So while much of the local media is playing Martha Stewart and tut-tutting the Governor’s furniture, Janet Wu turns out a pretty tough story on why we have so many unopposed candidates — and what they’re actually doing with their mountains of campaign cash:
Rep. Ronald Mariano hasn’t faced an opponent since 1992. But last year, he raised more than $100,000. If he isn’t spending it on a campaign, what did he spend nearly $44,000 on? Well, there are the meals at Boston’s top end restaurants — $842 for dinner at Abe and Louie’s and $1,000 lunches at Ruth’s Chris and at Capital Grille, which the chairman called a team building event for his staff.
“A $1,000 lunch at Capital Grille. Do you think that’s right? Do you think your constituents eat at Capital Grille?” Wu asked.
“Well, most of the money that I raise is from the industry,” Mariano said.
He’s talking about executives and lobbyists for banks and insurance companies. But wait until you hear why they’re so generous to the chair of the Financial Services Committee.
Read on. It’s amazing to me how game local pols seem to be in discussing this stuff; no apologies, only half-hearted spin-control. They’re simply not threatened by it at all. I seem to remember that Howie Carr gets the same phlegmatic reactions from legislators when he exposes their hack hires at state agencies. It’s almost like they’re saying, “What are you gonna do about it?” And that is the $100,000+ question, in Mariano’s case.
Janet Wu: Someone who’s doing it right.
I saw that on TV last night. Mariano was completely unprepared to answer smoothly (which I think was a good thing for us). He fully admitted that sometimes the money buys access but tried to give it kind of a joke’s-on-them spin, claiming that he talks to them but also talks to everyone else, including Janet Wu, so it’s cool. Needless to say, it totally fell flat.
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Can we get someone to run against him?
if you don’t let him blow wads of cash at Abe & Louie’s, then he’s got even more money just waiting to defeat a primary or general election challenger.
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So, what to do? Let him dine on donor’s dollars, or force him to spend his cash defending the incumbency that created that cash flow for him in the first place?
And you know, he looked pretty skinny to me.
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More steak for Mariano!
…but he really is one of the better Chairmen. He has a good work ethic, owns an insurance agency, and has some training and understanding of the industry he is charged with making laws for. You’d be surprised how exceptional that is.
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That said, I do disagree with his decision to kill bills relating to auto and homeowners reform, and hope that dollars are not a part of that decision.
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I wish Ms. Wu had concentrated on some of the entrenched low level empty suits. The dollar values may not have been as high, but the peculation would have been more evident.
why politicians find clean living so hard.
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I blanche to repeat what I have been offered by vendors in my line of work for favorable treatment of their bids. I drew the line at gratefully accepting large tins of yogurt-covered pretzels, which are conceptually repulsive yet highly addictive when you’re bored.
I actually had this discussion with my mother..you know..how they can’t seem to stay clean. My mother has been raising children since she was 19 (she had 5, and now grandkids) and is one of my role models for living a good life. She acknowledged that she wouldn’t know if she could stay uncorrupted in the light of the whopping piles upon piles of money and perks that these people have in front of them. I have to agree with that. Being the type of person who can party for two solid days off twenty bucks, the prospect of a thousand dollars…well…it’s a ton.
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But I’m used to the WOOHOO I HAVE 20 BUCKS! life.
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These people who we vote for…if they aren’t prepared to see that many figures on the other side of the ethics street, if they can’t handle it, they’ll corrupt. They get used to the hoity toity lifestyle and forget how to exist without it.
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So the I would change your question from “politicians” to “people.” The greed and corruptibility isn’t a characteristic unique to politicians, and I laud you for your ethics in whatever field it is you are in.
is much easier to follow than shades of gray. Let it be known you think such pandering is offensive and makes you angry, and it will stop PDQ. Worked for me.
…that the media spotlight on Gov. Patrick over the past few days is justified, why do you think this story is?
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It’s high time for the media to concentrate on actual policy, not diversionary media popcorn like these stories.
This is about campaign finance, which to my way of thinking is the root of most political evil. It’s about responsive representation, ie. democracy itself, vs. legalized bribery.
While I certainly agree that campaign finance itself is a legit issue, I don’t see what the story you highlighted has anything to do with it. What is the problem with legislators spending money on lunches for staff, etc. if it’s not a quid pro quo? It’s not the taxpayer’s money being spent.
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If there’s a story about how there’s a link between how donated money = changes in policy, that’s a real story. A story criticizing members because they spent money on their staff or have $50K in the bank for future challenges is just popcorn.
HP, where does that money come from?
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Lobbyists and other campaign contributors, not out of the General Fund. It is not taxpayer money.
then there wouldn’t be left over money first growth Bordeaux.