Politic$ is not a Local Affair.

Tip O’Neil said “all politics is local.”  I tend to disagree.  After all, I keep hearing the question “why aren’t our representatives listening to us?”  If you want the answer, you should look through the campaign finance database at the Michigan Department of State.  There you will be able to tell which special interest groups, and which individuals with an agenda, contributed to your elected officials.  Why are these contributions so important?  Because one saying I tend to agree with is “nothing in life is free.”  Take my representative Bruce Rendon for instance.  Only around 16% of the money Representative Rendon raised came from the 103rd district (Iosco, Ogemaw, Roscommon, and Missaukee counties).  While $16,000 came from 103rd district contributors, over $28,000 came from Lansing political action committees (PAC’s) and individuals.  Four thousand dollars alone came from the Gross Point area including  500 dollars each from two “homemakers” named Lindsay and Nora Moran.  The Moran family must be pretty interested in the politics of the four rural counties represented by Mr Rendon.  Otherwise, why would Lindsay and Nora give up their hard earned homemaking money?  To be truthful, the 103rd was an important district in the 2010 election.  It was one of the districts that flipped from Democrat to Republican control.  A similar trend around the state helped the Republicans take control of the House, retain the Senate, and win the Governorship.  My problem isn’t so much with who won the election, but with who paid for the victories, and how they are being paid back.
NOTE: Here is a spreadsheet with the data I used for my figures for Representative Rendon.

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2 Responses to Politic$ is not a Local Affair.

  1. Pingback: 103rd House Candidate Has Ties to President Obama | Michigan Populist Blog

  2. Pingback: 103rd House Candidate Has Ties to President Obama « Blogging for Michigan

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