Editorial roundup

Dec. 16

The Boston Herald Outside influence

Whether Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff or Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler win the January runoff races in Georgia, we already know the losers.

The citizens of the Peach State.

Because the contest isn’t so much about who will best serve Georgia’s residents and advocate for their needs in Washington, but rather which candidates will tip control of the U.S. Senate.

The voters of Georgia are merely the delivery systems of party power.

To that end, outside influence on the election is ramping up, and Massachusetts Democrats are very much in the mix. …

The parties are doing more than just firing up the autodialer. The most recent records of activity through Oct. 14 show Warnock raised $870,338 from 2,770 donors from Massachusetts.

Ossoff raised over $1.4 million from 3,604 Massachusetts donors.

Loeffler raised $6,037 from 17 donors in Massachusetts through mid-October, while Perdue collected $71,357 from 68 individual contributions.

Whose election is it, anyway? While this is not exclusive to Georgia or this election, the premise of outsiders pulling out the stops to get a member of their party elected to further political agendas in D.C. undermines the integrity of local elections … A

Georgia native would be no more inclined to make pecan pie with raisins than he would to let a Massachusetts caller tell him who he should vote for, and therein lies the pitfall of outside influencers.

Who would you rather check a ballot for — a candidate touted by locals who extol his or her competence at legislating for their constituents, or someone who is throwing elbows thanks to outsider money designed to further the party agenda?