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Up Front Blog |
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August 2008
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« Is non-partisan voting good for government? |Main| Four more years for Governor Christine Gregoire? »
One of the goals of campaign finance laws is to make the process transparent. Voters should know which campaigns and candidates are getting money, who's giving them money, and how much money is exchanging hands. What do you think? Is the system working? Is it clear to you which interest groups are supporting the different campaigns? Do you think you can easily figure out the individuals who are contributing to campaigns? 6 Comments |
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It's all crooked. No you cannot. Obama get's a lot of money from interest groups outside of the United States. What a fraud.
This morning's coverage on campaign money really illustrates the need for a change.
Everyone should check out the corporate money that Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland is receiving -- a quarter million dollars! -- all from Big Timber.
The PAC is called the Committee for Balanced Stewardship or Committee for BS. You can look them up on the PDC's website: www.pdc.wa.gov
It is clear whose interests he is protecting when you look across the state at clear cuts and land swaps, and it is NOT the voters'.
His challenger, by contrast, has received almost all of his contributions from individuals. My count shows over 1900 individuals contributing to his campaign.
Stop allowing corporate interest to run our country. Vote for Peter Goldmark for Commissioner of Public Lands.
"Getting" out of control??
Of course....Is there anyone who does not think it is out of control?
But...Joey...this is not the place to campaign. Kind of pathetic.
Compared to most other states we have one of the best public disclosure laws in the country. You can go to the website for the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission and see who is contributing to the candidates.
In the race for Public Lands Commisdsioner I could identify over 40% of the contributions to Doug Suthrerland, the imcumbent, as coming from timber and mining interests.
Meanwhile his Democratic opponent, Peter Goldmark was getting most of his money from individuals and some from labor unions and the state Democratic Party.
Last year the website www.VotingforJudges.org
did a great job of identifying that the Building Industry Association of Washington , BIAW, was spending huge amounts of money to try to elect their handpicked candidates. Their effort backfired and voters did not support those candidates.
Another way to limit the influence of large sums of money, besides strong disclosure laws, would be to adopt public financing of campaigns. A local option was passed by the State Legislature this year and another effort will be made to extend it to Judicial races, particularly at the state and appellate level this coming year.
Compared to most other states we have one of the best public disclosure laws in the country. You can go to the website for the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission and see who is contributing to the candidates.
In the race for Public Lands Commisdsioner I could identify over 40% of the contributions to Doug Suthrerland, the imcumbent, as coming from timber and mining interests.
Meanwhile his Democratic opponent, Peter Goldmark was getting most of his money from individuals and some from labor unions and the state Democratic Party.
Last year the website www.VotingforJudges.org
did a great job of identifying that the Building Industry Association of Washington , BIAW, was spending huge amounts of money to try to elect their handpicked candidates. Their effort backfired and voters did not support those candidates.
Another way to limit the influence of large sums of money, besides strong disclosure laws, would be to adopt public financing of campaigns. A local option was passed by the State Legislature this year and another effort will be made to extend it to Judicial races, particularly at the state and appellate level this coming year.