In today’s Times Union, James Odato reported some of the top contributors to New York campaigns in last six months of 2011 – including one man who donated over $500,000 to the Conservative Party. But the real money quote (pun intended) is this:
Verizon contributed heavily to the Republican Senate campaign committee; it did not send funds to the Senate Democrats. In December, Senate Democratic leader John Sampson, who in the past received $6,500 to his campaign from Verizon, and co-counsel Ravi Batra, a lawyer appointed by Sampson to the new state ethics committee, sued Verizon on behalf of In Touch Concepts, on whose board they serve.
To us, this says it all. Here is a blatant example of the 1% buying our politicians and using them for their own benefit without a care in the world about rest of New Yorkers. How can we expect our representatives to work for our best interests when they have to consider the possibility of losing these large contributions every time they make any sort of decision? This is not how our democracy should work. It should not be up for auction to the highest bidder – it should work for everyone.
The solution is pretty simple: remove these large sums of money from the equation and empower the voter. Just because you have a thicker wallet shouldn’t make your vote more important.