Cash donations allow the rich to influence elections

Editor, The Seattle Times:

Tuesday’s article about billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson and his $5 million contribution to his friend Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign was disturbing on many levels. [“Tycoon’s big check gives Gingrich big lift,” News, Jan. 10.]

Big money in politics is nothing new, but the Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing unlimited cash donations undermines the very nature of “one person, one vote” by allowing the very rich to unduly influence elections.

The extreme anti-union, anti-regulatory, pro-gambling and pro-conservative views Adelson holds could become national policy under a President Gingrich.

The article clearly reveals Gingrich as the puppet of men like Adelson, more than willing to dance for his master, a man whose loyalties do not lie with the majority of the American people.

— Ron Dickson, Seattle