MIRCEA MARIAN: "Sorin Oprescu had a single moment of embarrassment during his interview for "Evenimentul Zilei", on Wendsday: when he was asked who are those who are financing his electoral race."
"Are friends with medium development", answered Oprescu, looking down and admiring his manicure. I don't blame him (too hard) for this lie by omission. No important competitor is willing to show who is paying him, at least as along as he knows that he would not be punished if he doesn't gives a complete information.
The politicians discretion is explainable, because, if we would know who their sponsors are, we would easily track down those who, after the elections, will benefit of the elected favors. It's enough to look on the Permanent Electoral Authority website in order to realize how false are the official reports about the financings with political purposes. In the campaign for the European Parliament, for example, PNL hadn't spent any money for polls and consultancy! It's the Polichinelle secret that this party employed two of the most expensive international consultants from the market. PSD scores at the polls and consultancy department with a ridiculous sum of 5.570 lei, even though it is known that the most shallow sociological research costs around 10.000 euro.
Traian Basescu is not more generous with informations: the expenses report for the campaign on the referendum from May 19 extends on one page. We can find out from it that the baned president didn't spend one leu for the campaign headquarter, for maintenance or for personnel payments. We can remember though that he had, in fact, a campaign headquarter in a house in the center of the Capital, where senator Constantin Onaca was always present, who, by chance, he is PDL's candidate for the Constanta City Hall.
It takes about a half of hour of internet searches to find out how it's acted in other countries. Every donor from the US campaign can be found on the Federal Electoral Commission. It is known, for every period, how much money was raised by Obama or Clinton. From the public datas you can track down how the republican candidate for the US presidency, John McCain, used his wife plane.
Why, in Romania, we won't find out too soon from where are the politicians payed? Because this is the source of corruption. Today's donors are those who, tomorrow, will have access to the public resources. All politicians keep quiet because everyone of them played this game. Nobody wants to change the completely inefficient control mechanism. Traian Basescu can afford to sustain that the campaign headquarters didn't cost him anything because he knows that no public authority will dare to verify him, opening this way Pandora's box.
Maybe I'm wrong thinking that it's a big secret who is paying the campaigns bills. Finally, those who are paying the bills are in fact the tax payers, who's money are redirected, after the elections, to the pockets of the mysterious sponsors.
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