David Trone wants Marylanders to know that he grew up in a house without a toilet. As such, he should be in the U.S. Senate. I read this quote in Sunday’s WaPost and had a nice laugh. David Trone is a man who buys elections, or at least tries to. That’s not hyperbole. In 2016, he spent $13 million of his own money in a losing race against Jamie Raskin for the 6th district. In 2018, he spent $10.2 million to win the 8th district, where he does not live. And now he is running for Senate, where he has spent $21 million out of the total $21.3 million spent.
The quote comes from a forum for Senate Candidates held by the Women’s Democratic Club of Montgomery County. With the primary on May 14, he is leading over Angela D. Alsobrooks, County Executive of Prince George’s County, in a recent poll. Per the math, Alsobrooks has spent less than $0.3 million on her candidacy. Just to be clear, I do not have ties to any candidate in the race. My motivation for this call-out this stupid statement is that I am really really tired of wealthy egotistic businessmen claiming that their fortune somehow gives them the wisdom to guide the rest of us.
Unlike the wealthy egotistic businessman running for the GQP Presidential nomination, Trone can claim truthfully that he grew up without means and runs a successful business. His family owned a chicken farm and a beer store. His father was an alcoholic who lost the farm. Not sure why the farm did not have a toilet, but quite sure that he had some place to go, and now owns many toilets. But based on his history, the lesson learned from his experience seems to be to make as much money as possible as fast as you can, while using said money to buy influence.
Trone used his education at the Wharton School of Business (Trump is also an alumni) to grow the family business into a monster. He skirted Pennsylvanian laws about sole ownership of beer stores by assigning friends and family as owners while he ran a ‘consulting’ firm. In 2019, Total Wine fought a Tennessee 2-year durational-residency requirement up to the Supreme Court, and won. Not all was above board. Penn State prosecutors concluded that Trone’s companies made more than $250,000 in illegal contributions between 2011 and 2014, violating what was then a $4,000 limit on donations to a single candidate. As his business spread to other states, he donated to Republicans and Dems alike, admitting to the Washington Post that he gave money to politicians from both parties “to buy access” in states where government regulations affect his businesses, although he now says he was misquoted. Former Md. Gov. Larry Hogan got some.
Like other businessmen of his ilk, he claims to be a job creator. He opened his big box wine stores which no doubt closed hundreds of local small businesses, employing a WalMart playbook. The obvious results are fewer people being employed, lower wages, and more money to the top. He does gives back to the community. There’s $5M to the Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative, $10M to Furman University, and $15M to create the ACLU Trone Center on reducing the US prison population. All well and good, but in this case, what he is giving back to the community is himself, something that no one asked for, or at least no one that is not on the payroll.
Clearly his worldview is that money buys friends and influence…and the occasional election. Will he govern this way? Backroom deals and such. He is a Democrat, so we certainly could do worse, but when your claim to fame is that you made a lot of money, shouldn’t we do better?