I don’t get it. At what point in American history did it become ok to influence politics with big money? And I’m not limiting my outrage to just one party here either! Why the hell do we stand for this?

No one single person should have any more say, pull or control of their government than another. We will never have a true democracy until we can fence off big money and lobbies from Washington.

Paul E. Singer is the founding partner of one of the oldest hedge funds around. And while he has become a major donor to Republican and conservative causes in recent years, he has largely managed to stay out of the limelight, even avoiding having his picture appear in newspapers.

But this year Mr. Singer became one of the biggest supporters of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential campaign, making his jet available to Mr. Giuliani, while Mr. Singer and workers at his companies have donated $200,000 to the campaign. And he became the largest individual backer of a California ballot initiative that many Democrats believe could sink their chances of winning the presidency.
[...]

Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, questioned “Paul Singer’s involvement in this dirty trick aimed at stealing the White House.” A group of Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging that Mr. Singer had been acting on behalf of Mr. Giuliani in his efforts to change the California law - which Mr. Singer and the campaign deny.[...]

The vitriol directed at Mr. Singer reflects the intense passions being stirred by efforts to change the California law, which could alter the nation’s electoral map to favor Republicans and Mr. Giuliani, should he emerge as the party’s candidate. While Mr. Singer is now distancing himself from the effort, another Giuliani fund-raiser has since taken up the cause.

Additional info on Mr. Singer: