An experienced Maryland political hand writes to tell me I’ve missed the point with my earlier comments on Al Wynn.

It shows how out of touch the ivory tower – I mean, Washington Post editorial board — is that they think campaign finance reform and CAFE standards are the big issues in Prince George’s County. I would respectfully suggest that the housing market is a much more significant issue, not to mention a little thing called the war…They don’t talk about what is important to PG County residents. Instead, they say, Al Wynn “went against his district’s interests.” That is a big difference. The Washington Post editorial board can’t talk about what is important to PG county residents, because they’ve never spent time there… The Post could’ve come up with a million reasons why Wynn should get dumped and I wouldn’t care. But their editorial was ivory tower [bovine excrement].

An independent voter from Maryland suggests that the Post editorial appears bombastic because it is using code to suggest that Wynn is bought and paid for.

His vote for Bush’s energy bill, for instance, was not viewed as bipartisan but as bought. Ditto his votes on behalf of the telecom industry, which were widely viewed as votes to preserve the industry’s right to digitally redline minority communities nationwide, including the community he represents.

As evidence of Wynn’s corruption, the reader shares this flyer for a fundraiser (note the other members listed thereon) and the employers of those making last-minute donations to save Wynn — it lists heavily in the direction of the energy and telecom industries. (“Digital redlining” is a complicated issue that is mostly smoke without fire — really a case of one set of corporations fighting to preserve their competitive advantage over another. That has to wait for another day.)

I can only say that if the Post doesn’t attack Wynn directly for these reasons, it is because they’d have to attack nearly every member of Congress on the same grounds. The limitation of contributions below strict amounts necessitates and facilitates congressional collusion with industry, because lobbyists are the only ones capable of delivering long lists of wealthy and interested donors.