PROFILE OF A POLITICAL WHORE; Erik Paulsen Representative (R - MN

Erik Paulsen Representative (R - MN

“Instead of electing the best leaders, we elect the best fund raisers"

Cycle Source of Funds, 2013-2014, Campaign Cmte only

	Individual Contributions   - Small Individual Contributions  - Large Individual Contributions	$1,147,501 $109,955 (6%) $1,037,545 (53%)	(58%)
	PAC Contributions	$820,059	(42%)
	Candidate self-financing	$0	(0%)
	Other	$7,655	(0%)

Defining a political whore is to simply look where the money is coming from.

·       SMALL Individual contributions from constituents; you – the voter.

·       LARGE; usually untraceable, amounts of money coming from wealthy individuals or organizations that buy, package, and own the candidate.

The way our broken political system works, though, is that the chief place to raise money for campaigns is from industries and interest groups that want something from government. Influence is purchased all the time, whether in explicit quid pro quo trades or not, and such influence peddling just as bad for democracy as bribery.