In a recent essay, former US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan Crocker wrote the following about that country’s reluctance to agree to US requests to deny safe havens to the Taliban:
The answer I got went like this: “We know you. We know you don’t have patience for the long fight. We know the day will come when you just get tired and go home. But we aren’t going anywhere — this is where we live. So if you think we are going to turn the Taliban into a mortal enemy, you are completely crazy.”
The “you” in that case is the United States government but it could apply equally to good-government groups that haven’t protected lawmakers from vicious retribution by special interests. That’s why California has been so poorly governed. For four decades the State Legislature was abandoned to special interests. The damage to schoolchildren, services and taxpayers has been enormous.
When I asked an elected official why he and his colleagues so often do the bidding of special interests, candidly he responded, “they’re always there for us.”
GFC was launched in 2011 to always be there for lawmakers who serve the general interest. A decade later, lawmakers know we are in for the long fight. It doesn’t take a lot of money (political donations* are limited to $8,100 per chapter per year), just a lot of persistent donors. We need your help. Please start here.
*If you can’t make political donations, you can make non-political donations towards operating expenses here. Neither political nor non-political donations are tax deductible but appreciated securities may be contributed towards operating expenses.
