i did not say Caldwell was an angel.  nobody is perfect but there are people like martin who preaches fairness but is corrupt, I wanted to highlight this point about him.  as far as campaign financing, it is the current system and all special interests have been contributing to all candidates.   it is not corrupt to accept the donations but it is corrupt to use the donations to influence your actions.  in regards to the rail and Caldwell, the rail was approved by the people and FTA, so the mayors were following the will of the people and build the rail system.  yes, there have been mistakes but you cannot say Caldwell is corrupt because he accepts money from the rail contractors; he is trying to build the rail.  whereas in martin and ozawa's case, they did not have to favor these special interests because there was no government project involved.  they were trying to help these special interests because they had contributed to their campaigns.