Quote of the Day

"None of the unions ever asked me for a quid pro quo. They, like anyone else who is giving, they just want to know their points get heard. They are not asking that you agree with it. They have said, ‘We don’t expect you to agree on everything. We understand it is a negotiation.’”

—Toni Harp, candidate for mayor of New Haven, CT, on the $48,000 she and the alderpersons effectively on her ticket were given by labor unions (quoted in the New Haven Register). She could accept this money only because she chose not to participate in the city's public campaign financing program (which I administered from 2007 to 2012).

The implication is that if one does not give her a contribution, one's points will not be heard, one will not be allowed to "negotiate." Does that mean that candidates who participated in the public financing program and, therefore, could only accept small campaign contributions, and none directly from unions, companies, or PACs, would not listen to anyone? No, the opposite is the case. No individual or entity is likely to get special access, to "negotiate" with a mayor who takes no more than small contributions from individuals and none from entities. Quid pro quo isn't the story. The story is special access. And Ms. Harp has all but admitted that large campaign contributions to mayoral candidates provide special access.