ALWAYS PAY YOUR HELP

Blog number 126                                               Nov. 2, 2007

So I'm reading this novel about police chiefs and one of the characters is running for state senator and he talks to his wife about the types of people who support a candidate and why.  Some do it because they like the candidate's ideas, some do it 'cause they like the guy and some do it so's they can get something from the guy if he gets elected.  It is this last guy that I want to talk about.

Back when we owned a rental apartment, we had a tenant that held meetings supporting a marijuana pro-legalization candidate for president.  They passed out leaflets and bumper stickers, talked to people.  I think they really believed they might have a chance.  Their candidate was squeaky clean, young, handsome, an activist for the environment - just perfect for the part.  These people tried for two elections, never won.

A few years later I'm reading about this guy that got this other guy elected as a Democrat to a senate seat.  He expected to get appointed to a juicy post, but the electee stiffed him.  Gave him nothing.  He was pissed.

The first time the senator came up for reelection, this guy decided he would sabotage the election.  What he did was to find a good candidate and a cause that would split the democratic vote, and he came up with the marijuana pro-legalization idea.

So this tenant and her friends, who thought they were going to get marijuana legalized, were actually helping this guy get revenge on a scumbag.  The scumbag lost.  He tried again a coupla years later, and once again the revenger ran a campaign to get a pro-legalization candidate elected, and once again the ex-senator lost.  The guy never tried again.