Sep 10
Does Money Corrupt Politicians?
2009 at 4:39 pm | posted by Rep. Craig Frank 15 comments
Sitting here in the Governor’s Commission on Strengthening Utah’s Democracy. Answer this question: Does money corrupt politicians?
15 Responses to “Does Money Corrupt Politicians?”
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September 10th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
From Wikipedia “Political Corruption”
“All forms of government are susceptible to political corruption. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement.”
I would suspect that in a one party system such as we have in the state of Utah with no checks and balances that the party which holds absolute power in the legislature and which insists upon monitoring and regulating itself represents a fertile field in which corruption can readily grow and flourish.
I think it is the politicians themselves who should be answering this question Frank, not the voters or citizens of the state. Does money from say—Energy Solutions influence your vote on issues pertaining to that company? Does the Republican leadership use “extortion” to bring new legislators into line with their agenda saying if they don’t get on board that none of the bills they introduce will ever see the light of day?
September 11th, 2009 at 12:18 am
I think it does corrupt some politicians, not all and certainly not the majority of them. I would say that money causes a larger distortion purely from the bases of politicians being able to get their message out.
If we have 2 politicians, one mediocre politician with money and say the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan without money. The mediocre politician will win nearly every time purely from the basis of being able afford making sure everyone knows his name.
September 11th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Or, does say money from the Democrats influence your vote (or Party)…
“Not that the Democrats haven’t given it their best shot. As the Tribune’s Robert Gehrke reports, the Dems even tried to bribe a few Republicans to defect by promising to fill the lawmakers’ campaign accounts if they switched parties. Most turned them down. Only pro-education David Hogue…”
http://blogs.sltrib.com/slcrawler/2008/05/throw-bums-out-someday.htm
Or, does say money from the UEA influence a vote (or two)…
“In any case, Arnold said UEA-supported candidates in 2008 “had significant victories over pro-voucher” legislators. “We prefer to look at election results, rather than who is spending the most money. And we got a lot of bang for our buck in 2008.”
Still, one of his great political concerns is raising enough PAC money to help elect and re-elect moderate Republicans to the Legislature.
Said Arnold: “We actually give about as much to keep good (GOP) moderates in the Legislature as we do to elect Democrats — it is a top priority for us” to continue to oppose some of the policies of “the radical right wing” of the Utah Republican Party.”
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/705307447/Law-cut-political-power-of-UEA.html
Hmmmm.
[For the record, I've never taken a dime from the Democrats or the UEA.]
September 11th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
The UEA Pac money goes to help elect the FRIENDS and SUPPORTERS of public education in the legislature who are genuinely concerned about addressing the needs of education in our state. There is a real good reason Frank that you have never received a dime from the UEA. Care to guess what that is?
September 11th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Those UEA dollars are a good example of money allowing a politician to get their message out, the politicians who don’t get as many dollars are much less able to get their message out to counter the position of their competitor. The politicians that vote for things that favor the people who donated money to their campaigns are much more likely to have gotten those contributions in the first place merely because they happened to agree with that position in the first place.
September 12th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Craig Frank, Howard Stephenson, Curtis Bramble, Chris Buttars and others who share their views and values are enemies, not friends of public education. They continually work to defeat practically every measure that the UEA and the State Office of Education supports. They each believe that because they went to school, that makes them an expert on education knowing more than those who have advanced degrees and have given a lifetime to the profession. It is those people who have kept the state of Utah dead last in per pupil funding for the last 25 or more years.
The percentage of taxes that went to public education did show a concerted effort on the state’s part to catch up with other states until about 1995 when that percentage started to decline every year. That just happens to be about the same time that the far right wing of the Republican party took control from the more moderate leaders in the Utah Legislature.
September 12th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Yes I am familiar with the hard line conservative republican stance on public education. The blog post is about money creating corruption in politicians not about one particular all be it bad policy.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
To answer your question (“Does money corrupt politicians?”): Yes.
From a great book I’m reading on decision biases, Judgement in Managerial Decision Making (Bazerman & Moore, 2009), based solidly on years of academic research:
Maybe a good follow-up question is, if money does corrupt, how can its negative effect be minimized? (Let’s assume that leaving such minimization to each individual’s ethics are insufficient.)
September 14th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
This may sound a bit crazy, but how about making it illegal to donate to a campaign, and instead political donations should go to the race instead.
Basically each race would have a fund that pays out to the entrants in the race that show a true and serious intention to that race. For example to gain access you could be required to have a petition signed by 5-10% of the people in said district. I am sure their would have to be more rules and what not to make that work, and it might be to crazy but I figure its gotta be better then the golden rule(He who has the gold makes the rules) we run by now.
September 15th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
John,
Why is it that the same people who complain about high costs in the private sector (ie health insurance) also complain about low costs in the government sector (ie Utah public education)?
When it comes to public education, the more you spend the better the education? Have you checked the stat’s on the highest cost per student school districts in the nation? Guess where they rank on quality of education?
September 16th, 2009 at 12:04 am
JJL9,
Its two different extreme’s, The health insurance industry has grown out of control running away with excess profits to such an extreme that the cost of health care is holding the economy down preventing growth.
Where as in education while we have done well so far even in the face of great decreases in education spending, What the worry is at what point does the quality of education go down as well. The fruits of education are something that takes years to show, cutting spending in this area is an easy way to reduces costs but at the expense of economy growth ten years down the road.
September 16th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
JJL9, Here are some facts from the Utah Foundation to help you better understand education funding.
Utah spent an average of $5,437 per pupil in 2005-2006, compared to $9,138 nationally. The gap between Utah and U.S. average per pupil expenditures equals $3,702. Utah’s five peer states (identified in Utah Foundation’s 2007 report as being demographically similar to Utah) spent between $7,700 and $10,000 per pupil.
About half the difference between Utah and the U.S. in average per-pupil spending is accounted for by Utah’s large class sizes and comparatively lower teacher pay. Research suggests that under the correct conditions, higher pay and smaller classes can increase student achievement.
As the demographics in Utah continue to change, the impact of underfunding education will continue to erode student achievement levels and test scores. We can no longer “do more with less” as we have done in the past. It is disingenuous to note the lower achievement of areas such as Washington DC at their much higher level of funding. If that funding were reduced to the level of Utah’s, the results would be devastating.
This is why enemies of public education such as Rep. Frank need to be replaced with those who are committed to meeting the needs of Utah’s children as opposed to the needs of the wealthiest businessmen.
September 17th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
I’ll just point out the obvious – Representative Frank actually REPRESENTS the constituents of his district, who by and large favor school CHOICE and not in funding trade unions. Representative Frank knows that the best way to meet the needs of Utah’s children is to allow freedom of choice – and to make sure there are real choices. Other people believe that there is only one way and everyone should be forced to fall in line. Luckily, those of us who live in District 57 appreciate the fine job Rep Frank does in actually representing OUR interests and not those of some trade union whose values and philosophies are fundamentally in opposition to our own.
September 18th, 2009 at 12:03 am
The only issues raised so far(in this blog entry’s comments) have to do with funding level. No one here yet has taken any position that is anti choice, at least in the current blog entry’s comments.
As to funding trade unions, I understand that their is a teachers union beyond that I am not familiar with the subject. Tho I don’t think we should sell out the education of the children in this state just because of animosity towards a union.
September 20th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Let me point out the obvious as well that (as usual) Holly is woefully misinformed on issues concerning education in the state of Utah. Both she and the other constituents of Rep Frank’s district are noticeably out of step with the citizens of the rest of the state since school vouchers were defeated in every county in the state by a total margin of 68% to 32%.
Neither the legislature nor the citizens of the state of Utah “fund” the Utah Education Association that Holly disparagingly calls a “trade union”. The members of the UEA through their voluntary dues and contributions fund the association whose role is to be an advocate for the children in public schools as well as for the dedicated members of the teaching profession.
What Holly and her “ilk” fail to realize is that they already have freedom of choice where education is concerned. Their children can attend public schools, both nearby and across district lines if they wish. They can send their children to any number of charter schools in their area. They can even home school their children with support from the local public schools. In fact, they can pay the tuition to have their children attend any number of private schools anywhere in the state or country.
What they cannot do is choose to send their children to a private school at which there is no state testing and accountability, no prohibition on religious or political indoctrination, and no public fiscal accounting AND HAVE STATE TAX DOLLARS PAY FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO ATTEND.
This is the core issue that separates those in Rep. Frank’s district from others throughout the state who are advocates and friends of public education. The citizens of the state of Utah jumped over many unreasonable hurdles put up by the conservative legislature to get the issue on the ballot, and the voice of the people was heard.
Since Holly on the Hill chose to jump into this discussion, I challenge her to list those values and philosophies of the Utah Education Association that are in opposition to those held by herself and those who share her views.
Put some facts down to back up your statement Holly so we can discuss them in detail. Let’s see if you really know what the UEA really stands for.
John Talcott
Retired Music Educator
Nebo School District
Teacher for 32 years
Proud member of the UEA/NEA
Liberal Democrat-Member ACLU
Non-LDS Citizen who lives in the
People’s Republic of Utah County
Right Behind the Zion Curtain