Michael: Dunbar's and Ronstadt's Sugar Daddy

I got a mail piece from Kathleen Dunbar and Fred Ronstadt recently. These candidates have both opted out of Tucson's publicly financed campaign system. They both feel that public financing is a waste of public money and think that private interests should be relied upon to fund the election of our public officials. I haven't got any problem with a person following their conscience in such matters, but they should be consistent, right?

Well, in this case, not so much. On the flipside of the Dunbar/Ronstandt mailer is the mug and the endorsement of none other than Arizona's Senator John McCain. McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law shepherd John McCain. Supporter and defender of Arizona's Clean Elections law John McCain. So why are two candidates who oppose public campaign financing accepting the endorsement of John "Campaign Finance Reform" McCain? Why did he offer his support to dirty candidates?

I suppose the moral of this story is that party loyalty is stroner for GOP pols than is principled adherence to basic political convinctions about the nature of the public's interest.