Hightower Lowdown

Time to present another Gooberhead Award for people in the news who’ve got their tongues running 100 miles per hour but forgot to put their brains in gear.

This month’s Goober is Rep. Patrick Tiberi, a Republican Congress critter from Ohio. He recently gave an impassioned plea for young people to participate in politics. “We are constantly told about the need to get more citizens involved in the electoral process,” he began. “With this bill, we are doing just the opposite. . . . We are telling young people . . . ‘no thanks, maybe when you’re older,’” he wailed.

Was this a bill to prevent children and teens from working in campaigns? No. Tiberi was complaining about a campaign-finance reform bill that closes the loophole that lets parents use their children as a way to exceed the legal limits on how much money they can give to a candidate.

Legally, a person can give only $1,000 to a particular candidate. Of course, a spouse can also donate, which got wily funders to thinking: “Shouldn’t Zoe and Timmy give $1,000, too?” Never mind that Zoe was six and Timmy four. The littlest known donor was an 18-month-old who sent Bill Clinton a thousand bucks.

For Tiberi, however, stopping these kiddie contributions “is overkill at its worst,” punishing children who want to be involved in democracy. What a fine civics lesson for kids—teaching them that campaign dollars is what democracy is all about.