This (GOP) Elephant hasn’t forgotten
County Executive Jim Smith is out of the comptroller’s race, and the conventional wisdom is that he’s going to use his war chest of more than $1 million to set himself up as a king maker.
If he does, Steve Bailey, a Republican state’s attorney candidate in 2006, thinks influencing the 2010 election and Smith anointing his own successor would violate the rules of fair play.
“It’s not a Republican or Democratic issue,” said Bailey, who acknowledged that if Republicans were in power they would use the laws to their advantage. “It’s a good government issue.”
“As a voter, I’d like to be able to go into the booth and look at the merits of each side and not think the outcome is going to be determined by a last minute infusion of cash from someone on the sidelines,” Bailey said. “This is not how politics is supposed to work.”
Bailey lost to Democrat Scott Shellenberger in 2006. Smith, with a nominal challenge in his bid for a second term, spent nearly a quarter of the $2 million he raised to help Shellenberger buy television and radio ads down the stretch.
Bailey said he has absolutely no interest in running for county executive or any other office. Still, the opportunity to take a shot at Smith is too tempting — and Bailey has been on the radio talking about how Smith might spend his money.
“Whenever I get a chance to needle Smith I’m going to do it,” said Bailey. “He’s made a friend for life in me.”
Bailey acknowledges he might have lost the 2006 election even without Smith’s involvement. It was a tough time for Republicans in a year when incumbent Republican Gov. Bob Ehrlich lost his home county. Still, the flood of money runs contrary to how Bailey thinks things should have worked.
“My beef with the whole thing is that it’s a double standard — a different set of rules for politicians and elected officials,” Bailey said.
By law, individual contributors can donate a maximum of $4,000 to any one candidate, and $10,000 overall in any four-year cycle. Candidates can give $6,000 to any other candidate they wish, and to as many as they wish.
Smith moved nearly $450,000 to Shellenberger, legally, through a slate committee he formed. State law allows for members of the slate to move unlimited amounts of money to a slate to which they belong. That slate, in turn, may move unlimited amounts of money to other members of the slate.
“It’s as if the $6,000 limit doesn’t exist,” Bailey said. “We give special privileges, special perks, to people who have power.”