Opinion By John Emery
Politics is all about getting the candidates name and face out there in a favorable light. That takes money. And big money donors usually expect more than a “thank you” for their money, whereas smaller donors realize a “thank you” is all they’re going to get, and they hope the candidate will remain true to their promises.
Sometimes that leads to a conflict between what’s good for we the people and the special interests of big donors.
But there is another way to get recognition for candidates requiring a lot less money. Endorsements by organizations. That is automatic publicity for the candidate to all the membership of the endorsing organization and those voters who view the organization in a favorable light. So why would an organization endorse a candidate? Hopefully, in a perfect world, it is a public service dispensing information, and is some cases, it may well be. But, we don’t live in a perfect world. So what would be another reason? Suppose legislation should come up that affects an organization that has endorsed a candidate who won their election? Do you suppose the endorsing organization would remind the politician of their endorsement, and possible future endorsement in future elections?
And again, sometimes that leads to a conflict between what’s good for we the people and the special interests of endorsements.