To the editor:
The decision by the Supreme Court for Citizen United in 2010 marked a turning point in elections. Now unlimited money can be poured in by donors and corporations in support of candidates.
I understand that many politicians don’t like this, but feel like they have to take the money to have a chance at winning. But that’s not what’s happening with Rep. Erik Paulsen. Because he doesn’t just take some money. He doesn’t begrudgingly take enough to pay the bills. He takes the eighth most of any member of Congress.
Why does he need that much? Or more importantly — why do these donors like him so much? To me, the answer seems obvious. He’s proven that he’ll vote however they tell him, whether it’s the gun lobby after Parkland or the pharmaceutical companies in a time when drug prices are through the roof.
A recent online game I found at erik-the-pac-man.org, while satirical, encompassed the issue well. Rep. Paulsen treats this as a game where he’s trying to rack up dollar bills. In the process, he hurts his voters.
But his opponent, Dean Phillips, has committed to taking no money from any special interest donors. That’s why I’m voting for Dean: he represents a time before the Supreme Court legalized corruption, when we knew that our representatives were trying to represent us.
Lily Hohag, Greenwood
Minnetonka Sun-Sailor, July 16, 2018