The headline is
"Big Donors Seek Larger Roles in Presidential Campaigns." The takeaway is that the very rich people funding our current crop of presidential contenders expect damn well for those candidates to not just take their checks, but also their strategy advice, policy positions, and give all the other access to be expected
when you're buying your very own candidate.
“Donors are demanding a lot these days, man, and they want answers and they want results, and a lot of them hit the panic button a lot,” said Theresa Kostrzewa, a Republican lobbyist and donor based in North Carolina, who is supporting former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida. “This is a new day. Donors consider a contribution like, ‘Well, wait, I just invested in you. Now I need to have my say; you need to answer to me.’ ” [...]
Stanley S. Hubbard, the media mogul based in Minnesota, who supported Mr. Walker, said he had offered a piece of advice after an interview in which Mr. Walker discussed his views about abortion and gay marriage. “I suggested to him that he stay out of social issues,” Mr. Hubbard said. “I told him nothing is going to happen, whether you like abortion or not — that’s your own belief, but don’t talk about that.”
The modern wealthy American is, according to the campaigns, increasingly high-maintanence.
Mr. Barbour, who is now joining Mr. Bush’s campaign, said he was happy to field the complaints: “If they wanted to talk to me for an hour, I’d talk to them for an hour,” he said. “They were the ones who were funding what we were doing, so goodness gracious, the least thing I could do is answer whatever questions they had.”
Think of buying a candidate a bit like buying a vacation time share. You pay a little, you get to visit with Mr. Candidate a little. You pay more, you get to walk in the door more often. Oh, and it can all go belly-up right quick, so don't get too comfortable.
Not all the perks are as big as being able to personally call the candidate and give them your own election advice. Would you settle for getting Marco Rubio's private members-only talking points on a mobile app?
The campaign of Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has provided his financial backers with a password-protected mobile app that provides updates on the candidate, details of his schedule and even helpful talking points.
“So if someone asks me a question — ‘What’s Marco’s policy on ISIS?’ — if I didn’t know it offhand or feel comfortable with it, I could flip it up and have an answer,” said Tom Tellefsen, a California-based real estate developer who is supporting Mr. Rubio.
Here I was all set to once again opine on how inherently dangerous to democracy it is for politicians to be doling out their time and their policy positions in direct proportion to who has written them a check and for how much, but that's just sad. It sounds like some of these people are getting fleeced.