COST OF A SEAT

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 70, 16 December 1929, Page 7

COST OF A SEAT

AMERICAN POLITICAL METHODS Washington, December 13. The most curious combination of circumstances reached a climax when Mr. Joseph Grundy was sworn in as Senator from Pennsylvania. In recent weeks a Senatorial investigation into lobbying for tariff rates has been •in progress, and Mr. Grundy is the archlobbyist of the United States. He appeared before ; the committee proudly and without reservation admitted this. During the same time the Senate had the case against Mr. William Vare before it, and Mr. Grundy was one of the principal characters in the Vare drama. At the Vare hearing he produced evidence that Mr. Vare had spent £150,000 in 1926 to obtain the primary nomination as Senator for Pennsylvania, and also that his opponents, of whom Mr. Grundy was the financial backer, spent £360,000 to-get the nomination for one of their own men. The Senate refused a seat to Mr. Vare on the grounds that he spent too much money. The law provides that the Governor of a State has the right to appoint a Senator to fill any vacancy such as created by the rejection of Mr. Vare. Governor Fisher appointed Mr. Grundy, who raised or contributed £BO,OOO to his campaign fund. This appointment was perfectly legal according to the best constitutional lawyers, who were compelled to say that Mr. Grundy’s appointment could not be attacked. Thus the Senate had thrown out a man for spending £150,000 and was forced to accept in his place a man who represented the expenditure of £360,000.