06 December 2005

Campaign Finance in Brazil

This report from Reuters makes all the McCain-Feingold blather over "soft money" seem somewhat quaint:
A would-be Brazilian mayor was in custody on Tuesday for international drug trafficking on charges of importing 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of cocaine on a plane that took off from Colombia, federal police in Brasilia said.

Misilvan Chavier dos Santos denied police claims that he planned to use money from drug sales to finance a pending bid for political office.

. . . .

Chavier dos Santos was expelled from the centrist Social Democracy Party last week after he used a motorcycle to flee from another plane loaded with cocaine just as federal police arrived at a clandestine airstrip.

In that case, he abruptly landed his plane, which had taken off in the Amazon, after realizing he was being followed by a Brazilian Air Force jet.

Perhaps domestic concerns about the undue influence big contributors could have on elected candidates would be alleviated if we embraced this kind of can-do, entrepreneurial spirit that this self-financing candidate shows. Who needs a PAC when you have crack?

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