I think I understand where this is coming from:
Dominion Power is a big-time corporate bad actor (with big-time money to burn) influencing government policy to its own benefit, but NOT to everyone else’s (certainly not to the environment’s benefit, that’s for sure). [ . . . ] Dominion Power is pretty much the worst of the worst.
[ . . . ]
That’s why I’m challenging all Virginia 2009 candidates to “just say no” to Dominion’s dirty money. Refuse it. Reject it. Return it. Just don’t take any money from Dominion Power.
Sure, except it’s completely counter-productive to the end of putting better candidates in office. Okay, Dominion’s a bad actor that spreads lots of money around Virginia politics.  It’s also one of, if not the, biggest company in Virginia outside of the DC area. That, right there, is the reason that you can be sure that it will always be a force in Virginia politics.  Fine, it’s nice to imagine a public sphere in which every local candidate is funded solely by thousands of small dollar donors, but when you have more people voting on American Idol than contributing to local races, I think that’s safely labeled a fantasy.   So, starting from that (rather safe) premise, my advice to candidates is to take Dominion’s money and run. Run for office on their dime, and vote in favor of your constituent’s interests anyway.  It’s just silly for a candidate to disadvantage themselves (because Dominion money will end up in any race) by refusing contributions from Dominion. If a candidate has the strength of conviction enough to refuse Dominion contributions, then he or she has enough strength of conviction to take the contribution and do the right thing anyway.
Go on, take the money and run.
Mark Brooks
Part of what I don’t get about the continuing environmental movement in Virginia, of which I consider myself one:
What are we considering bad for the environment? Sure, some things are obvious. Greener electricity, better recycling programs everywhere, clean water, safe food.
Are dumps environmental hazards? If so, does their money fit into this scenario too?
Do we trumpet Democrats for doing good work, all the while ignoring the obvious: If someone takes money for one thing, and then votes against their wishes, they won’t be receiving that money for very long.
This seems like a short-term feel good measure.
Candidates really have no business taking money from the worst of the worst. Allied/BFI/WM/Republic merger has its sights on even more of rural Virginia, yet, candidates who claim to be green keep taking money from them.
I know this problem will not be solved easily, because the ultimate solution would be to ban corporate donations altogether.
Just like coal-fired plants, (a similar situation) we should move forward,to ban importation of trash to Virginia, or at least make plenty of money from it. We just do not need to continue being the nation’s wastebasket.
The truck lobby is what kills this sort of reform every time.
MB
I dunno. So long as you’re going to vote the right way anyway, take the money until it goes away. If Allied/BFI/et al. want to underwrite me making life harder for them, god bless.
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All that said, yes, I think that VA politics would benefit enormously from a ban on corp contributions. People get a vote, corporations don’t.