One Of The Bigger Reasons Our Politics Have Grown So Bad

This week’s appearance of Noah Rothman featured a discussion of why would anyone enter politics these days?  It’s worth a listen, but the discussion occurs without acknowledging what may be the central fact of the matter.

To understand what I am talking about we need to turn our attention to a current scandal in California gubernatorial politics.  Governor Gavin Newsom’s former chief-of-staff, Dana Williamson, along with a few others, has pled guilty to wire fraud and related charges regarding enriching themselves, as campaign staffers, with money from dormant Xavier Becerra for Governor accounts.  Becerra was pounded about the scandal at the most recent debate.  Thje scheme was not all that complex.  Here is what happened:

According to the plea agreement, Williamson participated in a money-laundering scheme involving two co-conspirators, Sean McCluskie and Greg Campbell. From February 2022 until November 2024, Williamson helped McCluskie steal money from the dormant campaign of McCluskie’s boss by billing the campaign for consulting services and then funneling that money to Campbell, who then passed it along to McCluskie under the guise of paying McCluskie’s spouse for “a no-show job.”

Once Williamson began working for Newsom, she managed to convince someone else to take over the scheme, though she remained involved in it, the agreement said.

McCluskie’s boss at that time was Xavier Becerra, the former California attorney general and Biden Health and Human Services secretary who is now running for governor….

Becerra is not named in the plea agreement and has not been charged with any crime in connection with the case.

So here are the two salient points that need to be taken from this.  Firstly the plea agreement is shielding the candidate.  The fact that Becerra is not named, despite the funds being from his campaign is a dead giveaway that this bunch took the plea to shield him.  That comes with three implications.  One – that as a candidate the further investigation would taint Becerra.  Oops, the stink has rubbed off already.  Two, further investigation quite likely would have turned up something on the candidate.  Three, those taking the guilty plea can expect some sort of compensation from the candidate they are shielding.  If they are so loyal as to do this without a promise of some compensation, they are fools.

The second salient point is the truly important one.  There was a large sum of money sitting dormant in a political campaign.  Campaigns are often awash in cash, pleas to the contrary notwithstanding.  Agreed, some like Kamala Harris for President, can overspend but even in that situation they end up raising what they need and likely more. You don’t see her working weekends at Wal-Mart to pay the debt do you?  Ask yourself what happens to all that money?  And bear in mind this is money raised out of our pockets – not theirs.

The money eventually ends up in someone’s pocket.  The only question is whether the path to that pocket is legitimate or illegitimate as in this case.  In other words, politics is lucrative.  And at that point it becomes very easy to confuse public service with self-enrichment.  Increasing polarization and adding a religious feel to politics serves to make people donate more readily which puts more money into someone’s pocket.

Which also explains why some candidates try to make big issues out of terribly tiny ones.  It distracts from the money game that is going on and it creates furor that drives more giving.

So why do people enter politics?  Sadly, anymore, a lot of them do so to get rich.  I wish I know what to do about it.