Inquirer Editorial: Happy returns

Carlsbad, N.M., is best known for the nearby caverns of the same name. The circuitous, subterranean path of the water that formed the caves could be compared to that of a political contribution that began in the New Mexico town and ended up in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Consider Carlsbad trucking executive Robert Franco's reply when asked about his $5,200 donation to Kevin Strouse, a Democrat running for Congress in Bucks County: "I don't even know the dude."

This surreal adobe-to-hoagies journey begins to make sense in light of another contribution that followed the same path in reverse the same week. The recipient: Rocky Lara, who despite her Philadelphian nickname is a New Mexico Democrat and the only other congressional candidate Franco has supported financially. The contributor: Norma Strouse, the mother of the would-be congressman from Bensalem.

As The Inquirer's Chris Palmer and Jonathan Tamari reported this week, more than $50,000 in contributions to Kevin Strouse's campaign can be traced to supporters and relatives of candidates who enjoyed similar support from Strouse's parents. While the apparently reciprocal donations aren't illegal, their practical effect is to undermine the legal limits on political contributions.

Records show Franco gave the maximum allowed to Lara. And Strouse's mother gave the maximum to her son. So their equal, nearly simultaneous cross-country donations could be seen as mutual proxies, doubling their effective backing regardless of the limit.

The Inquirer also found that Strouse's father gave $5,200 to a Democratic congressional candidate in Montana on the same day a father-and-son pair of the candidate's supporters gave as much to Strouse. And the Strouses' donations to congressional candidates in four faraway districts echoed the size and timing of donations to Strouse from those candidates' parents.

This political PTA wouldn't be as troubling if the donors were avid, longtime supporters of Democrats nationwide. But several of those involved showed no prior financial interest in politics. Some of Strouse's far-flung donors have given to only one other candidate - one who happens to have received money from his parents. And like Strouse, who is challenging Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), the other candidates are in competitive districts targeted by national Democrats.

All of this could be taken as the latest sign that contribution limits, already under assault in the courts, are unsustainable. The trouble is that the limits are still the law of the land, and Congress has done nothing to replace them. Perhaps Democratic campaign officials and candidate Strouse - who have had strangely little to say about this so far - will emerge from their caves with a proposal.