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Little pitchers have big ears, and so do cups at Boston coffeehouses, Josh Kraft learns
By adamg on Fri, 07/19/2024 - 11:43am
Now that he has a North End pied a terre, Josh Kraft is sounding more and more like he'll run for mayor against Michelle Wu next year, CommonWealth Beacon reports. Oh, not publicly yet, but CommonWealth Beacon reports Kraft started dishing on the campaign he'll launch this fall to a friend at a Back Bay coffeehouse - where somebody else sitting nearby took it all in and then re-dished to the site.
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Last thing we need is a bored plutocrat diving into politics...
...particularly a carpetbagger with a famous name and a family business to buy him luxury digs when he needs a local address.
I'd never vote for him, but I would like to see who he's been donating to, particularly on the repugnican side.
OpenSecrets
These are just personal donations and direct to candidates. We don't have laws that let us know if he's responsible for corporate donations and/or any PAC donations he or they have made.
https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Josh+Kraft&order=d...
Evidence for supporting the idea of a millionaires tax
All those donations were not done in a spirit of altruism (with acknowledgement that Kraft is Jewish, not Christian). These are fundamentally pay to play donations, especially the ones to political candidates. Even donations to non-profits are pay to play since they provide both tax deductions and give entry to hob-nobbing with other well funded contributors.
Pay to play is a to buy influence. A valuable product. Everyone pays sales tax when buying a product. A kind of tax that is actually double taxation since it tax on money that was already taxed (for another conversation). When a millionaire makes donations with the intention of buying influence they should be subject to the same tax policies that people who don't have so much money to pay for buying the product of influence.
So one method is to apply a surcharge on taxes above a threshold. The benefits of buying influence often result in more money going to the person (via things such as being able to build stadiums to make money off of a sports team). That money is garnered due to the influence that is purchased via campaign donations. So in the spirit of Huey Long, millionaires deserve the opportunity to share the wealth that everyone else enjoys in buying products, when wealthy buy into the game of politics.
I'd like dressing on the side
I'd like dressing on the side with this.
Perfectly lucid
For those with better than 8th grade MCAS proficiency reading comprehension.
Reading comprehension is a wonderful skill
It involves following the logic, thinking about the ideas that are presented and actually wanting to understand. That is the part that often leaves adults at the kids table. Not caring to understand.
But why care to understand? When a man who speaks at a level that is approaching that of Al Capone in Capone's last years can be President why would wanting to understand matter to the average citizen?
As for the side dressing: Put this one: Look up the historical reference. Learn how a man so feared and so well connected with donations of an unsavory kind (the parallel to Kraft's donation only being that political donations are pay to play, whether the play or legal, or illegal as in Capone's case), that the mobster could get away with murders, ultimately only to fall because of tax issues, yet end his life wind up the mentality of a child. Sounds like someone who has been trumping his horn as savior over this past week.
Um, not Christian altruism
Kraft is not Christian.
Daan needs snark tags
Either that or the word "not" was omitted from the first sentence.
My mistake
Sarcasm and not thinking. My mistake. Kraft is Jewish. Hopefully the point comes across. Call it Jewish, Christian or the God of Pastafrianism, there is no altruism here.
Donations
Do you realize how tax deductions on charitable donations work? The donor does not come out ahead. Maybe you are confusing it with tax credits
Big philanthropy = tax dodging & reputation laundering
I've worked in and with non-profits for the past 15 years, and sadly, lol no. There's a great book about how big philanthropy only exists to serve itself, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giriharadas.
Understand real value of charitable donations for the wealthy
When I contribute to let's say, the MFA, I can deduct that money from my taxable income.
1) I get the benefit of a a few dollars less in taxes paid
2) I get the benefit of free visits to the MFA. At $27 a visit my "donation" reduces the per visit cost with each visit. The visit costs more if I want to see the current largest exhibit in the basement. If I visit the MFA only 4 times during the membership year than that means that instead of having paid $108 I've paid only $22.50, less what I saved from that $90 not being taxed by Massachusetts.
Not a lot of money but - If just spending an hour at the MFA is valuable to me then I am in a position to visit the MFA and enjoy the benefit that each visit brings the per visit cost lower.
So I am coming out ahead when I measure the value not on the basis of money, but on the basis of what I get in return. This is important: I am not donating just to give money away. I am donating because I want something in return. In this example with the MFA I want in return to lower my per visit cost.
When I "donate" $500 to a campaign that gets me access to the politician. That is valuable. Just as donating $10,000 to the MFA which means I get to hob nob with the other $10,000 donors. If I have $10,000 to spend without blinking, then I can buy access to people with power (who else has $10,000 to donate without blinking?).
So I sure has heck will come out ahead if I use what I buy with that donation wisely (wise as in figuring out ways to make more money).
Maybe he can get a refund from "Senator" Menendez.
That donation, along with a couple to Susan Collins and one to election-denying Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter strike me as egregious, especially the latter. That one probably warrants a lot more scrutiny (Buddy sounds pretty deplorable, more Cianci than Ebsen), but I actually expected to find many more problematic purchases. I mean donations.
Interesting that Kraft
Interesting that Kraft donated to Bob Menendez one month after the Department of Justice announced opened a criminal bribery investigation into him.
Well, there are all those
Well, there are all those commercials and paid programming about investing in gold. Maybe he figures Menendez is going to need to divest quickly in the near future.
Josh gave $1,000 to "Gold Bar Bob" in 2023
Jeebus, what was he thinking? By '23 we knew Senator Menendez of the NJ Menendez political dynasty was already on the take.
Found guilty last week of 18 federal charges of influence peddling, illegal foreign dealing and accepting bribes.
This is precious!
https://www.opensecrets.org
https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Josh+Kraft
US Senate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Collins (Maine)
US House
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Cheney (Wyoming)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Carter (Georgia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Bost (Ohio)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Wenstrup (Ohio)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Grothman (Wisconsin)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Latta (Ohio)
MA Senate
https://ballotpedia.org/Richard_Eustis (10th Norfolk)
Dear Josh Kraft,
Build a soccer stadium.
Elsewise, go get fucked.
Seriously.
Note to self:
Make donation to Wu re-election campaign.
I'm sure she'd thankful
But I just don't see any situation where Wu looses to Kraft unless she does something extremely stupid. (Get caught speeding an unregistered car without a license and causing injuries and property damage?)
It is extremely unlikely that Kraft is going to unseat Wu, a poplar Mayor who has few critics. Menino and Walsh both had more baggage and they still coasted to reelection every time. Wu is a shoe-in as it currently stands.
This is ...
The way
Nah
Stop giving Democrats money. They aren't your friends.
Find an underserved cause that you like, and hand them the cash instead.
Boston elections are non-partisan
There will be no "D" or "R" on the ballot. Elections are choices between individuals, you have to pick one to vote for and if you wish, to support with donations or time.
Aside from that, it's un-Bostonian to preach non-involvement in politics.
If you don't know a few local elected officials by going to fundraisers or doing stand-outs, who TF are you?
Which I was already aware of
From my 18 years of participation in Boston elections.
I didn't preach non-involvement, I preached not giving these people money. Didn't you see Brewster's Millions? "These wharf rats...why would they spend all this money if they didn't plan on stealing it back later?"
The classic NPC
You can think of it as waste, or you can think of it as an investment or entertainment.
Some fundraisers in the $100+ range have good food spreads. Meet people, pick up cougars.
Plus if you have a complaint about government, it tends to be listened and attended to.
lol
Calling someone an "NPC" is such an incel tell.
Ah, the upper class
Part of the reasoning for setting 35 as the minimum for President is to weed out younger fellows who were actually running on the basis of name recognition. Which means that they were the son of more recognized fathers. Unfortunately that rule actually does not weed out people who are unqualified but still have well known names.
In the days of olde, when voting was a game, political parties that opposed a particular candidate would force onto the ballot opposing candidates with the same last name, but where that candidates appeared first on the ballot. The party pols realized that many voters didn't pay attention to qualification. They just saw a name.
That is the point of mayors' sticking their names on everything from benches to babies bottoms. Brand their name so that come the next election all that matters is that the voter remembers the name.
This candidate is running on the basis of name recognition. Not commitment to living in Boston, not neighborhood political experience in getting things done for constituents and learning how to get things done in a city. Not even showing a genuine concern for the daily lives of voters, citizens and residents.
Days of old?
It's still happening.
Example
Even more recently
Like this past May:
Democratic candidate for Washington governor says name doppelgangers out to deceive voters
Clever clown
This is what made Pat Payaso a genius. Run under a name nobody would willingly try to copy.
Yes and no ...
The man behind the clownface actually did some very good things for Boston, but by running as a literal clown, he finished behind Althea Garrison, who finished fifth, which meant she became an at-larger councilor, at least for a year, after Ayanna Pressley got elected to Congress.
Old days?
That literally happened in the 2020 election - shockingly by Republicans:
https://apnews.com/general-news-e8b70ce3270bd170e37a71ca80b5aaae
How JFK got his start.
He paid a Joseph Russo to get on the ballot for Congress in 1946 to weaken a previous favorite to win the election, City Councillor Joseph Russo.
The "real" Russo's son was the Chief Judge of the East Boston District Court for many years. A great guy.
Josh Kraft needs to learn the
Josh Kraft needs to learn the first lesson of Boston politics: "Never speak when you can nod."
Never write when you can speak
Although now it would probably be:
Never text when you can email
Never email when you can write
Never write when you can speak
Never speak when you can nod
Never nod when you can wink
The stock of the Kraft name
The stock of the Kraft name increased when my fellow Democrats did little more than go through the obligatory mouthings after 10/7 yet were very concerningly long on appeasement.
I never heard anything like
I never heard anything like that at 'The Pour House'. Was that not once in Back Bay?
The company he keeps
Anisha spent her previous 8 years with the Baker Admin. I could do without more listless Bakerism ruining the T and then patting himself on the back for fixing it (for instance).
Michelle is privately licking her chops
Just what she needs. A carpetbagger rich boy who will attract the votes of all the people who might consider voting for a legitimate opposition candidate.
Yeah, no
Sit down, nepo baby.