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Capitol View
FIRST, follow the money. As of Tuesday morning, George W. Bush had raised $176,424,329 and Al Gore had picked up $128,017,877. Buying votes up front
via the InternetAccording to figures collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, $74 million has been raised by the candidates for the Senate seat in New York.
And one U.S. House district has triggered $9.5 million in contributions.
Why are so few getting all that money?
In a cynical world, what would be better: giving the money to spin-artists, public relations experts, advertising firms, pollsters, consultants, television stations and other media outlets -- or giving the money back to us?
Until last week, there was a way on the Internet to redistribute that wealth.
James Baumgartner, a student at Troy, N. Y.'s Rensselaer Polytech Institute, designed Voteauction.com as a master's thesis and a way to show the influence of money on politics.
He suggested that politicians just eliminate the middleman. Instead of raising billions to launch campaigns to convince you to vote for someone, just buy the votes up front.
Voters would list themselves with the Voteauction site and then potential buyers would bid for the bloc of votes for sale in that district. The voters would pledge their votes to whoever promised the most money.
"The free market will determine the value of the votes in each state," the Voteauction Web site said.
"In the current election system, the voter is a product to be sold to the corporations. But they are sold through this convoluted method of advertising, consultants and traveling," Baumgartner said on his Web site.
Before you start phoning the FBI and the state Campaign Spending Commission, please note that the Web site has been closed after several law enforcement agencies started asking questions.
But it did help to shine a light on the money-in-politics issue.
"We have now evolved a system in which it's OK for money to buy elections, and yet we somehow cling to the fantasy that there's something deeply immoral about the purchase of an individual vote.
"It's as if we don't care about the big things -- that is, people purchasing public office. But we obsess over little things -- that is, people buying votes," Jamin Raskin, an American University law professor, said.
But, he added, the scheme was fraught with legal dangers, to the extent that Baumgartner could have been charged with conspiracy just for devising the Web site.
IN Hawaii, Bob Watada, the Campaign Spending Commission's executive director, noted that it is a felony to buy or sell votes.
He also could see the irony in the current system, which makes it legal for companies and individuals seeking favors from politicians to give them thousands of dollars so they can win or remain in office.
Free speech protects persons who want to give money to candidates, so money equals free speech. But getting money for your vote isn't free speech. It is illegal.
Interestingly, the current bunch in the Legislature gave themselves a new way of using money they get during their campaigns.
Watada explained that this year lawmakers changed the law to spell out that contributions could be used for "ordinary and necessary" expenses. The Campaign Spending Commission tried to close that loophole when lawmakers started buying cars, clothes and trips on campaign money.
So if politicians can't buy your vote, at least you can still buy them new cars.
Richard Borreca reports on Hawaii's politics every Wednesday.
He can be reached by e-mail at rborreca@starbulletin.com