Thanks to the Reasonable Minds web blog, I learned of a great resource to track money to your politicians: opensecrets.org. Of course, only go there if you are willing to handle the information you will uncover. I spent only a few minutes on the website and came away more frustrated with my Democrat state senator of Iowa, Tom Harkin, than I have been for days. Yes, yes, I know I try to attack Harkin on a hourly basis, however this has renewed my belief that he needs to be removed from Iowa politics.
According to Opensecrets, Tom Harkin raised about $3.8 million. Of that money, only $750,000 actually came from within the state of Iowa (or about 20%). So, for those of you without a calculator that means $3 million (or 80%) came from interests outside of the state. I don't find this at all shocking considering he barely lives in Iowa at all. In fact, other than campaigning or fund raising, I can't say I remember a time worth mentioning that he was actually in Iowa.
For balance, I looked up Charles Grassley (R-IA). Grassley raised in the neighborhood of $2.95 million. 38% came from Iowa and 61% came from out of state. Also, not exactly great numbers, but the disparity is only $650,000 as opposed to $2.3 million for Harkin.
It bothers me that the Iowa state senators need so much outside money in order to run their campaigns. If Tom Harkin was truly a senator for our interests, one would think Iowans would show it with their money. What about your state's politicians, where does their money come from? Do you really want to know?
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