A Usually Legal Practice That Wears Black Eyes

[EV_Ares]

In the threadbare border towns of South Texas, one of the country’s poorest regions, enterprising locals like Candelaria Espinoza have long been paid to round up votes for candidates on Election Day. There is even a name for these electoral soldiers of fortune: politiqueras.

So when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign arrived in South Texas in February seeking an edge in its uphill battle against Senator Barack Obama, Ms. Espinoza was happy to oblige, for a price. The campaign paid her and seven other members of her family $100 to $200 each to knock on doors, deliver fliers and get voters to the polls for the Democratic primary on March 4, which Mrs. Clinton narrowly won.

“I’ve been a politiquera for 20 years,” Ms. Espinoza said in an interview last week outside her trailer in the town of Pharr. “The money the Clinton people gave me was about the going rate, more or less.”

The Espinozas were among at least 460 Texans, most of them rural Hispanics in South Texas or African-Americans in Houston, who received payments from the Clinton campaign for this kind of work, according to a review of Federal Election Commission records. The records show that Mrs. Clinton did something similar in Ohio, giving $38,300 to a state legislator, Eugene R. Miller, who says he used it to pay more than 200 people to get out the vote in predominantly black neighborhoods in Cleveland.

entire NY Times article @ link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/us/politics/13streetcash.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

[WeDidIt]

1. And a Practice that Obama REFUSES To continue

It's cost him, but I think Obama has proven to be the more ethical candidate because of it.

[MonkeyFunk]

2. What's unethical

about paying people who work for you?

[uberblonde]

3. I don't think Obama stopped it to be "ethical."

I think he did it because he didn't want to strengthen any power base but his own, and street money is distributed through local politicians.

[AllentownJake]

4. I think

He didn't want an article like this written and the media to claim he was buying supporters and for the Clinton campaign to jump on it even though they had just done it.

[Maribelle]

5. Obama saves his money to pay off superdelegates.

While Obama has made an "ethical" issue by refusing to pay poor people in places such as Philadelphia a per diem allowance for expenses out one side of his mouth, out the other side of his mouth he thinks nothing of doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to superdelegates.

I read a report in February that he had already paid superdelegates almost $700,000.00, I would not be surprised to learn today that the amount reaches well into the millions.


http://www.capitaleye.org/capital_eye/inside.php?ID=336



And even though you've totally failed with this attempted smear of Hillary, please do feel free to go digging some more in your attempt to totally smear Hillary.

[rucky]

6. Not sure if this is right or wrong...

but the article you link to says Hillpac acted similarly w/ $200k at press time - and this money went to the campaigns of these elected officials - all of whom are superdelegates. Quid Pro Quo, I suppose is why the PACs are created in the first place.

Okay, that's the more accurate technical description. Apparently both of them are doing it, so neither has the moral high-ground, and I hope we get rid of the concept of superdelegates altogether next election cycle because this whole process leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[Maribelle]

8. I'm not trying to say anything about a moral high-ground. The OP is trying to bash Hillary.

Simply put - Obama's supporters are making a huge mistake trying to bash Hillary on this.

[frickaline]

11. Completely agree, this is a non-issue. nt

[rucky]

12. Yep.

The whole PAC thing is news to me, though.

[frickaline]

10. Perhaps but he only has the money because he has the support. nt

[spinbaby]

7. Obama has volunteers

I went out, too, to "knock on doors, deliver fliers and get voters to the polls for the Democratic primary." Except that I did it for free as did a lot of other Obama volunteers.

[Maribelle]

9. A lot of us on DU have volunteered freely for many many Democratic campaigns.

But that's not the point of the OP, is it?