Granny D

     How many political activists remember Granny D? There was an AP article about her published in the Syracuse Post Standard today. At age 89 she walked across the USA covering 3200 miles in 14 months. That was in 1999. She was promoting campaign finance reform.
     Her full name is Doris Haddock.  After her death, at age 100, her family donated her journals, letters, photographs and memorabilia to the Keene State College library.
     She was a retired shoe company secretary. Inspiration for her walk came from the Tuesday Morning Academy, a group of women who met every Tuesday at 8 A.M. for ballet exercises and discussions of world affairs.
     Haddock's family chose Keene State because it is close to Granny D's hometown, Dublin, New Hampshire.
     "Social justice is one of the big things we teach here, and that really appealed to the family, " said assistant professor Rodney Obien.
     Granny D was on the right track. Campaign finance reform is absolutely necessary if we are to regain control of our government at all levels. Unfortunately, we are drifting in the wrong direction. Recent Supreme Court decisions equating campaign finance with free speech have turned the clock back. Ordinary folks without legal training call these campaign gifts outright bribes or pay-to-play. They don't see the connection between pay-to-play and free speech.
     "Money talks," said one cynical apologist.