Donations/contributions - questions.

[Ayatollahgondola]

Originally Posted by wetibbe

Lesson to be learned. When you donate, or contribute, for these causes keep in mind that you have essentially gifted it and you do not have any control, voice or power to say, or require, how it is dispositioned or spent. There is no practical recourse. It's just GONE !

I should have added here that there are certainly good entities that are worthy of your support. Politicians are always a debatable case, but we've seen there are decent ones alive out there. It's getting harder for economic piss ants like the general public to influence the candidate landscape out there with donations due to the volumes of support coming from corporate giants, unions, and other large forces. But that's generally for the bigger races like president, large constituent Senate, Governor and some congressional. We can still make an impact on local and smaller constituency statewide or congressional races, and it would not benefit us to abandon supporting the good candidates. Just do the research first, and then also get involved with the campaigns. You learn a lot more by the way their campaigns are managed if you are in the bullpen somehow, even if it's waterboy.

[Ayatollahgondola]

Very coincidental here:

FPPC fines CalPERS official Valdes

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2360269.html

The Fair Political Practices Commission said it has reached a settlement with Valdes and Billy Joe Hughes, treasurer of the Valdes campaign, following an audit and investigation into campaign contributions that Valdes received in late 2005. Details were posted on the FPPC's Web site, but the five-member FPPC panel must still approve the agreement and proposed fine during a Dec. 10 meeting

Roman Porter, FPPC executive director, said Valdes could, under current state law, use campaign funds to pay any eventual fine.

OK, so 4 years, (a whole term for many politicians) and 12,000 dollar fine that will be paid by money other than his, and he suffers no real consequence for cheating his way into office, right?
The lesson here is that political crime pays.

We need to change this law immediately to include mandatory public service in the way of cleaning freeways like any other peon would get for gaming the system.