Campaign expenditures out of control
Remember that old saying? “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” I guess that saying can surely be applied to the Independence Bowl. It’s no secret that even though it is one of the country’s oldest bowl games, inaugurated in 1976, it has been on shaky artificial turf for quite some time. In fact, it is surprising that it has survived; several have not.
In the era big-name sponsors for some bowl games, the Indy Bowl does not have the huge payout to participating teams to be included in the top tier with the big boys. Add to that the fact that it is difficult to even draw a capacity crowd to our little stadium, and it’s easy to see why we have such a low ranking to obtain quality teams from the various football conferences.
While the official seating capacity for the Indy Bowl, since 2006, is listed as 59,000, the largest crowd for a game was in 1997 when LSU and Notre Dame packed the stands with 50,459 fans. At that time, the seating capacity was about 50,000. But the 2013 bowl drew a crowd of only 36,917.
The Indy Bowl officials have done the best they could under the circumstances with the bowl having such a low priority among the major conferences. It is hard to get people worked up over two teams with 7-5 or 6-6 records from places far away from the Ark-La-Tex.
Most of the bowl games now have major sponsors who put millions into the pot to attract the best teams available. The Indy Bowl has tried to keep pace. It recently signed its sixth bowl sponsor amid pomp and circumstance at the Sky Box – Duck Commander.
But the irony of signing this sponsor has not been lost on some local observers. Duck Commander is the company owned by the Robertson family of West Monroe, stars of the television reality show, “Duck Dynasty.” What has some tongues wagging is the fact that the patriarch of the Robertson family recently made derogatory remarks about African- Americans in a GQ Magazine article. And here they are, sponsoring a bowl game in a city that is majority-black and has a black mayor where some teams that are majority-black will play.
What reaction locals will have for the new sponsor remains to be seen. Phil Robertson’s remarks, which also insulted gays and lesbians, have resulted in a significant drop in viewership of its television show nationwide. Will that fallout affect the Indy Bowl? Who knows in this day and age of political correctness, Facebook, Twitter and other social media. It was interesting to note that no one from the Robertson family attended the announcement ceremony because of “other commitments.”
One previous sponsor even required that “independence” be removed from the title of the bowl. Needing the money, local officials complied. The Indy Bowl officials can at least breathe a little easier, having landed a financially well-healed sponsor. The Robertson empire is reported to be worth about $400 million. No word yet on how much they will put into the Indy Bowl coffer. But I bet there will be some controversy over the brand name of the Indy Bowl being Duck Commander. Out of Control Our political system is in deep trouble. An overwhelming majority of Americans no longer trust their elected officials, highlighted by the fact that the U.S. Congress has an approval rating that is barely in double digits. Consequently, many people have become discouraged, disgusted, and don’t even vote because they don’t believe the average person can make a difference.
The reason: money. The amount of money being spent on elections is obscene and out of control when you consider candidates spend millions of dollars to win a job as a member of Congress where the salary is $174,000 a year. But once inside the Washington Beltway, the political waters part and special interest groups and lobbyists rush to write checks to gain favor for their causes.
Instead of curbing campaign spending, the spectacle has gone in the other direction. While there are limitations on the amount of money that can be given to a member’s personal campaign account ($5,200), ways have been found to get around that. Members establish their own “Leadership PACs” where more money (another $5,000) can be deposited. And you don’t have to be a “leader” to have one.
It appears the U.S. Supreme Court made a big mistake when it opened the door for big-spending outside groups (Super PACs) to get involved in the political process. They spend hundreds of millions to bombard us with TV ads these days, usually trashing a particular candidate. Many contain inaccurate information, but there is no oversight. The trashed candidate is under pressure, therefore, to raise more money to counter the negative ads.
There is no solution to the problem in sight. It will only get worse.There is no way Congress is going to pass campaign finance reform.Doing so would put challengers on an equal footing with them, and we all know that incumbents are quite adept at extracting money from special interest groups and lobbyists while these entities don’t dare contribute to a challenger.
Lou Gehrig Burnett, an award-winning journalist, has been involved with politics for 44 years and was a congressional aide in Washington, D.C., for 27 years. He also served as executive assistant to former Shreveport Mayor Bo Williams. Burnett is the publisher of the weekly “FaxNet Update” and can be reached at 861-0552 or [email protected].
