Let me buy you a pigSubmitted by Monica Rober on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 1:56pm.
Posted in: Michigan | Public Financing
Let’s say you have some extra money in your war chest during your election bid – what do you plan to do with it? Well, if you’re a Michigan lawmaker, you may just be buying pigs for your supporters. Yes, that’s right, pigs.
A recent article in The Detroit News details many instances in which incumbent politicians made inane purchases with campaign cash during the past election. And if you think buying pigs is bad - try this on for size, “Campaign spending documents filed by (Rep.) Camp and other Michigan congressional incumbents reveal a broad shopping list, including a free Hollywood movie screening, limo service, lunches at the members-only dining room at the Capitol and stays at ritzy hotels.” Why, you ask, are candidates spending their campaign coffers so frivolously? Well, because they can. As the article points out, under congressional rules and laws, all of this spending is perfectly legal. Under the present system, incumbents pretty much have free reign on what they can buy to endear constituents and potential supporters, “…as long as they can reasonably tie the spending to their re-election bids.” You’d be surprised what some people consider reasonable… However, there are certainly those of us out there who believe that this type of spending is wasteful, to say the least. The remedy to such frivolity is public financing, says Craig Holman, the government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen. “With money more equally distributed among incumbents and challengers, some of the more extravagant campaign spending of today would likely vanish…If we convert to public financing of campaigns, there would be strict controls on how the money is spent.” Holman isn’t the only one who sees the need for change. “Lea Kaczanowski, a teacher in Sterling Heights, also favors the shift. Holman and Kaczanowski certainly make good points. When a Representative in Congress can spend thousands of dollars on pigs and “livestock processing,” and legally justify those campaign expenses, it’s probably time for a change to the campaign finance system.
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