Inaction and continuing ignoring of the problem is the real curse. Ciezadlo Back to City Limits Weekly Index. In a political system where credibility and influence flow from cash, poor neighborhoods don't even register. While Upper East Siders forked over nearly 6,000 campaign contributions to federal candidates last year, an analysis by zip code shows there is virtually no cash at all flowing out of the city's poor neighborhoods. Longwood and Highbridge, some of the most depressed areas in the Bronx, each showed only one campaign contribution last year.
Local elections are a little less lopsided, although most of the money still comes from Manhattan.
Obviously, poor people have less cash to throw around for electioneering. Part of the reason for this glaring gap is that politicians rarely ask poor people for donations. It's also part of their culture. It's part of what they learn as kids. For Lewis, these stats reveal that campaign finance reform should be directed toward getting average people involved in campaigns.