Editor’s note: The following letter is in response to last week’s letter by Marge Fitzgerald “Unger’s Praise Over The Top.”
Marge Fitzgerald is 100 percent correct; the advertisement campaign in our recent election was over the top. But she leaves out the history of this new source of funds, and yes, it takes power and the vote fairness in our elections from the citizenry. I believe I loathe it more than she does.
Now for the facts: Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices voted to allow corporations to give unlimited funds to political action committees as “they are people.” This will skew any chance of campaign finance reform. It will allow the Republicans, who on average spend often times double or more than Democrats on elections, to further their financial hold, and will affect our elections forever while at the same time they attempt to destroy unions (one of the Democrats’ prime sources of election money). Political warfare.
Ironically, it accomplished the opposite in Wellington, causing three Republicans to lose their elections. Sometimes you get more than you wish for. Regarding Councilman Matt Willhite, I merely defended him against what I considered over-the-top criticism. I noted that Ms. Fitzgerald did not address a single point I made about Matt’s work except to blame him solely for the 9/11 monument. Might I be so bold as to suggest that (as Councilwoman Anne Gerwig once pronounced) “it is a Republican-dominated” board, and Matt could have done nothing by himself (back to the majority rule thing). Indisputable, and despite the advertisement campaign, Matt still got more votes than anyone else, so I would suggest people were also voting due to the other issues such as millions in K-Park savings, etc.
Personally, I’m more concerned about our upcoming presidential election as this unlimited funding and the ensuing negative campaigning unfolds, this promises to be the most vicious and expensive campaign in American history. Just during the Republican primaries, we witnessed two candidates virtually supported by single super-rich millionaires and billionaires eviscerating each other. God help us in the future.
I hope Ms. Fitzgerald is as unhappy about this, too! Yes it was wrong here, and more so for us on a national level. But the men in black robes who sit on the Supreme Court initiated and politicized our election finance system, and be rest assured it will wreak havoc all across America. It’s money over people, greed over fairness, and perhaps a harbinger of our demise. People might want to look up the term oligarchy — rule by the super rich.
George Unger, Wellington
