Dough, Joe?

You may have read about the approximately $400,000 in slush funds spent by the Lieberman campaign that remain unaccounted for. You can read more about it here:

myleftnutmeg

I can't help but wonder what that is all about. Well, okay, I have a theory. My neighbor was GOING to be a driver for the Lieberman campaign. He changed his mind (thank goodness!). BUT, the Lieberman campaign committed to paying him $14 an hour. Not huge, right? But they wanted him to commit to 10 hours/day from now until the election.

I'm not mathematician (I can't even spell it right!). Lessee. Ten hours a day at $14 an hour is $140. And if one does this work for the next seven days (as proposed), the drivers earn $980. For many, this may be seen as chump change. To less fortunate others, not so much.

Let's think about this a bit further in that context. I recall during the week approaching the primary, that Lieberman paid $12 an hour to have young sign holders stand on our major roadways. The sign holders (from what I saw) were teens from Hartford. I don't begrudge them from making an honest living. But they don't care what they do for that stinking $12/hour. Could even be that they don't know or believe in what they are doing beyond that paycheck.

I do know that the campaign my son worked on over the summer (in Hartford) also employed these teens from Hartford. Most, understandably, did not have cars or transportation. In some cases, they would be afforded rides by the staff with cars. Others had to be fired because the campaign couldn't accommodate enough transportation for them.

Joe, or someone on his staff, came up with the brilliant idea of pouring more money into drivers so that these underpriveleged kids can earn money to survive in the inner city. Good for them that they can make some honest money. But what does that say about dough-Joe? It feels like exploitation, on some levels, to me.

Am I crazy? I know it's not sweat-shop pay or anything like that. But why is it that Joe needs to use this financial muscle to accellerate his cause? What about his "loyal" followers? You know, the ones that believe in his agenda? Why does Joe need to PAY the less fortunate to champion his cause -- even if they don't know what that is?

PS: Didja "catch" the double entendre of my subject line? Dough, Joe = Dojo. You know, the karate term for where folks fight in the ring.