Joshua Orol: On Burr’s behalf

Regarding the news article “US Sen. Richard Burr to get $8.1 million TV ad boost from super PAC”: Voters are rightly concerned about the corrupting influence of money in politics. A Super PAC just announced it will spend $8.1 million on behalf of Burr. This money comes from anonymous donors who can give unlimited amounts of money toward an election. Given Burr’s history of shilling on behalf of certain corporations, we can guess about its source.

Burr has cosponsored legislation that directly benefits oil and gas companies (to the detriment of our environment) while he has owned stock in these companies. He also authored a privatization scheme that would essentially turn Medicare over to the private insurers. That would be a boon for the insurance industry, which has publicly donated more than $1 million to Burr’s campaigns, but it would be bad for seniors (and future seniors like me), who would be held vulnerable to their profit motive.

The strongest resort we have to this despicable behavior is the vote. I urge my fellow North Carolinians to hold Burr responsible this November.

This story was originally published October 1, 2016 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Joshua Orol: On Burr’s behalf."