Campaign money season
Joel Pett is the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist of the Lexington Herald-Leader. His work also appears in USA Today.
What a spectacular first quarter for the forces of free speech. No, not in Iran, Guantanamo or China, but right here in the land of the free-range rubber chicken and the home of the $1,000-a-plate soiree. For cartoonists, record-breaking campaign fundraising means derisive dismissals of slimy special interests, sarcastic war-chest scorekeeping and laconic laments of laissez-faire democracy. Although courts have long upheld the right of Americans to charge political speech to their credit cards, (see Buckley vs. Vallejo, McConnell vs. FEC and Insider Slimeball vs. Your Wallet), they’ve also protected a cartoonist’s right to depict a gape-mouthed ex-prez sucking up loose greenbacks for his front-running spouse. Now that’s what I call priceless free expression.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
