pre-flight

Yesterday, on the last day at my nine month internship (unpaid) with Trickle Up, one of my coworkers was sending me off with questions about my newfound job. My favorite was something to the effect of "what's the deal with corruption over there."

I had to think for a moment.

Obviously, politics will be different in a country that was under Communism for over 60 years. But Lithuania has had it's independence for over ten years now as well. Just how clean would these elections be?

I have a couple of frames of reference I would like to share here. One is my view inside a political campaign - that of Dan Grabauskas for State Treasurer. Dan's behavior during the campaign convinced me that he was the cleanest politician around. There were frequent arguments in the campaign HQ about whether to cash this check or whether so-and-so had reached their donation limit. We were often checking in with the campaign lawyer and checking websites to bone up on the law. The staff worked diligently to get the former head of the RMV elected. They constantly met with the press, the PR guy was sending out media kits left and right, and letters-to-the-editor were sent in by grassroots supporters.

Contrast that with a recent book I read: Darkness at Dawn: The Criminalization of the Russian State -by David Satter. The book frighteningly chronicles the rise of the Russian mobster, and the officially-sanctioned takeover of private industry and government by (literally) gangs. Satter details assassinations, arson, non-payment of wages, criminals' political campaigns, and general disregard for human life. The book actually gave me nightmares.

As for Lithuania, I have heard stories of politicians ranging towards both ends of the spectrum. Let us compare Lithuania's acting president Arturas Paulauskas and recently impeached president Rolandas Paksas. Paulauskas' bid for President was my first exposure to a political campaign. With a new party: Naujoji Sajunga (New Union), Paulauskas was embarking on a campaign that (in 1998, at least), would be the closest run for president anyone had seen. Paulauskas had gathered a "ragtag" group of supporters who worked hard at building the party, attracting supporters, and running events. I saw Paulauskas, the former Attorney General of Lithuania who took down major mafia groups, as the epitome of a respectable politician out there to make peoples' lives better.

This has hardly been the modus operandi of all Lithuanian politicians. Recently former president Paksas was the first European president to have been successfully impeached. On April 7, Seimas (Parliament) voted him out on 3 seperate counts, including promising favors to a shady Russian helicopter dealer. Paksas has been accused of numerous wrongdoings that I won't get into here, but for me, he represents the other end of the spectrum of Lithuanian politics, the epitome of tainted politics.

I told my colleague that I think that the level of corruption depends on what the in-country sentiment is. I have heard that in Lithuania, politicians can buy favorable news articles for an established standard rate. Would my candidate refrain from such practices and risk fostering a rabid press corps (in this case consisting of two reporters), or will she buy good news? My colleague advised that this may be a good opportunity not only to learn how to run a campaign, but also to test my own limits in terms of corruption. How clean will I be myself?

I hope I have the strength to do what is right (not to mention actually do my job to begin with).

-dr-