[Durham INC] Durham News Article: Durham Progressives Are the Big-Money Candidates

[Tom Clark]

No 'beat-down here,' Darius.  Just the same old argument that the
increasingly fewer wealthy have always used to attempt to discredit more
popular political movements.

Who really believes that out-of-state, never mind "European," interests, by
making a donation to Wendy Jacobs campaign, are attempting to influence
Durham politics in a way comparable to the efforts of  the 751 Super PAC ?
 What about the much more likely scenario that some old friends, perhaps
Duke classmates, of Ms. Jacobs, one of whom is now living in Denmark,
donate a few dollars to what they perceive as local good causes?   This is
hardly the bulk of Ms. Jacobs support; how could those folks possibly have
as much at stake here as the 751 developers?  In any case, we can be sure
that the amount they donated is not very large.  Two reasons:
  1)  the campaign finance laws that are currently on the books, and
threatened by the Citizens United, 'money-is- speech,' mind-set, would
require declaration of any large amount and
  2) Mr. Ford would have certainly reported on the amount, if it was
significant, or could be made to look so.

No, rather than some journalistic coup, this is the usual politics of
desparation and exaggeration that attends most campaigns, certainly those
in which the principle weapon available to one side is the ability to raise
quick cash.

It's also a continuation of an increasingly weird back and forth:
     --Populists propose campaign finance reforms to put the 'demo'
(people) back in democracy;
     --the wealthy few feel threatened because their main way of
influencing elections is put at risk;
     --as a result, they defeat or water-down the reforms; and then the
progressives out-fundraise them anyway as, through sheer persistence on the
part of the left, more and more of the business community comes to realize
they are right about the merits of the issue, as both the transportation
tax and Amendment One issues (see comments of Vinroot, Tillis, Ellmers
etc)--not to mention the whole Civil Rights movement--demonstrate;
     --Rinse and repeat:  The rich get richer and the poor get organized.

Imaginative try, Mr. Ford.

TC

On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 11:13 PM, Darius Mercedes Little <
Darius.M.Little at alumni.unc.edu> wrote:

> No matter what Political Party one is in, I always enjoy good writing,
> based in research and factual basis.
>
> To that I must say: Dick just laid a major beatdown on somebody.....very
> interesting information.
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------
> Darius M. Little
> Executive Business Consultant  and
> Strategic Marketing Analyst
>
> (web) www.linkedin.com/in/dariuslittle
>
> Manta Business Profile/Report:
> http://www.manta.com/c/mtlwj1m/little-s-business-consulting
>
>
> "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall
> receive." [Matt 21:22]
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Ford <rbford at aim.com>
> Sender: inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org
> Date: Sat, 5 May 2012 23:05:43
> To: INC<inc-list at rtpnet.org>
> Subject: [Durham INC] Durham News Article: Durham Progressives Are the
>        Big-Money Candidates
>
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-- 
Tom Clark
919-274-7463
tomcie at gmail.com
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