Ricketts (R Senate candidate Ne.) digs deeper into wallet ($9.6 million)

[Omaha Steve]

FULL story reg req: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1673&u_sid=2246624

Published Thursday
September 21, 2006

Ricketts digs deeper into wallet

BY ROBYNN TYSVER


WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Pete Ricketts is well on his way to becoming Nebraska's first $10 million candidate.

The Omaha multimillionaire disclosed Wednesday that he has pumped an additional $2.5 million of his own money into his U.S. Senate campaign. His total personal spending now stands at $9.6 million for both his primary and general election battles.

Ricketts, a former executive at Ameritrade whose father founded the company, has estimated his net worth between $45 million and $50 million.

A Republican, Ricketts is attempting to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson in a race that long ago broke spending records. It also is the first time the so-called "millionaire's amendment" has been triggered in Nebraska, allowing Nelson to collect more money from individual contributors.

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Isn't Ricketts a nutritional disease?

According to the Wikipedia entry on Rickets:

Signs and symptoms of rickets include:

• Bowed legs


• Leg fractures


• Impaired growth

Rickets causes bone pain, slowed growth in children, dental problems, muscle loss and increased risk of fractures (easily broken bones). Medical problems seen in children with rickets are:

• Skeletal deformity,


• Growth disturbance,


• Hypocalcaemia (low level of calcium in the blood), and


• Tetany (uncontrolled muscle spasms all over the body).

Ok, so maybe the extra 't' makes a difference. Still, the name certainly seems to fit in with Republican policy: starve the body politic of essential nutrients until the infrastructure becomes severely weakened and crippled. :rofl:

[acmavm]

2. The guy's a disease all right. Ever seen him? The arrogant

f**k is buying this election.

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. All elections are bought by someone

And frankly, I feel much, MUCH better when a candidate buys his own election than when he relies on corporate and special interest money to provide the cash. A free agent makes a superior representative than someone beholden to investors seeking a return.

[hughee99]

5. I tend to agree...

while in principle I'd prefer a candidate to get his donations in very small amounts from a very large number of people, when you're talking about raising such a large amount of money in a relatively short time, special interests are always a concern. At least when a candidate finances their own election, you know where the money's coming from, and that they don't "owe" anyone. I don't know that it necessarily makes them a "superior" representative since a corrupt person can finance their own election, and someone who is seeking campaign contributions may be more in touch with their constituents, but self-financing isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[President Jesus]

3. "whose father founded the company"

All I needed to hear about this GWB clone piece of shit. Typical.