An excerpt from Matt Peterson’s editorial on the Press Enterprise:
Increased transparency will lead to greater accountability from our local candidates; yet another set of laws limiting donations may do more harm than good.
The late Jesse Unruh’s observation that “money is the mother’s milk of politics” is more a succinct statement of political fact than it is a lament. We cannot regulate this relationship away. Regardless of our feelings on the matter, where there is wealth there is political influence.
Campaign-finance reform efforts of the last 40 years at the federal, state and local levels have in many ways failed to wean our elected officials. Taking another cue from Unruh, however, we shouldn’t allow this reality to lead us to despair.
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