I am not from Philadelphia. I grew up in the Northeast and am familiar with the graft and corruption in many major US cities. But the idea that you would only vote for a candidate if that candidate would pay you to campaign for them seems wrong. Very wrong.
While perhaps this does not peg the outrage meter quite like Bush signing off on torture, it really pisses me off that campaigners are demanding money from the Obama campaign in Philadephia. It makes me very proud to hear Obama explain that he will not be paying any "street money".
Today's article in the LA Times sheds light on Philadelphia's long standing tradition of "street money".
Flush with payments from well-funded campaigns, the ward leaders and Democratic Party bosses typically spread out the cash in the days before the election, handing $10, $20 and $50 bills to the foot soldiers and loyalists who make up the party's workforce.
It is all legal -- but Obama's people are telling the local bosses he won't pay.
Good on him. There are hundreds of thousands of people across the US who have given freely of their time on behalf of the Obama campaign. It strikes me as arrogant for the ward leaders in Philadelphia to expect cash to pay their campaigners.
Obama has millions to spend on the primary. And the amount required for Philadelphia's ward leaders in estimated at less than $500K. Chump change for Obama. But the point he makes by refusing to spend that money is important to me and hopefully, many other voters.
Carol Ann Campbell, a ward leader and Democratic superdelegate who supports Obama, estimated that the amount of street money Obama would need to lay out for election day is $400,000 to $500,000.
"This is a machine city, and ward leaders have to pay their committee people," Campbell said. "Barack Obama's campaign doesn't pay workers, and I guarantee you if they don't put up some money for those street workers, those leaders will most likely take Clinton money. It won't stop him from winning Philadelphia, but he won't come out with the numbers that he needs" to win the state.
Money directly buys votes. Is that what it has come to in Philadelphia? Sounds like Republicans. I don't care about the tradition or history behind "street money". What kind of values are so easily swayed by $100?
Let's ask Carol Ann Campbell.
Ward leaders say such payments defray expenses such as food and gasoline, and compensate people for a grueling election day.
Campbell said she could not in good conscience ask people to work for Obama for free.
"I'm not going to do that," said Campbell, who heads a coalition of black ward leaders. "There are a lot of poor people here."
Perhaps Ms. Campbell could look around her and notice the hundreds of thousands of VOLUNTEERS across the country who are working for FREE for Barack Obama. I would bet a lot of them are poor too.
Vote for who you think would be a better leader, not who pays you.