Fundraising for the pro
In the USA, the race is on. All candidates for the democratic and the republican parties did it, previous to and even during their campaign. Fund raising through dinners, shows and private parties.
Anyone with money and a little affiliation is welcome. Luckily, the fund raising is not anonymously, all gifts have to be registered and published.
Back to our country, and the reality of our politicians. In The Netherlands, political parties are state-funded based on their number of votes in the last election. More voters means a bigger cheque from the state. Simple and clear. No party is being maltreated or neglected, every party is being treated the same. Just the way we like it.
Not too long ago, mrs. Verdonk has left her party (VVD) to go about on her own. With more than half a million personla votes during the last elections, she felt it was her right to keep the spot in our Tweede Kamer. Undeniably right. But, she did not want to found a party. Like Geert Wilders (PvV), she’s aiming for a ‘beweging’ (movement) which has no members, and unlike Wilders, her movement is not even registered with the Kiesraad (the authority registering parties for elections in our country)
Because of not being a true party, Verdonk’s movement ‘Trots op Nederland’ (TON) is not eligible for funding by the state, and as she cannot afford to finance the movement on personla basis, private funding is needed.
Only recently, a dinner party was organized in the Passenger Terminal next to the IJ in Amsterdam. For only €500 per person, you could enjoy dinner with Verdonk, and for those not being this wealthy the afterparty only was €75. Dinner fund raising has been a subject in the Tweede Kamer for years, as it is not regulated. At all.
For instance: all gifts over €4538 have to be registered and communicated, but failing to do so does not incur a penalty. Go figure.
The new law which has been planned for years, private gifts above €20.000 cannot be made, and all gifts over €2.000 have to be registered and communicated. More importantly, not complying to these regulations involve penalizations to encourage parties a little more.
What do you think?
Fund rasing good or bad?
Imo, any type of funding that makes politicians even marginally dependant or indebted to any party with any political stance should be illegal. It makes for ‘buyable’ politicians.
And that’s why a maximum gift should be set: to avoid buyable politicians.
Private funding therefore has to be strictly regulated, to avoid the image of bribery.