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Pay-to-play in Detroit shows how different -- and dysfunctional -- Motown really is
What the practice of reverse campaign contributions says about Detroit is that Detroit is fundamentally culturally different than much of the rest of the nation. The unseemly practice of tailoring one's political campaign in order to garner support from the PAC crowd is turned on its head. In Motown, it seems, the PAC tailors its endorsement to garner a donation from the candidate.
Oddly enough, I can see the point in it. Bizarre at it may seem, the PAC's in Detroit do not have any money,but they do get press and claim to be able to turn out voters. The leaders of these PACs need to get paid somehow. The candidates can get money from other sources, and want press and votes. There you are, all the ingredients of a sordid political deal meet, and the thing is done. In some ways, it is no worse than the candidate who sells out for the endorsement of a PAC in the conventional sense, it is just fundamentally different. Instead of the PAC owning the candidate, the candidate owns the PAC. Like Detroit. Very different.
This is another odd little tale that reflects how things have changed, and gives some indication of where things are headed. Detroit has been the City of the Future. That has been good, and sometimes not so much. More and more interesting.
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