PROFILE OF A POLITICAL WHORE; THE LESSER OF 2 EVILS

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

Neither of these guys get much from small individual donors so it's more a matter of who you want to sell out your vote to.

Scott Peters Representative (D - CA)

Raised:	$1,847,775
Spent:	$386,824
Cash on Hand:	$1,489,652
Last Report:	March 31, 2014

	Individual contributions      - Small Contributions      - Large Contributions	$127,135       $932,861	(7%)       (50%)
	PAC contributions	$661,251	(36%)
	Candidate self-financing	$46,003	(2%)
	Other	$80,526	(4%)

OR

Carl Demaio (R)

Raised:	$1,608,926
Spent:	$354,475
Cash on Hand:	$1,254,452
Last Report:	March 31, 2014

	Individual contributions      - Small Contributions      - Large Contributions	$118,136       $1,231,694	(7%)       (77%)
	PAC contributions	$138,824	(9%)
	Candidate self-financing	$4,000	(0%)
	Other	$116,272	(7%)

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.