Give the money back

Everybody is dumping indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens money and Down With Tyranny is alleging that the Northern Lights PAC is a money laundering scheme.

Getting in on the act Paul Kanjorski is calling on Lou Barletta to return a $1,000 contribution he received from Stevens in 2002 saying "Barletta basically buys into the GOP culture of corruption that forced them out of the leadership in Congress in 2006 and still persists today. Special interests like Halliburton and oil companies dominate the Bush administration, lobbyists run the McCain campaign and indicted public officials contribute to Barletta.”

Barletta campaign manager Vince Galko said Kanjorski’s “desperation knows no limits.”
“This campaign has not received a contribution from the PAC in question,” Galko said. “Six years ago this PAC made a contribution to the 2002 campaign. This was long before any allegations were made against the senator.”

I hate to agree with Barletta on anything but I think he has a point. Just about every campaign has a few of these give the money back squabbles.

A few weeks ago Chris Hackett called on Chris Carney to return contributions from Charlie Rangel.

Most of the time these inside baseball arguments are don't register with voters. Maybe a public financing scheme for Congressional campaigns is the best way to get past it. An added benefit would be that the "special interests" won't be able to buy legislation.