To abuse the famous quotation of astronomer Arthur Eddington, Not only is party political funding in the US stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine…
Take the case of South Carolina, where a long time friend and colleague, Phil Noble, is standing for the position of Chair of the South Carolina Democrats, a party in desperate need of hope, vision and a new way forward.
The current front-runner for the post, to be decided at the State party’s convention at the end of the month, is a former chair and party machine insider, Dick Harpootlian. Phil, on the other hand, represents and reflects the grass-roots disaffection of a state party that seems to have lost touch with its base, lost touch with reality and lost any sense of purpose of hope for Democrats in South Carolina, as I witnessed first hand a few weeks back when touring the state myself.
It comes therefore as something of a shock (that’s my English “art of understatement” at work, by the way) to learn that this front-runner for the position to lead the Democratic Party is actually a serial contributor to…the Republicans!
Yes, a senior Democrat finds it normal to fund the campaigns and work of his opponents, including those on the obnoxious right-wing of the GOP.
As I have shared with Phil, anywhere in Europe, you can expect to be expelled from your party for this sort of behaviour.
How can a man who does this have any credibility or personal honour? If he does this before standing for election to the Party Chair, what would he do once elected? Perish the thought. How can anyone be expected to trust the Democrats if their elected leader is filling the GOP coffers? The man has to go, surely…
Brown in the USA 