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Friday, February 1, 2013

Politics How Much Does an Ambassadorship Cost?

Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 6:00 AM

A study tries to figure it out, based on Obama campaign contribution info:

Political ambassadors who had made campaign donations of $550,000, or bundled contributions of $750,000, had a 90 percent chance of being posted to a country in Western Europe... Luxembourg came in at the top of the chart, with a posting there valued at $3.1 million in direct contributions, while an appointment to Portugal was predicted to have a value of $602,686 in personal contributions.

Democracy!

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Comments (11) RSS

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I'm going to start a Kickstarter so I get get posted to Europe.

What do you get in the deal? I'll send letters back about my experiences like Alistair Cooke did. Then when I die you can harvest my organs.

Posted by Foonken2

on February 1, 2013 at 6:13 AM

@1, too many gets.

Posted by Foonken2

on February 1, 2013 at 6:14 AM

"I gave $602,868 to the Obama campaign and all I got was this lousy Portugal assignment."

Posted by Theodore Gorath on February 1, 2013 at 6:15 AM

I wonder how much a posting in Somalia costs. 75 cents?

Posted by Tacoma Traveler on February 1, 2013 at 7:05 AM

Nothing new: you can thank our seventh president, Andrew Jackson, for establishing the Spoils System.

Posted by TechBear on February 1, 2013 at 8:05 AM

Yet all of her donations couldn't get Anna Wintour the Court of St. James.

Posted by Josh Bis

on February 1, 2013 at 8:31 AM

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be an ambassador (I was a strange child). Turns out that was never a possibility for someone like me (eg working class).

Posted by wxPDX on February 1, 2013 at 9:04 AM

@7, not sure that this is necessarily true. Only 30% of ambassadorships go to political ($$$) appointees.

Posted by Josh Bis

on February 1, 2013 at 9:31 AM

It used to only cost between $100,000 and $200,000. Of course, back then, houses cost that much, instead of the current $500,000 to $1 million house prices we see.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on February 1, 2013 at 10:57 AM

Being an ambassador mostly just involves throwing parties and making people feel important. Being a high level donor is pretty good experience for that.

Posted by giffy on February 1, 2013 at 11:25 AM