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    Basically, personal attacks are generally destructive and derailing to discussion.

Why is it considered a personal attack to state facts about who sponsors a given political candidate?

I don't disagree about personal attacks being derailing. This woman wasn't issuing ad hominems, calling people pedophiles, or saying that they smell. The session she attended was convened for the purpose of discussing oil and gas legislation. She brought up the very valid and germane point that the people responsible for these decisions are taking MASSIVE sums of money from the people who benefit from this legislation being passed. This is a problem, and the nature of this problem is such that it resists any and all solutions because the means and methods by which this kind of problem are addressed have been compromised. In this instance, there is blatantly no difference between lobbying and bribery.