Hightower Lowdown

We've been reporting for a year now on the travels of Doris Haddock the 90- year- old great-grandmother known as Granny D on a 3,000 mile trek across America to rally support for campaign finance reform (see The Lowdown, Dec. 1999). Her long march has finally ended, but her crusade against the corrupting power of big campaign money is just beginning.

The last stop on Granny's walk was Washington D.C., and on February 28 she strode up the steps of the Capitol to publicly castigate the senate for blocking reform legislation. "The people I met along my way have given me messages to deliver here," she announced. "The time for this shame is ending. Our brooms are ballots, and we come a-sweeping!"

Granny D was back in Washington on April 21- and this time she landed in the pokey! Along with 31 other activists, she paraded into the Capitol rotunda in a show of civil disobedience, speaking out against campaign corruption and the destruction of the environment She was reading from the Declaration of Independence when she was handcuffed and arrested. Granny now faces a May court date and a maxi- mum six-month jail term.

The rotunda actions are organized by the Alliance for Democracy and will continue throughout the year.