FALL 1997 UPDATE
to the ELECT HOBIE HOMEPAGE
This Page Will Make You Laugh, Cry, and Mad As Hell!
  Mark Twain's observation that truth is stranger than fiction
was amply demonstrated in the last few months.
"Nothing is easier than the expenditure of public money.  It doesn't appear to belong to anyone.  The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody."  C. Coolidge
"I can explain it, but I can't defend it."  D. Galvin, U.S. Park Service Deputy Director on a $330,000 outhouse that includes $78 a gallon paint and $720 a pound wildflower seeds.  How could this happen?  Well, the Park Service requested $88 million to repair existing structures, Congress cut that request to $68.5 million, then added $88 million for their own pork-barrel projects.  "When Washington wonders why it has so little credibility, it need look no further than this glorious gazool.  Not even cedar siding and a slate roof can hide good tax dollars being flushed down the government toilet."  USA Today 10/9/97

"Just be glad you are not getting all the government you're paying for."
 W. Rogers

Maybe our Congressional members felt "they" could afford a $330,000 outhouse after they closely voted to cancel 9 more B-2's bombers in addition to the 21 bombers that have already been built for some $2 billion each!  Not only is the Cold War over, but both the GAO and Pentagon found the B-2's special coatings are so susceptible to damage that they require up to 124 hours of maintenance for every hour of flight.  As Dave Barry notes:  "The important thing is, the B-2 has demonstrated a breathtaking capability, unmatched in history, to deliver, with pinpoint accuracy, extremely large payloads of taxpayer dollars into the districts of strategic members of Congress."  And since the planes must all be based in air conditioned maintenance hangers in Missouri, Dave also notes that "maybe it will be more cost-effective to fly the enemy targets to Missouri so our B-2's can bomb them without getting too far from the climate-controlled maintenance facility."
Amazingly, the flawed B-2 program followed a flawed $9.2 billion program to build B-70's canceled by President Kennedy in 1961, and a flawed $33.7 billion B-1 program canceled in 1977 by President Carter but resurrected by President Reagan in 1981.  The B-1 has never seen combat and all remaining 94 planes will be transferred to the Air National Guard -- while the B-52's, built for only $42.0 million apiece, are still flying.
"I just received the following wire from my generous father:  'Dear Jack, Don't buy a single vote more than necessary.  I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide.'"  J. Kennedy
As political campaigns have relied more and more on television, they have become more and more expensive, requiring far more intensive and complex fund-raising, with unfortunate consequences including tacky and demeaning fund-raising efforts (including 88 fund-raising coffees in the White House; the selling of the Oval Office, Lincoln Bedroom, and Air Force One for political contributions) and......
**Soft Money**
"We in this body decry legal loopholes, but we have reserved the largest ones for ourselves.  Indeed, these loopholes are more like black holes, and that sucking sound you hear during election years is the whoosh of six-figure money donations rushing into party coffers."  Sen. S. Collins
Watergate prompted campaign financing reforms that included a cap of $1,000 per donor per election but also provided a "soft money" loophole that allowed unlimited donations to political parties and groups.  The law states that soft money cannot be directly used to assist a candidate, nor can a candidate direct how this money is used.  But since a Senate candidate has spent over $8 million and a Presidential candidate $250 million on an election, this loophole has been extensively exploited by both parties.
 "Then we realized we could run these ads through the Democratic Party, which meant we could raise money in $20,000 and $50,000 and $100,000 wads.  So we didn't have to do it in all in $1,000 and run down what I can spend which is limited by law.  So that is what we have done."  Wm. Clinton
A fundamental rule for interpreting statutes is to ascertain legislative intent.  A fundamental presumption is that Congress doesn't pass meaningless laws.  But if Congress intended to allow the "soft money" loophole the other Watergate reforms would be meaningless. Of course when the subject of the law is campaign financing, meaningless legislation may well correspond with legislative intent.......
  **Foreign Money**
 "We ought to finance our campaigns in America."  W. Clinton
"James Raidy sent me."  Arief Wiriadinata, an Indonesian of modest circumstances who "gave" $400,000 to President Clinton, then fled with other donors out of the country.
When questioned about the political fund-raiser he organized at the Hsi Lai Temple that raised substantial money from monks who had taken a vow of poverty, former Democratic fund-raiser John Huang refused to answer, citing his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.   (And interestingly all tapes taken that day have mysteriously dematerialized.)
**Stealth Donors**
 "It's the equivalent of creating a black market in political influence."  N. Gordon  Wouldn't you know it, just as the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee found out about "stealth" donors (i.e. people who make political contributions through organizations that are not required to identify the donors), they called off further hearings.  (Just who were those 60 guests at the dinner in the Blue Room of the White House on July 12, 1997?  And how did that $3 million get to the Republicans through non-profit groups affiliated with Triad Management?)
**Influence**
"If you do a favor for a politician, he won't forget you...  I think next time I'll give $600,000." Roger Tamraz gave $300,000 to the Democrats, visited the White House at least 6 times, and received help from the CIA, Energy Department, and Democratic Party officials for a Caspian Sea oil project.
"The White House is like a subway -- you have to put coins in to open the gates." Johnny Chung used hundreds of thousands of foreign dollars to buy access for Chinese businessmen, one of whom used his picture with President Clinton in an advertisement for his beer.
"It would be hard to find much legislation enacted by any Congress that did not contain one or more obscure provision that served no legitimate national or even local interest, but which was intended only as a reward for a generous campaign supporter."  Sen. J. McCain
"Political equality is the essence of democracy, and an electoral system driven by big money is one lacking in political equality."  Sen. S. Collins
**Cover-Up**
 "The break-in was so dumb that tying it to us is an insult to our intelligence."
R. Nixon
"It's up to you to declare us incompetent.  Just don't declare us venal."  L. Davis, Special Assistant to Pres. Clinton
"The tapes were never discovered until last week?  Hello?  Do they expect anybody to believe that?  Were the tapes hanging out with those Rose Law Firm billing records?  And then we're told there is no audio on the tape of the famous June 18, 1996 coffee at which John Huang allegedly made a direct pitch for campaign contributions.  Amazing.  Rose Mary Woods lives."  B. Press
**Campaign Reform**
"You set the rules and we're following the rules. This is politics as usual."
R. Tamraz
"Your complaint is with the law, not with us. We played by the rules. The Clinton White House merely followed well-established Republican precedent."  H. Ickes
"They're using any means.  We are going to use any means.  Is that clear?"  R. Nixon
"Controlling money is like putting  a rock on jello.  You put it on one place and it squeezes out another."  Sen. R. Bennett
"There's nothing more personal in this place than keeping yourself in office.  I'm asking my colleagues, my fellow incumbents, to change the system that protects incumbency."  Sen. J. McCain as he introduced the McCain-Feingold Bill which would outlaw soft money contributions.
According to a Fox News poll, 48% of Americans expect to see
a second coming of Elvis before they see campaign reform.
"There is also the apparent lack of public interest, always explained as 'cynicism.'  The politicians lament this out loud, but in the privacy of the club they can only be delighted.  With the public indifferent to what they are up to, they can safely confine themselves to taking care of their contributors and themselves."  R. Baker
"As long as privately donated money is the gasoline that keeps the  engine of politics running, the rich and special interests will dominate.  And the public, pushed to the margins, will be bored."  B. Erbe

Let's see, the law made us do it ....and everybody else is doing it ....and forget candidates, or policies or platforms, "The party with the most money wins."  President Clinton November 1, 1997 at a $50,000 per person weekend at the Ritz Carleton, Amelia Island, Florida.
 "'Tis easier to make certain things legal than to make them legitimate." Confort
"Nothing is politically right that is morally wrong."
 D. O'Connell
 "Changing the campaign laws will not reform those who are willing to use any means to get elected.  Only changing the people who are elected will solve that problem." R. Dwyer
Not only is truth is stranger than fiction, but $300,000 outhouses and $2 billion bombers that melt in rain could only come from Kurt Vonnegut. And the worst part is almost all the money raised by all that fund-raising is used to pay for mindless 30 second emotional appeals that do little to inform the voters ***and while some real heroes have forced their political colleagues to allow a vote on campaign financing reform "next year," the effort involved shows that too many politicians believe they are doing such a great job nobody cares how they are elected, or believe that most of the people are too stupid to understand and too lethargic to care. Are We?

Back to The Elect Hobie Homepage
or the Winter 1998-99
There's Only One Honorable Way Out Of This Mess
200 Best Zippergate Quotes
Revolutionary Election Reform

This page created 11/2/97; updated 1/111/99; only original material and format
copyright 1997; see the Elect Hobie Homepage