Donors Control Our Politicians Behind every Democracy, there’s a quiet machine that turns money into power. It is fueled by promises and cash.
It starts with donations, small ones from local businesses, and big ones from corporations and political groups. The money decides who gets heard and who fades away.
Candidates don’t just compete for votes; they compete for donors. So they listen to the people who can fund them. When those candidates win, the machine follows them into office. Donors push for laws that protect their interests.
Policy turns into a deal between moneyed interests, not the public. Hearings are for show; the real decisions happen in private.In the end, laws come out with hidden fingerprints, a line added here, a tax break there, small changes that quietly shift power to those who paid for it.
Mount Vernon’s Machine In Mount Vernon, the machine has a name: real estate developers.They bankroll the elections of Mount Vernon candidates who serve their interests, from the Mayor to the Comptroller to members of the City Council.
In return, developers are rewarded with tens of millions in tax breaks through PILOT programs, even as the City itself borrows money just to make payroll. These same developers fill their buildings with displaced people from all over the tri state area. Many have serious social, mental, and criminal issues, robbing current residents of much needed services.
Recently, developers poured substantial funds into Rise Up Mount Vernon's candidates. Just one week after their handpicked candidates won their general election, (although many believe Mount Vernon's elections are rigged), the City Council voted to adopt a “Comprehensive Plan” to rezone single family neighborhoods into high density multifamily zones. This decision will destroy Mount Vernon, but the City Council is beholden to developers, not us.
To many, it looks like a payoff, a transaction dressed up as policy. Mount Vernon’s elected officials appear to be financially benefiting from the decisions that are eroding the safety and financial stability of the city they claim to serve.
When residents look for help outside Mount Vernon, they find none. The developers who dominate Mount Vernon politics are the same donors who contribute to powerful state and federal officials. The result: a quiet, unspoken hands off policy when it comes to Mount Vernon, a city left to be carved up by those who profit from its decline. |
