Thursday, October 20, 2005
Madison mirrors Washington DC's culture of corruption
The editor of the Wisconsin State Journal's editorial page couldn't resist gloating that former state Senator Chuck Chvala's (D) trial begins on Halloween. He writes that Chuck's "sharp elbows...his ferocious appetite for competition to get his way...clutching so tightly to power meant Chvala needed money--lots of it..." As fun as it may be to watch others getting their just reward, the editorial actually distracts from the larger, far mor important, issue of Madison's culture of corruption.
Does the editor think for an instant that Chvala created the cesspool we call electoral politics? Go here: Caucus Scandal Archive (Links to articles covering the ongoing scandal.) Does the editor not know -- or not want his readers to know -- that there are nearly a thousand well paid lobbyists who stand ready to provide "honest graft" in the form of campaign contributions for favors? Go here: Graft Tax Scorecard 2005 [Keep track of "legal" graft in state government with this handy scorecard (pdf document).]
Why do some interests nearly always get what they want, while others almost never do? Why is there an apparent relationship between those who contribute and those who "win" in legislation, regulation and policy? Could it be they are being rewarded for enormous campaign contributions? As just one example: Let's visit the PSC to find out about ex parte communications. Let's wonder aloud why utilities can push a bill through the "lobbyist's Legislature" to gain the right, under eminent domain, to take public lands.
Now, I'm no fan of Chvala. When I used to talk to him about the plight of home care providers trying to serve the needs of Wisconsin's frail elderly and low-income disabled residents, all he wanted to talk about was campaign contributions. It wasn't a direct "pay to play" demand, but his indirect message was clear. I always felt the need to scrub thoroughly afterward. But the State Journal would serve its readers more if it gave us fewer partisan-based sanctimonious editorials and more genuine reporting to expose Madison's culture of corrpution. Go here: Three already violate annual contribution limit.
What do you think Tommy Thompson was doing for 14 years while the State Journal slept? Did the editor miss the series the Milwaukee newspaper ran on the relationship between the nursing home industry and Thompson? Or were the apparent links between those campaign contributions and Thompson's policies merely the world's most consistent and long-running coincidence?
The editor asks -- rhetorically, I assmue -- whether Chvala is a good guy or "the power-hungry, felony-facing political boss he became." He wants us to think Chvala is the problem, and that's a problem in itself. I can't know what's behind his reasoning -- Does he want to deflect attention from the causes of our corruption or is he just ignorant? -- but until he figures out the system, investigates those who give the money and gets back to us, he's doing more harm than good. Go here: Money in Politics 101 (Learn the basics of campaign finance.)
In the meantime, I'm stocking up on lye soap.
Does the editor think for an instant that Chvala created the cesspool we call electoral politics? Go here: Caucus Scandal Archive (Links to articles covering the ongoing scandal.) Does the editor not know -- or not want his readers to know -- that there are nearly a thousand well paid lobbyists who stand ready to provide "honest graft" in the form of campaign contributions for favors? Go here: Graft Tax Scorecard 2005 [Keep track of "legal" graft in state government with this handy scorecard (pdf document).]
Why do some interests nearly always get what they want, while others almost never do? Why is there an apparent relationship between those who contribute and those who "win" in legislation, regulation and policy? Could it be they are being rewarded for enormous campaign contributions? As just one example: Let's visit the PSC to find out about ex parte communications. Let's wonder aloud why utilities can push a bill through the "lobbyist's Legislature" to gain the right, under eminent domain, to take public lands.
Now, I'm no fan of Chvala. When I used to talk to him about the plight of home care providers trying to serve the needs of Wisconsin's frail elderly and low-income disabled residents, all he wanted to talk about was campaign contributions. It wasn't a direct "pay to play" demand, but his indirect message was clear. I always felt the need to scrub thoroughly afterward. But the State Journal would serve its readers more if it gave us fewer partisan-based sanctimonious editorials and more genuine reporting to expose Madison's culture of corrpution. Go here: Three already violate annual contribution limit.
What do you think Tommy Thompson was doing for 14 years while the State Journal slept? Did the editor miss the series the Milwaukee newspaper ran on the relationship between the nursing home industry and Thompson? Or were the apparent links between those campaign contributions and Thompson's policies merely the world's most consistent and long-running coincidence?
The editor asks -- rhetorically, I assmue -- whether Chvala is a good guy or "the power-hungry, felony-facing political boss he became." He wants us to think Chvala is the problem, and that's a problem in itself. I can't know what's behind his reasoning -- Does he want to deflect attention from the causes of our corruption or is he just ignorant? -- but until he figures out the system, investigates those who give the money and gets back to us, he's doing more harm than good. Go here: Money in Politics 101 (Learn the basics of campaign finance.)
In the meantime, I'm stocking up on lye soap.
