Say It Ain’t So, EJ

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that State Senator E J Pipkin not only contibuted money to Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s run for governor but he did it to buy access.

As loathsome as his defense is, it smells. If his reason for contributing was to merely ensure he was in the room when key decisions were made, then he would have followed the tried and true model used by corporations. Contribute to both sides. He didn’t. As Ms Townsend was never elected and her clout in the Glendening administration was decidedly miniscule it is more than a little unclear on what his money bought that his status as a state senator did not.

As G. A. Harrison points out below, this kind of behavior is one of the shames of our political system. And one has to ask if a man who believes there is nothing wrong with this will, if elected, expect others to pay him in order to be in the backroom when deals are made.



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