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Buying the office?

It’s been conventional wisdom here in the 12th Congressional District that Republican Tim Burns’ ability to self-finance his campaign for the special election to serve out the remainder of the late Congressman John Murtha’s term in office was behind the GOP’s rationale to choose him over conservative grassroots favorite Bill Russell.

And considering the amount of cash Burns has personally injected into his campaign, that wisdom seems to be well-founded.

Burns is hardly the first, and more than likely won’t be the last, political candidate to expend a great deal of personal wealth in an attempt to win office. Heck, in this primary season alone, two candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the 3rd District, Paul Huber and Mike Kelly, along with Democrat Doug Pike in the 6th District, have done the same.

But that doesn’t mean that the practice shouldn’t give voters pause, and prompt them to ask themselves—why?

Why would someone pay a small fortune out of their own pocket to earn a job that may reward them with just a fraction of that in salary?

Is it ego-gratification, just another notch on the belt or a line in the resume? A power-grab, with the hopes of securing some sort of gain for oneself and one’s associates? A desire to get close to the “seat of power,” to feel like “an insider,” one of the “movers and shakers?”

Whatever the reasons, one can be reasonably confident that the last one on the list, if it’s even on the list, is “to do good work for the people.”

No one spends hordes of their own money or buys themselves something because they think it’s going to be to someone else’s benefit. Oh, we can all try and convince ourselves of those sorts of altruistic intentions when we really don’t want to have to admit our own selfish motives to ourselves, but they’re there, nevertheless.

What is driving Tim Burns, and the other candidates for office this time around, to use so much of their own personal fortunes to try and gain political office for themselves?

The answers might be as varied as the individuals involved.

But one common thread runs through all of the races—the behavior itself should cause voters to stop and ask themselves that same question.

Join me tonight from 8-10 p.m. for a live-chat at WPSU.org.

May 18, 2010 at 11:12 am

--Tammy Alonso

Tags: Doug Pike, Mike Kelly, PA-12, PA-3, PA-6, Paul Huber, Tim Burns

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