Caravan of Corruption Tour

This came over the transom a couple of days ago and will be of interest to a few of you:

Albany, NY - On Wednesday, October 24th, two legs of the Caravan of Corruption will converge on Albany to highlight the need for publicly financed Fair Elections as a solution for New York’s scandal-scarred Legislature. The Caravan will make nine stops across the state.

Themed as a traveling sideshow, 15 state-level elected officials (including 4 Senate Democrats, 4 Senate Republicans, 6 Assembly Democrats, and 1 State Comptroller) who have been convicted on corruption-related charges in the past decade will be presented as life-sized cartoonish caricatures. The legislators will be used as examples of a corrupt culture that has consumed Albany, where money talks and the people’s voice is squelched.

The Caravan will feature two legs. One will start from Long Island, with stops in Hempstead and Manhattan on October 23rd, and then Mt. Kisco and Kingston on Wednesday, October 24th. The other leg will leave from Western New York, with stops in Buffalo, Rochester, and Binghamton on October 23rd, and Utica on October 24th. Both legs will converge in Albany on the afternoon of October 24th. Details and more info can be found at www.caravanofcorruption.org.

Corruption, local cronyism in particular, is one of this blog's pet peeves. And NY State is one of the most corrupt in the country, so these folks will have their hands full picking targets. Unfortunately, I learned about this a bit too late to alert you guys to the event in Kingston earlier today (I should, perhaps, read my email more carefully when it arrives), but I have no doubt this is just an opening salvo in a continuing campaign to "highlight need for publicly financed fair elections to change culture in Albany" as the group puts it. Here's a bit of background from the website:

For decades, New York has been home to some of the nation’s most crooked, conniving and corrupt politicians.

They’ve accepted favors, dodged taxes, and lined their pockets with taxpayers’ cash.

While plenty – a majority – of our state’s elected leaders are honest and play by the rules, the fact is – the rules need to change. The money-hungry culture of Albany needs to change. We need to put people first in our democracy.

From Buffalo to Brooklyn, and everywhere in between, we’re taking our creepshow on the road to show what happens when we don’t hold greedy politicians accountable for their actions.

Step right up and learn about this collection of crooks as they:

Siphon money from community programs to buy Yankees tickets
Spend over $20,000 of taxpayers’ dollars on sushi
Dodge hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes
Buy luxury apartments with public money

New York must once again be the leading progressive state in the nation.

Join us as we demand publicly financed Fair Elections for New York and put people first!

I couldn't agree more. Money is the ultimate in corrosive influences. The sooner we can get money out of politics and finance our elections is an egalitarian manner, the better it will be for American democracy. Go check out the website.