Saturday, October 27, 2007

Illegal Use of Campaign Money?

It is surprising how this current topic directly relates to what we were learning in class this week. Remember Idaho Senator Larry Craig, the guy who got busted during a sex sting in an airport (yes him AGAIN). Well this time, it is reported he spent $23,000 of his campaign money to pay lawyers to help him in court for the ethics investigation. If you were one of the individuals who donated money to him to help his election, would you be angered by this? Even though it is not directly affecting his campaign, doesn't using money to prove his innocence indirectly help his campaign? (Does that justify it?) FYI "Campaign finance laws generally ban using such funds on items not directly related to one's official duties as an officeholder or candidate". Post your thoughts!
More information at http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/26/craig/index.html

4 comments:

Kerina Chiu said...

If I had donated money to his campaign, I would be angered because he is using the money to fight a legal allegation rather than using it to promote his political goals. I think that the majority of people donated money to his campaign to support his principles and political platform, not for him to use the money to get himself out of a mess that he should not have been in in the first place.

Tara C said...

Well, I know I'd be annoyed if I donated someone money to use ona campaign and they used it for an expensive court case.

William Chen said...

I would be angry that he used money that I donated out of my hard earned paycheck. People give money so that a candidate can use it to promote his image and help himself win an election, not to bail himself out of trouble that he caused.

Ziva said...

If I had donated money to his campaign, I would be furious that he used some of his campaign money to bail himself out. Firstly, I think it is dishonest because the fundraised money should only be used for his campaign because that's why people donated money. Also, I think the money shouldn't be used to help pay for his lawyers; it was his own personal mistake and thus should pay for his lawyers with his own money.