Barbara Streisand wrote an interesting column on fair elections, "Elections Should Be Won -- Not Bought", Huffington Post, 2010-02-23.
She argues that "Under [the] Fair Elections [Act], candidates would raise a large number of small contributions from their communities in order to qualify for Fair Elections funding."
I wonder how many communities she lives in. I checked OpenSecrets for her contributions. Giving her address as California, she gave $1,000 each to Thomas Howard Geoghegan, John Hall, and Howard L. Berman. Looking these gentlemen up, I found that they are all Representatives. Geoghegan is from Illinois, Hall is from New York, and Berman is from California. Is she buying elections in New York and Illinois?
Closer to home, I looked up donations by ZIP code. I found that a neighbor gave two $500 contributions to Maureen Reed. I haven't heard of any Reed running for office in Duluth. No, she's running against Michele Bachmann in the Sixth District around the Twin Cities. I would dearly love to see Michelle Bachmann replaced, but I can't vote for either candidate. And if I can't vote for these candidates, is it fair for me to contribute to either?
