I noted back when the Senate and Governor primary frenzy began a few months ago that I didn’t think most primary races would find the August 2010 finish line. As astute as that opinion seems, I didn’t think the Republican Gubernatorial primary would end this early either. I thought they would at least get to January.
Only Josh Penry and the people closest to him know the real reasons why he dropped out of the governor’s race this week. Yes, I know we heard the official story, but we don’t really know for sure why he suddenly dropped out.
The reasons proposed by some include weak fundraising and the national election results on Nov. 3rd. But the reason that intrigues me most, the threat of damage from an “independent political machine” that was set to inflict if Penry continued his campaign.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that the threat from this 527, or maybe it’s a 501 c 4, played a big role in Penry’s decision. If that’s the case, then it’s one of the saddest developments in Colorado politics to happen in a long time.
No matter if you are a Republican, Democrat or an Unaffiliated voter, this should offend you. Part of your decision of who should be governor of this state was made by the equivalent of a street gang who assaults victims with media instead of baseball bats.
Our campaign finance laws in the past were far from perfect, but at least you knew who your opponent was and could fight them directly.
But this new reality with 527’s, and now 501 c 4’s, means that if a group that is unaffiliated with your opponent has more money than a group unaffiliated with you, you are toast. How do you fight that?
It’s illegal to coordinate your own “independent” groups, so you can’t create your own weapon to compete against the other guys’ groups. And it’s not realistic to raise enough money to fight your primary opponent and his groups, and then your general election opponent and their groups.
Sheesh, even Sen. Michael Bennet doesn’t has enough money for that. Ok, he probably does. But that’s not my point.
What I find so frustrating with this law, is that there’s no real legal way to fight it. You have to hope that somebody who supports you decides to have no affiliation with your campaign and decides to run a shadow campaign against your opponent instead. But if all of your major supporters simply want to work for you in a positive way, you are out of luck.
So if this aspect of campaign finance reform law is such a travesty, why don’t we just change the law? Well, that’s complicated. Not really, it’s quite simple. The folks that won their races with these laws in place write the laws. Why would they change the laws that helped get them elected? Exactly.
Now, I am a realist, so I understand that there will always be an ugly side of campaign financing. If its not 527’s, it’ll be something else.
But while I understand that every fight can’t be fair, I would at least like to see the two fighters combat directly, and not be like some wrestling match when some random guy runs into the ring when the referee isn’t looking to smack the other guy with a chair.
It isn’t fair in fake wrestling and it shouldn’t be fair in politics.