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Lewis Payne of Brooksville is a retired banker and one-time chair of Bangor Republican City Committee.
I am a retired banker with 40 years in commercial banking. I have an MBA, a bachelor’s degree in economics, and did graduate work at Stonier School of Banking.
At the beginning of my career, I worked in industrial North Philadelphia. My first holiday season rolled around, and I suddenly found myself the beneficiary of gifts from grateful borrowers looking to cement goodwill for the coming year.
One substantial gift was a $100 gift certificate to a liquor store.
I went to my boss and asked, “Should I return it?”
He looked at me and said:
“Louie, if you can be bought that cheap, you shouldn’t be in banking.”
That conversation stuck with me.
What is my price?
Consider the money being put on the table in politics.
The Collins-Jackson U.S. Senate race could ultimately work out to more than $300 per vote, depending on final campaign spending and voter turnout.
I would vote for Susan Collins for free, and no amount of money could induce me to vote for Troy Jackson.
Then there is Gov. Janet Mills’ $300 affordability payment. The payment is going to eligible Maine taxpayers as part of the state’s $155.2 million affordability-payment program.
And now President Donald Trump has proposed a $5,000 payment to every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans retain control of both the House and Senate.
That is $5,600 in political money.
If government and campaign backers can put $5,600 worth of money and promises on the political table, how many better ways are there to spend that money?
Do you want to have the cash to allocate as you wish? Or would you rather have government or campaigns and political action committees decide where and how that money should be spent?
Is this any more of a political inducement than the progressives’ hollow promise of “free everything”?
Maybe the real issue isn’t whether politicians are literally buying your vote. Maybe it is whether we have become willing to sell it.
My old boss had a pretty simple standard:
“Louie, if you can be bought that cheap, you shouldn’t be in banking.”
Just sayin’.