Washington Post Associate Editor Reflects on Money in Politics

Politics is a money game, according to Washington Post associate editor Robert G. Kaiser, who was interviewed at Harvard Wednesday by Lawrence Lessig, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard Law School.

The interview drew a full house of professionals, law students, and faculty to Harvard Law School’s Austin Hall and focused on the influence of donors and fundraising on American political culture.

Kaiser opened with a general overview of American political history, noting that a growth in campaign spending has fueled a corresponding rise in “demonizing” campaign commercials that are often less related to substantive policy and more concerned with strategic punch lines dictated by lobbyist interests.

“We’ve gone from the 1960s and ’70s where the top campaigns spent around $100,000, to the last campaign cycle where Senate campaigns have spent upwards of $40 million on running ads,” Kaiser said, expressing his doubts that donor-driven politics represented the best interests of constituents. “It’s a scary thing. You have these slick operators who elect people to these positions who have no qualifications in the field. It changes the nature of the people who want to do the job.”

When Lessig suggested that earmarks used for campaign purposes might embody an innovative collaboration between groups that need government funds and candidates who need organizational donations, Kaiser pushed back by questioning whether deserving groups actually receive the benefits promised by earmarks.

“[Earmarks] have built over time, and now it’s gotten so fat that [the government] has to pull back. Meanwhile, you have people who still need these services who aren’t getting them,” he said.

But Kaiser also cautioned against labeling lobbyists as politically corrupt.

“Lobbyists aren’t bad people. They’re just in a crummy business. Senior staff members usually go for lobbying, because the money is irresistible.”

During an open question period, audience members asked Kaiser for solutions to a problem he spent the evening painting as seemingly insurmountable.

“Do you think it’s possible for legislation to get us out of this?” said Bill Ostran, a professional from San Luis Obispo, California.

Kaiser’s response placed much of the responsibility on those seeking office.

“We’ve developed already a large class of politicians who are used to it,” he said. “The issue starts with them.”

Lien E. Le ’17 saw Kaiser’s remarks as a call to action.

“The lack of true policy-making in Congress is shocking, to say the least,” she said. “Kaiser opened my eyes to what the political culture in America has become—it’s time to fix it.”