Certainly, anyone can give a money within the legal limits for political contributions as can groups for the most part as a result of the US Supreme Court case in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. There is some accountability attached to actual political contributions from the standpoint of documenting and reporting however there is no accountability attached to “Fundraisers” which benefit Politicians from a personal financial perspective and the question in my mind is “Should there be?”. Money of course has always bought influence in our political system and when one thinks about money and politics some people conjure up images of FBI surveillance video showing some politician taking a cash bribe. I’m certainly not saying that non-political fundraisers represent some type of bribe and they don’t necessarily buy influence but in my opinion they sure don’t look good because there is no way of telling where and how the contributions were actually spent, something that appears to be a philanthropic endeavor may be just that and the contributions may well have been spent the way they were intended but there is really no way of telling without the politician benefactor being transparent as to exactly how the money was spent.

Generally, you don’t run across many non-political Fundraisers for politicians, but I did run across this one which is a “Fundraiser for Dez’s Medical Expenses”.

https://www.facebook.com/donate/586032255402075

As you can see from the fundraiser page “Dez” is the dog of Spokane Valley Council Member and Deputy Mayor Brandi Peetz and her husband Chad Peetz. The individual who initiated the fundraiser is a gal by the name of Carla Blazek whom I’ve heard nothing but good things about. Carla like myself is a dog lover and has done fundraisers for various dog related causes including local law enforcement K9 Units so there is nothing unusual about this particular fundraiser for “Dez” and I’m very happy to see “Dez” is doing well.

The big question as I see it regarding fundraisers like this one is could they end up being a not so good thing should the contributions go to someone that isn’t particularly ethical who ends up spending the money on a new boat, car, or remodeling project, etcetera and do they buy influence for the contributors. At a minimum I just don’t think it looks good, and appearances count in the political game.

Story Images:

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:2ffca8fe-7fa4-493c-9084-43498f2c0a6a

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!!!