Our two most prominent #vtpoli news outlets, VTDigger and Seven Days, are always eager to pounce on any sign of scandal regarding money in politics. They seem especially set on tagging a “For Sale” sign on the reputation of U.S. Rep. Becca Balint.

And now the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried has produced new documentation about his efforts to connect with the Balint campaign, so we have articles recounting the lurid details of his internal communiqués and Raising Questions about Balint’s integrity — and even the legitimacy of her resounding victory in the 2022 Democratic primary.

Well, color me unimpressed. There is no scandal. I’ve never thought so, and these latest stories don’t change my view at all.

Sure, Balint’s team dallied with SBF — who, lest we forget, was considered a financial savant at the time. No one knew he was — allegedly — a fraudster of the highest order. They met with him, they accepted donations from his associates, and they benefited from a huge contribution made to a national PAC that spent the money for ads touting Balint’s candidacy.

But there is no hint that Balint changed her positions to suit SBF and his friends. And there is abundant evidence that his largesse had no meaningful effect on the outcome of the primary campaign. If the new revelations show anything, they show that SBF is one cynical bastard.

The crypto bros had no real interest in LGBTQ+ issues or what one of them called “woke shit.” They didn’t give a flying fuck about Balint. They just saw a potential U.S. Senator and believed they could bend her to their will, just as they believed they were rewriting all the rules of high finance. Silly boys.

Yes, they got their meetings and they got to bend Balint’s ear. Sorry, but that happens every damn day in U.S. politics. Pat Leahy did it. Peter Welch does it. Even St. Bernard does it. Phil Scott doesn’t just meet with the donor class; he travels naturally in their circles. When Scott officially launched his first gubernatorial campaign, he didn’t do so on the steps of the Statehouse or in front of a boyhood hangout, but at the annual convention of the Associated General Contractors of Vermont. That’s not “corruption” in the usual sense; it’s more insidious and much more politically impactful. It’s as if Balint took up residence in SBF’s “crypto frat house.“

Until the sun becomes a cold, dark husk or Citizens United is overturned, whichever comes first, politicians will have to raise lots of money. They will take meetings with people. They will encourage the opening of wallets and the activation of Venmo accounts. That often involves listening politely to people you despise and dropping hints that you’re amenable to their views. If Balint had become a crusader for cryptocurrency, I’d say she’d been corrupted. I have yet to see any evidence of that.

Did the money make any difference? No. The individual contributions were drops in the bucket. The massive PAC donation came too late in the primary campaign to make much difference. The PAC didn’t start spending until mid-July, about three and a half weeks before the primary. From then on, it was metaphorically throwing bags of cash out the back of the Brinks truck.

Any political consultant will tell you that that’s the most wasteful way you can possibly spend campaign funds. Tactics and strategy go out the window. You pay top dollar for everything. And most voters will have already made up their minds by the time you flood their mailboxes and TV screens. In fact, many will have already cast their votes.

VTDigger’s Lola Duffort characterizes the primary as a “hotly contested” affair. It was, until it wasn’t.

In the early going, it seemed like an unpredictable three-way race involving Balint, then-lieutenant governor Molly Gray, and state Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale. If anything, Gray seemed like the favorite.

But things turned quickly as winter gave way to spring. Ram Hinsdale exited the race and endorsed Balint. Gray’s campaign was, frankly, kind of boneheaded. The operating principle was that Gray was the sensible choice and Balint the fire-breathing radical. Problem was, Balint wasn’t radical and was demonstrably not a fire-breather. Plus, any electorate that repeatedly chooses Bernie Sanders is not going to be convinced by tactics that might work in, say, Virginia or Ohio.

By early spring, long before SBF entered the picture, Balint took a significant lead in fundraising and never looked back. There were no polls until late in the race, when a survey showed Balint with such a commanding lead that the results were dismissed outright. Until primary night, when the poll turned out to be dead-on.

Making a short story long here, so let’s put a bow on it. Balint won the primary fair and square. Her short political career has been one triumph after another. Her remarkable rise somehow seems less remarkable because she does it effortlessly. Or makes it look that way. The crypto cash didn’t make any difference, and it sure didn’t change Balint one little bit.

Our politics are full of scandals, tales of big money paying the piper and calling the tune. The ascension of Becca Balint to Congress isn’t one of them.