IT'S BAD enough that the Republican and Democratic national conventions are heavily subsidized by corporate and special-interest money. Now legislators in Michigan are reviewing a bill that would allow up to $12 million in private donations to pay for a "do-over" election necessitated by the state breaking party rules to hold its primary early. Among the many bad options for solving the problem of the botched Michigan primary, allowing unions, corporations, and wealthy individuals to finance the election may be about the worst.
Both Michigan and Florida knew they were flirting with serious consequences by holding their primaries before the agreed-upon "window" that opened Feb. 5. The sanction for such behavior was clear: states would lose the right to seat their delegates at the Democratic convention in August. The primaries went off anyway in Michigan and Florida under a cloud of uncertainty, and Barack Obama did not even appear on the Michigan ballot. To validate those results now would be patently unfair.
This week Florida dropped a proposal for a mail-in revote and tossed the matter back to the Democratic National Committee. The DNC, mindful of not disenfranchising voters, has agreed to consider solutions for seating the delegates, but the plans still need to be approved by the Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns, and Michigan's Legislature begins a two-week recess today.
Considering the taint on the Michigan primary, any revote should be above suspicion. The influx of special interest money into the do-over would surely raise questions about who might be trying to buy - or reward - the parties or the candidates.
There are other problems with the Michigan do-over: It bars anyone who took a Republican ballot in the first primary from participating, for example. But outsourcing an election to unregulated private contributions is reason enough to vote no.
