For those of you who would like a quick portrait of what Big Money looks like in New York State, take a gander at the latest from the D&C:

‘Soft money’ often hard cash in N.Y. | Democrat & Chronicle: Local News

A loophole known as “soft money” donations has allowed wealthy individuals, unions and businesses to donate $53 million to political parties since 1999, according to Common Cause, a group that monitors campaign contributions. Almost one-third of the contributions came in amounts larger than $50,000, the report said.

Yes, yes, yes! Watch the money roll right in!  The article goes on to say that as much as 49% of Republican and 44% of Democratic money comes through just these types of channels, so really, no one’s clean in all of this.

Think about the stones it took for Elliot Spitzer to come out on the record supporting Clean Money, Clean Elections in New York!  Mind you, we haven’t heard anything about it since, and it remains to be seen how dedicated he is to the concept, but you have to give some credit to him for saying anything at all.

But now you know what those of us who are proponents of CMCE are up against: some of the most monied interests in the country throwing an awful lot of money around and happy to have thier way with New York law.  So long as campaign contribution law does not get a serious challenge, this loophole will continue to hemmorage money and pollute our system.  Still, good articles like these might go a long way towards pushing the dialogue in the right direction.

Technorati Tags: Clean Money, CMCE, New York, Campaign Finance, Campaign Reform

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