Larson Plays While You Work

As you slog to work today, amid rain and wind, in Connecticut's first congressional district and elsewhere, just remember that your congressman is holding a $5,000 a pop campaign fundraiser in Napa Valley wine country. (Apparently the wine industry in his home state, doesn't deserve his business.)

The congressman hails from the same Democratic party, that has its nose out of joint over a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld an entity's first amendment rights to donate to campaigns. The Democrats say that portion of the private sector's money is bad for politics. But it is okay for a congressman to arrange fundraisers in wine country, arrange for a donor to witness Boston Red Sox batting practice - for a price, of course - and utilize other connections to garner greenbacks, all in the name of "creating a more perfect union," to borrow one of Larson's favorite lines.

Larson defenders, who love to slam the Republican party of being the party for the rich and famous, will remind us the donation actually goes to the political action committee Synergy and that it is the price of doing business. Except Synergy is Larson's PAC, allowing him to funnel money - some would say launder - to any political candidate, whose political agenda coincides with his.

The Democrats have controlled the Congress for six years and could have changed the system. And we wonder why there is a vast disconnect between our Washington and Hartford politicians and the public.

So as you work to make ends meet in this terrible economy, remember, donors are apparently forgetting about carbon footprints and winging out to Napa, remember that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her aide-de-camp, Connecticut Congressman John Larson, will be tossing back cabernet in wine country this weekend, all in the name of a "more perfect union."