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Tag Archives: money in politics
Lynch Goes After the Party Central Committee
Congressman Lynch, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
In the Boston Herald today Congressman Stephen Lynch takes a solid whack at the Party Central Committee – excuse me, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee – for showering Congressman Ed Markey with money while blocking contributions to Lynch. Here’s a sample:
“They haven’t been fair,” Lynch said of the national Democrats who he says have funneled donations and some union support Markey’s way. “No they haven’t been fair. I think they’ve done their best to discourage people from sending me contributions from Washington. They’ve basically said Markey’s our guy, don’t give to Lynch.
How Money Wins the Policy Game
Princeton Professor Martin Gilens opens his book Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America with a quote from Justice Louis Brandeis: “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.”
Professor Gilens does not have good news for us about what the concentration of money in the hands of a few is doing to our democracy.
FEC Deletes Big Money Files
My UMB colleague Tom Ferguson works on money in politics and he, Jie Chen (also of UMB) and Paul Jorgensen have found that the FEC has been purging so-called “dark money” records from its public access files for the 2007-2008 election cycle. Tom, Jie and Paul write:
Beacon Hill Bucks
Writing at www.Bostonmagazine.com, Steve Poftak asks: Whose Money Talks in Massachusetts Politics? His apparent purpose was to suggest that the folks of “Occupy Boston” might want to be careful of what they wish for on the theory that their complaints about the undue influence of big money on Beacon Hill would unintentionally hurt their own interests.
Political knowledge quiz
In another post I suggested that when you are reading a political story and reach the words “A spokesman for (politician X) said” you may safely ignore whatever follows. That may seem out of character with my generally sunny regard for politicians and the folks who work so hard on their behalf (I really do like them). So in order to highlight the fine work done by spokespersons, I offer the following quiz.
Money for nothing
Frank Phillips of the Boston Globe is reporting today in Liquor lobby gives $45,000 to treasurer that the liquor industry, which is regulated by an agency overseen by the state treasurer, recently ponied up $45,000 at a fund raiser for Treasurer Steve Grossman.