Aaron,
I have said all along that it will just push more and more money to Super PACs and Independent Expenditures. I have already been approached by several folks asking me about the particulars of setting up an IE or a Super PAC in preparation for the 2014 Mayor, Chair and AG race as they thing that it is going to pass.
Folks don't understand that once we open these flood gates that wr can't plug that leak.
As far as you knowing what is going out on behalf of your name and what is being said, I agree. Unfortunately, folks consider you a contender based on the funds you raise, the number of signs you have and the amount of mail you distribute. Not based on qualifications and skills.
Elections have become some sort of high school popularity contest.
Eric J. Jones
- ejjones.threed@gmail.comOn Jul 15, 2012 5:54 PM, "Aaron McCormick" <aaron.mccormick01@gmail.com> wrote:--
I feel that initiative 70 will only do more damage to individual who are trying to run who have name recognition. Eric you noted this about a month ago when you noted some items with the McDuffie campaign and the cost of mailers...so this will on hurt most. Voters will make their decision soon on this matter.My feeling is that this is your "Name" running for a political seat so you should know what is going on within your camp. Again this is your name and not to know is a false hood.AaronOn Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 5:38 PM, Eric J. Jones <ejjones.threed@gmail.com> wrote:
Rob,
You first one, excluding unions of course is what initiative 70 is about.
As for the others, they would go against Citizens United and have already been deemed unconstitutional by SCOTUS.
The answer is to do as I said a year or two ago and remove the ability of the council to approve contracts over $1 million and put in place a real procurement process.
My proposal would create a three level process in which those making the decisions are doing AP strictly based on merit and those bidding wouldn't know who is making the decision until after it is made.
Eric J. Jones
- ejjones.threed@gmail.comOn Jul 15, 2012 4:49 PM, "Rob" <indianrob@gmail.com> wrote:--Good Morning,Not saying Our Mayor is guilty, but let 100% of us say that he is - is he any more guilty than Fenty or many/most or maybe even all of our CM's of being guilty for breaking rules, and probably exactly those Same Rules!!! For those who are looking for his demise, even if he is found guilty, I hope that you know that he probably would not have been the the only sitting Govt. Official who may have broken Campaign Finance Rules. Also, I am sure that many of the others are abusing their positions as we speak.I say this only to say that UNLESS WE ALL COME TOGETHER and force them to change the way elections are done as well as the other Ethics Changes that are needed, nothing really changes. I am absolutely that we could all get together and refine the regs to a point that would eliminate most if not all issues we are seeing. At least, violators would have penalties.1. Campaigns should not be allowed to accept contributions from Corporations, Businesses, Unions, etc.2. Advertising/mailings,etc. should not be paid by organizations, companies, etc. to skirt the Campaign Finance Laws of individual contribution (currently business contributions)3. No out of "State" wor kers should be allowed.4. Etc.At the end of the Day,whether he goes or stays, let's not keep allowing for the same nonsense and expect a different result.Rob Ramson.
On Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 10:50 AM, Aaron McCormick <aaron.mccormick01@gmail.com> wrote:By Robert McCartney, The Washington Post
District Mayor Vincent C. Gray is almost certainly going to have to resign in disgrace, and possibly soon, but it's unclear whether he's fully aware of that fact.
Instead, because of a mix of pride and stubbornness, the mayor appears to be in denial about the likelihood that the current avalanche of revelations of corruption in his 2010 campaign is going to carry him away.
(Daniel C. Britt/THE WASHINGTON POST) - Mayor Vincent Gray wipes his brow during his weekly press conference in an alley on Wednesday as members of the D.C. Council began calling for his resignation.
It's conceivable that Gray (D) knows full well he's on his way out and is just posing as an innocent to buy time. In that case, his goal could be to cut a deal with U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. to give up his office in exchange for avoiding legal charges.
But both Gray's public comments and private conversations with associates suggest that he's convinced himself that he did nothing wrong — or at least nothing for which Machen can catch him.
The mayor acts as if everyone will eventually accept that he was just out of the loop while his biggest campaign donor and some of his closest associates orchestrated the largest election fraud in 39 years of District home rule.
"In my conversations with the mayor over the past few days, he is very resolute in ensuring that he continues to lead," D.C. Chamber of Commerce President Barbara Lang, a Gray supporter, said Friday.
"I've seen no indication at all — and I've asked — that there is any exit strategy," Lang said.
Gray should start finding one, for his sake and that of the District. I wrote in late May that Gray should resign unless he could explain to the District's citizens what went wrong in his campaign. Now he's got much more to explain, but he's still offering just a sketchy, implausible defense. Delaying the inevitable only aggravates the city's agony.
People with experience in District politics were stunned at the size of the corrupt "shadow campaign," confirmed Tuesday. It was funded by $650,000 of illegal contributions from city contractor Jeffrey Thompson.
"That is a ton of money. That was over a quarter of what we raised in total for the legitimate, official campaign," said Mo Elleithee, a communications strategist who advised the legal part of Gray's effort. "If I'd had another $600,000 in legitimate money, that would have bought me an entire additional week of television ads."
Compare that sum with one in a recent scandal just up the freeway. In 2010, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon was forced from office after being convicted on a misdemeanor of embezzling retail gift cards worth about $600.
There's no "smoking gun" yet in the District — a witness's testimony or documentary evidence — to show that the mayor knew about the illegal funding during the campaign.
But Gray isn't plainly denying it. In his Friday television interview with NewsChannel 8's Bruce DePuyt, he evaded two direct questions about whether he knew about the "shadow campaign" when it was happening.
Gray tried to fuzz up the issue by saying he "set out to run a campaign with integrity" without describing how that alleged plan went astray.
He also said he was too busy being D.C. Council chairman to make sure his subordinates in the campaign were being honest. But that doesn't square with the fact that the council was in recess in 2010 for most of the time from mid-July to the primary's Election Day in September.
Gray also had the gall to stress his purported desire to be open and transparent with the public, when all his behavior says he's being closed and secretive.
It's hard to judge how much longer this painful drama will last. Machen has been relentless recently, obtaining three guilty pleas in less than eight weeks. Some legal experts believe that the prosecutor will try to wrap up the case by early fall to avoid getting involved in the run-up to the November election.
Meanwhile, people who know the mayor are stressing his ability to "compartmentalize" and stay focused on his day-to-day duties despite the scandal. Top politicians said they're amazed at Gray's ability to maintain his cool at public events.
But "compartmentalization" also takes the form of self-delusion and rationalization, traits Gray is displaying to an increasing degree.
"I think he thinks he's a good guy and always tries to do the right thing, so he can do these other things even when the results aren't right," said a city official and longtime Gray observer who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely criticize the mayor.
I suppose there's still some faint possibility of a dramatic turnaround that vindicates Gray, but no available evidence supports that prospect. Most likely, he'll have to wrap his brain around the reality that he's headed prematurely back to private life, and possibly to prison.
For previous columns by Robert McCartney, go to washingtonpost.com/mccartney
--
Aaron McCormick
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R. Ramson
3744 12th Street, N.E.,
Washington D.C., 20017
202-438-5988
"We must become the change we want to see" - Mohandas Gandhi-
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R. Ramson
3744 12th Street, N.E.,
Washington D.C., 20017
202-438-5988
"We must become the change we want to see" - Mohandas Gandhi-
(Together, for a Brighter Tomorrow)
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