Ralph Hysong, Sr. – 6/19/05

This page was last updated on June 19, 2005.

Stopping political corruption; Ralph Hysong, Sr.; Beaver County Times; June 19, 2005.

In summary, Mr. Hysong’s cure for political corruption is curtailing freedom of speech. He’s not alone, however. Curtailing freedom of speech was the core of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance “reform” bill of 2002. It’s clearly unconstitutional yet the U.S. Supreme Court upheld its legality.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Tom Schroeder’s letter to the editor (‘We aren’t indentured servants,’ Thursday) was excellent.

“Now, though, people need to band together to put a stop to this type of behavior from our local, county and state politicians.

“We need to petition the state to put on the ballot two proposals, and then make them into law if approved by Pennsylvania voters.

“The two proposals would:

· Make it illegal for any politician or political party (state, county or local) to accept any money or gifts from any corporation, business or special interest group and enforce it with large fines and mandatory jail term. Only individuals could contribute to politicians or political party and up to a specific set maximum amount.

[RWC] Wrong. All we need are laws requiring full public disclosure of campaign contributions and spending.

· Make it illegal for any politician or political party to use lies, trickery or mistruths to get elected or to get someone elected. This would be enforced by mandatory impeachment, if proven guilty.

[RWC] When it comes to elections, who will define “lies, trickery or mistruths?” Does Mr. Hysong really believe a candidate should be held responsible for actions he didn’t perform or condone?

“The political campaigns could be partially financed by the county or state treasury, depending on whether it is a county or state position. Individuals could contribute up to $1,000 to a campaign if they lived in that county or state.”

[RWC] No way, not in a million years do I want government financing political campaigns. Exactly how would giving government officials control of disbursing funds to political candidates combat political corruption?

“This would be enforced by fines and jail terms if necessary. Limits should also be set on the maximum money spent on any political campaign and any unspent monies be confiscated by county or state treasury.”

[RWC] This is no more than limiting the free speech of the candidate and his supporters. “Any unspent monies [should] be confiscated by county or state treasury?” Is Mr. Hysong serious? How would that combat political corruption? I find it odd Mr. Hysong didn’t propose returning unspent campaign contributions to the contributors on a pro-rated basis.

“This would stop corporate and special interest paybacks as we see going on today.”

[RWC] I find it odd that most folks who complain about campaign contributions specifically mention business, but fail to mention labor union management.