Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
What am I missing here? Seems like a lot of posters that I generally like and agree with are on the complete opposite side of this one from me (or I'm on the opposite from them!). I just can't see what the big deal is here....a bunch of developers gave a bunch of cash to Preston Manning and are hoping to get candidates elected who support them. Its barely even newsworthy!
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Nothing illegal obviously, but its still vote buying. We just saw it in US America where something 90% of the public supported got shot down because one lobby prevented so from happening. Now the difference here is the home builders association can't buy at the level they can in America, but they can still exert influence, strong influence at that. If you're candidate X and the home builders association tells you back our measures or we'll donate up the ass to your opponent, its attempting to manipulate the process through threats.
Politics is still a game that runs off dollars, so if your candidate X and you know candidate Y is going to get multiple times as many donations as you (say 5), the challenge just becomes that much more difficult. It's attempting to unlevel the playing field, and its disgraceful.