A price for admission
They say money is the mother's milk of politics, but it appears to get some you need to have a cow.
I touched on this very briefly in my look at local politics, but it seems that the candidates who are vying to be my County Councilman have loaned themselves the seed money to begin their campaign. So it got me to thinking about the barriers to entry we’ve put up for all but the moneyed.
In my district, challenger Matt Lloyd is running his first race and loaned himself $8,463 for the privilege of doing so. He’s only eclipsed by the incumbent, Michael Vincent, who is sitting on $11,135 in loans he gave to himself back in 2012, when he ran for re-election. (He has more than enough in his campaign bank to cover it, by the way, as several local politicians have maxed out $600 donations to his cause.) Fellow first-time challenger Christie Shirey, who only began putting out signs this week, has “loaned” herself $5,086 by basically self-financing her bid.
(As an aside, I finally got to see Shirey’s website and social media, thanks to a mailer sent to my house. Her key issues are helping senior citizens and getting more affordable housing in the area. It doesn’t come up in a search for her name on the web or social media.)
In District 2, it’s much the same story. Incumbent Cindy Green loaned herself $6,000 to begin her 2014 campaign (back when she was Register of Wills, about three campaigns ago), while her challenger Steve McCarron is in debt to himself by a whopping $40,000. And while there will be no primary in District 3, incumbent Mark Schaeffer has accumulated $14,024 in loans since 2020. (Because her opponent withdrew before the primary reporting date, Democrat Jane Gruenebaum did not need to file a 30-day report, which is where I got my District 1 and 2 information. Schaeffer’s filing is the 2023 Annual.)
And just to take a sample race at the legislative level, the District 14 Democrat race promises to be expensive. Kathleen McGuiness has $4,606 in loans outstanding, while fellow Democrats Marty Rendon and Claire Snyder-Hall have racked up debt of $48,128 and $5,000, respectively, as they fight it out in the primary.
Running for office on the Republican or Democrat ticket in Delaware is a bit expensive. Just the filing fee alone in Sussex County is over $1,000, so there’s a bit of investment even for a county-level office. (Minor-party candidates have no filing fee, but other restrictions.)
And expenses add up. You may spend a few hundred dollars on yard signs, mailings, and palm cards, but add media and you’re well into four figures. We likely won’t find these County Council hopefuls airing commercials on the four local TV stations (that seems to be reserved for the statewide candidates) but there are opportunities on local radio to spread the word, and each 30-second spot may cost 20 dollars or more, depending on station.
One thing I’ve always said is that I could never run for office because I hate to ask people for money. But even if I didn’t mind smiling and dialing, there’s quite a bit of expense one takes on and not all of us have five-figure bank accounts to fall back on. (This doesn’t count the opportunity cost of the time spent knocking on doors and running from event to event like a mad person.)
Occasionally we’ll hear someone with the bright idea of public financing of campaigns. It sounds good, but then there’s always the issue of someone’s tax dollars going to support people they disagree with. Perhaps a compromise measure would be some sort of private-sector fund designed to assist people with getting their political start, with recipients determined by a combination of need and philosophy. (If I were to start such a fund, statists need not apply. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if the so-called progressives aren’t already doing this in some areas. Aside from the financial component, Democrats are doing this with women who want to get involved in politics. Delaware is a state they do not operate in.)
The other drawback, though, is that salaries for these positions (ones that you collect thousands of dollars to secure) aren’t all that high. The work is full-time and the pay is part-time. (Although those who get high enough up the food chain somehow always seem to end up millionaires.) One idea I’ve had that would encourage new blood and become self-enforced term limits is to have the first year’s salary be very high, but year two brings a ten percent pay cut (as does year three, year four, and so on) until you’re working for free after year ten. Now that’s public service.
The point is that there’s something bothersome about candidates who take out loans to themselves and never pay them back. I get the fact that it’s money taken from their own pocket, but why call it a loan then? If there’s a weakness in the campaign finance system, let’s address it, but to have a loan against your name for years seems to me fiscally irresponsible.
Until next time, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.