Show Me the Money $$$$

"Let's Talk Politics" with Adrienne Washington on Lyndia Grant's "Think on These Things" Show on WYCB- 1340 AM, MySpiritDC.com 8/17/12

SHOW ME THE MONEY $$$:

Even on vacation you just can’t get away from the campaigns, especially if you are trying to get a little R&R within a stone’s throw of a swing state in the DMV such as Virginia. The money that the presidential campaigns and their surrogates are spending on campaign ads alone to elect their candidates is absolutely obscene as they are expected to raise an estimated $2 billion collectively before the Nov. 6 election. $2 billion! Can you imagine how many worldwide social problems – or jobs -- even tax cuts – $2 billion could cure? Any even bigger question is what exactly does the money in American politics buy, and for whom?

Although Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has reportedly raised more money than President Obama and the Democrats in the past three months, $101 for Romney to $75 million for Obama, before his pick of VP candidate Paul Ryan, the Center for Responsive Politics’ website, www.Open Secrets.org , shows figures which indicate that President Obama has raised more at $300 million to date with $97 million still in his campaign war chest. But those funds haven’t stopped the Prez ‘s folks from begging for money – particularly from small, individual donors where more than half of his contributions are shown -- to counter the high rotation of political ads that have become the irritating soundtrack of the Summer of 2012. And, those ads don’t come cheaply. My unscientific study indicates that for every three anti-Obama ads funded by Romney-backers, there is only one pro-Obama ad aired in counter response throughout the battleground state of Virginia and its neighboring border states of North Carolina and West Virginia. So don’t be surprised when you receive those Obama 2012 campaign solicitations online and in snail mail seeking your pocket pennies and bigger bucks.

Everyone knows money talks in politics and nowhere was that more evident than in Maryland this week where the General Assembly in a special session narrowly voted to favor the money-wielding gaming industry by putting a voter referendum for Las Vegas style gambling particularly at National Habor in Prince George’s County on the November ballot. Hiding behind the possibility of more jobs, many of Maryland’s leaders like PG County Executive Rushern Baker, changed horses this time around and pushed for the referendum unlike in the past when they followed faith-based voters who are still adamantly against the slots referendum. It’s not just the expanded gaming that’s a moral and social problem for opponents like Gerron Levi, of Stop Slots in Prince George’s, but she stressed on NewsChannel 8 her worries about the nature economic development based on jobs, which are more suited to low skilled high school graduates and mismatched with the need for professional employment needed by the county residents who overwhelmingly possess college degrees. It is unclear just how much money the gaming industry ponied up but there are moves afoot to ban political contributions from gambling companies and if that prohibition will really take hold before November .

Cruising up the Potomac River, campaign contributions for November local council elections are trickling leaving candidates, such as At-Large contender Vincent Orange, with meager resources but no one knows for sure if it’s due August vacations or the chill blowing in to town due to the numerous investigations into campaign finance irregularities in the scandal-plagued nation’s capital city. Nonetheless, despite DC voter’s frustration with the corruption scandals, the grassroots group DC Public Trust was not able to get their Initiative 70, The Prohibition of Corporate Contributions Initiative of 2012, as a referendum on the November ballot.

It’s an old saying in political circles to “follow the dollars.” And we still need real campaign finance reform in this country to get the tainted dollars out of politics at every level. Want evidence? Watch the biopic ‘Casino Jack” about the once-famous Washington lobbyist to get a startling view of how money and influence peddling are the lifeblood of American politics.
And, don't forget to check your voter registration status!