The Bloomberg Buy

 

I have a little heartburn about New York Billionaire Mike Bloomberg’s push to restore the voting rights of felons in Florida.

The former Democratic presidential candidate and ex-mayor of New York City has personally helped raise $16-million dollars to pay the fines of 32,000 felons in the Sunshine State. That means they are free to vote on November 3^rd.

How is it different that just writing checks and giving them to crooks…doing it with a smile and a wink….and hoping nobody connects the two? It is a  strong incentive to vote for Democrats in a state where 32,000 new voters could provide the difference.A memo from the Bloomberg team was obtained Tuesday by the Washington Post. It says Bloomberg saw the effort as a “more cost effective way of adding votes to the Democratic column than investing money to persuade voters who already have the right to vote.”

The memo is somewhat damning. It suggests a quid pro quo. We will pay your fines. Remember us on November 3^rd.

This is Florida. The state that gave us dimpled and hanging chads. It is going to be a close race…and every vote will matter.

You can choose to believe Bloomberg apologists who say everybody deserves the right to vote and the payment of the fines is merely the opportunity for a richer democracy. Or you can see it for what it is….

…a bold way to influence an election.