24 October 2016

Gianforte’s campaign self-funding nears Meg Whitman levels

Former eBay billionaire Meg Whitman spent $144 million of her own money in 2010 trying to buy the California election for governor. That’s $8.3 per registered voter; $9.1 adjusted for inflation. Her loss to Jerry Brown left her poorer but still rich, and perhaps wiser.

Bozeman businessman and right wing philanthropist Greg Gianforte, another rich Republican trying to buy an election, just donated another two million dollars to his campaign, reports Montana Democratic spokesman Jason Pitt, bringing his self funding total to $5.3 million. That’s $7.8 per registered voter, 86 percent as much as Whitman spent on an inflation adjusted basis.

It’s not uncommon for candidates to use their own money to prime the funding pump. But Gianforte’s and Whitman’s level of self-funding is staggering. The United States now has 200 million registered voters. If Donald Trump self-funded his campaign at $7.8 per registered voter, his pockets would be $1.6 billion shallower (if they were ever that deep).

That level of self-funding occurs when a candidate fails to catch fire with the voters and cannot raise the money he needs, and/or when a candidate is lazy but greedy. Gianforte’s level of self funding is legal, but it’s unseemly, it’s greedy, and it corrodes democracy.