Takes one to know one

OPB has a story up today bemoaning the fact that the City of Portland's goofball public campaign finance free-for-all can't stop political action committees from throwing unlimited money around in support of their favorite candidates, even those who take the tax-money handouts.

Hey, kids, it's called Citizens United. It's called the First Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court. It is not a "loophole" in the city's "clean money" rules. The City Council knew what the deal was when it passed the rules. But it went ahead and enacted them anyway. And what do we have to show for it? Amateur managers running a failed city government.

But the real howler in the story comes a fair ways down:

People running against PAC-backed candidates say they understand this is legal and outside the city’s control. The Supreme Court has ruled that wealthy interests can pump as much as they’d like into a race as long as they’re not directly coordinating with a candidates, most notably with the landmark Citizen United decision that allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts on elections. But the candidates say the consistent presence of PACs has made publicly financed campaigns feel somewhat futile.

It is perhaps the one policy point uniting Hardesty and Gonzalez, two candidates about as far apart from each other on the big issues as you’ll find in Portland.

“It is absolutely being undermined,” Hardesty said.

Well, geez, she oughta know. Look what came in the mail yesterday:

 Leave aside for now the fact that the checked items are pretty much all bogus. Look down at the bottom:

Uh huh. But preach on, Bullhorn Lady.

If the city's politician-and-wannabe welfare system is being "undermined," it's by its own stupidity. Yes, earnest public radio reporter, it's futile. And it hasn't made for better government – quite the opposite. We should get rid of it at the earliest opportunity and put that money, which runs into the millions, toward tough love for the hordes of druggies and crazies who are dying, and killing people, on our streets.