The New York Daily News has an item in the ongoing tit-for-tat fued between New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has criticized the mayor for running self-funded campaigns.
It’s not often that campaign finance “reformers” make statements as patently ridiculous as this gem from Weiner, but it almost slips by without notice at the end of the story:
“He lost an election in the third grade because his rival handed out lollipops — a moment [Weiner] called ‘his first lesson on the need for campaign finance reform.'”
There’s an indication Weiner’s comments came during a “lighter” period in his speech, but the nugget has a punch to it because of Weiner’s incessent criticism of his potential mayoral rival’s campaign funding.
Third graders doling out lollipops, corrupting the process? Did Weiner go to school with Tracy Flick? If it were up to campaign finance “reformers,” perhaps student body elections would be overseen by a Student Election Commission, which could limit campaign donations to two pieces of poster board, one marker and three stickers per student volunteer. Campaigning could be limited to lunch and recess periods only.
Wouldn’t want anyone to get an unfair advantage… While they’re at it, they could decree that popular students, cheerleaders and football players are ineligible to run and that candidates may distribute only one piece of candy per election cycle to their friends and classmates.
Voila. Problem solved.
