Finally, the Globe has published an intelligent and fact-based comment on this non-subject. Parties need money to survive as organized entities, and parties therefore raise money. Political Tupperware events are the result, to which politicians lend their plastic presence. There are donors who bask in the proximity of the great, and they should be allowed their moment in the contributory sun. It's a harmless diversion for the ambitious or the gullible, like paying to put your name on a building in the unjustified belief that your fame will echo through the ages. Granted, the tariff for "naming" is a lot higher than the very modest $1500 that parties are allowed to charge and, appropriately, your fame can therefore be counted in minutes if not seconds as you press the flesh with Justin or Stephen or Jean or Brian.