Final tally: Presidential race
costs Americans $350 million

By Mike Fak

[FEB. 14, 2001]  Well, Logan County, we have a new president of the United States working away in Washington. After a war of words, miscounted ballots and political posturing all the way to the Supreme Court, the nation has shown it somehow gets out of all the self-made crises we seem to place ourselves in. I can live with Mr. Bush as our president; I could have lived with Mr. Gore taking the oath of office. Rarely have I found my life being affected very much by which president is in office, save the one instance when President Nixon sent me a greetings letter that told me I was drafted into the U.S. Army. What I do find affecting me and all of us is the continuous escalation of costs incurred in the electing of a president that we are paying. Let me explain.

According to the Federal Election Commission, the past presidential election carried a price tag of $350 million dollars. Republican candidate George Bush raised $192 million, Democrat Al Gore $132 million. Even no-chance-of-winning Pat Buchanan collected $30 million dollars to spend on political ads. The amounts, of course, are mind-numbing and should tell all Americans that the system needs to be rethought, reworked and redone.

 

Where did this fortune in funds derive from? The funds came from us. Al Gore received $83 million of his political plate from federal funds. Bush received $67 million. Federal funds, of course, means tax dollars, and so it is apparent that all of us paid a little to fund this presidential slugfest through our taxes

Unfortunately that is only the tip of the presidential iceberg. The list provided by the Federal Election Commission shows organization after organization giving millions of dollars to attempt to place their choice for president in the White House. Corporate America poured $100 million into the various races across America, including the race for chief executive. This figure is on top of the standard lobbying fees to government leaders, which also has gone over the $100 million mark for the past year. Corporate giants such as AT&T at $4.6 million and Microsoft at $4.3 million covered their bases well by giving heavily to both Republican and Democratic presidential funds.

Where does this money come from? It comes from us, of course. Don’t for a minute pretend that corporate America decides to lower their profits by giving to political machines. Corporate America simply decides how much they plan to spend on candidates and adds those costs to the price of their products or services. So you see, every item we buy has a little bit set aside for the next Bush or Gore or whoever that business decides to throw money at. Isn't it bad enough that every product we buy has added costs to cover half-million-dollar-a-minute Super Bowl ads? Now, every time we make a purchase, we are paying to support candidates whom we personally may not truly believe are the best candidates.

 

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Many of the donors’ contributions were weighted heavily to the party they felt would best protect their interests. Phillip Morris gave $3 million to Bush, since Republicans seem to have a kinder, gentler look at the tobacco industry. Oil and gas also turned over 6 million to Bush, who favors oil exploration in areas the Clinton administration had made off- limits for ecology’s sake. The NRA placed $2.8 million with Bush, since the Republicans are softer on gun control than the Democrats.

The Democrats, of course, had their own champions of excessive largess. In fact the largest single contributor to the presidential race ended up being the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, at $7 million dollars, 98 percent of which was directed Al Gore’s way. Unions were conspicuous by their donations to the Democrats, to the point that eight of the top 20 presidential race donors were made up of national workers unions, and almost all their monies were directed to Gore and his compatriots.

Although not a member of a union at this time, I find it hard to believe such huge sums coming out of union dues is in the best interests of the common worker. I also have to ask, since unions gave telling sums to Gore, can they possibly believe that Bush will now bend an ear to them and their travails? Judging human nature, I believe unions just threw a great deal of potential employee pension money down the presidential drain. Have they not by their expenditures actually alienated our new commander in chief?

 

There is nothing wrong with financially supporting politicians whom you believe will defend or support your ideals. The sums involved and the fact that all these costs are being borne on the backs of American wage earners is the problem that we now face.

A retooling of the whole system is required before we can honestly say that campaign finance reform is more than just rhetoric. I, for one, have listened to enough rhetoric. I, for one, have said, enough is enough. It’s starting to cost me too much money.

[Mike Fak]

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