that in the very near future, for the same position, it will probably cost $5,000,000. That is one of the problems with politics. It costs so much money to run a campaign that the candidate has to get the money from somewhere. Local donations won't cover it so they turn to the Political Party for funds. Multiple strings are attached at multiple places. It really should not cost a million dollars to run for a state assembly position. But it does. And the funding race keeps getting bigger and bigger. You will have a tougher time winning an election by spending $500,000 if your opponent is spending $1,000,000. So you might as well spend $1,000,000. Then next election your opponent spends $1,500,000. Wadda goin to do? There is no such thing as string-less donations. I don't know what the solution is, or whether any solution may be worse then the disease. But if you have to spend $1,000,000 to get a $17,000 part time job, that opens up a lot of potential for corruption. __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.