We’ve been sequestered. The economy is still sputtering along. And the tax man is demanding to get paid next week.
Amazingly, some folks out there appear to have extra loot lying around. And, if auction website Charitybuzz is to be believed, aspiring philanthropists are not afraid to trade big bucks for entry into the political arena.
Why risk having your dirty laundry aired by running for office when you can simply cut a check — granted, by all appearances it’ll have to be a fairly big one — and spend a summer afternoon sailing with Ted Kennedy Jr.? This day trip to Hyannis Port, Mass., has an estimated value of $15,000 (proceeds benefit the Austen Riggs psychiatric center), but was going for roughly a third of that at press time.
Prefer to hobnob with 42? For a few thou you can hear President Bill Clinton speak, share a drink at a VIP reception and have your photo snapped with Bubba all in the name of assisting Figure Skating in Harlem and the Clinton Foundation (estimated value: $20,000).
If traveling’s too much of a hassle, you can always elect to break bread with Rep. James P. Moran, D-Va., here in town and save a few pets in the process because your donation benefits the Washington Humane Society. The estimated value of the event: $2,000; the winning bid: $500.
Rather talk smack about pols than talk with them? Hanging with Wolf Blitzer in “The Situation Room” should be a perfect fit. Estimated value of the event, which benefits New York City’s Greenwich Village School, is $1,500; the high bid as of press time was $400.
Godspeed, disposable income!
