The Baltimore Sun has
obtained a tape of a campaign operative for Democratic State Senator Paula Hollinger promising an illicit payback deal. According to the tape, "Maureen," who left a phone number registered to O'Connor Public Relations Associates, asked for a contribution for Hollinger's Congressional campaign and then went on to say "Paula will certainly send you money from her state account if need be." According to Hollinger's most recent finance report, O'Connor Public Relations was paid $9,150 by her campaign.
Paula Hollinger is one of eight Democrats seeking the nomination for the Congressional seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Ben Cardin, who is running for U.S. Senate.
This amounts to money laundering. Hollinger is offering to make a contribution from her state account to a politician in exchange for a contribution to her Congressional account. This is corruption and it must not be tolerated.
The Democratic Party needs to position itself as the party of reform. The problem with the "culture of corruption" message is that voters think that all politicians, regardless of party, are corrupt. And, unfortunately, it's people like Paula Hollinger, Rep. William Jefferson and some others just reinforce that image.
The problem is that the Republicans are so much more corrupt. They're the party of Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, Ralph Reed and scores of other corrupt politicians that literally sell their votes to corporate interests. They're the ones that let the pharmaceutical industry write the Medicare Part D disaster and let the big oil industry help write their energy bill.
If Democrats want to claim the mantle of reform and have people believe them whey the say that they will clean up government, we need to institute a zero tolerance policy on corruption. And, our leaders need to stand and denounce corruption among both Republicans AND Democrats alike.