CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING: THE PERFECT STORM

ABSTRACT: The unprecedented spending and the unprecedented secrecy in the current election campaigns are creating the perfect storm and it’s battering our democracy. They are the result of three factors: 1) great concentration of wealth, 2) unlimited campaign contributions, and 3) secrecy through weakly regulated non-profit organizations. Non-profit organizations don’t have to report contributors and are spending tens of millions of dollars on political activity. These non-profit organizations have accounted for two-thirds of the outside spending to-date – close to $100 million. The Internal Revenue Service has, so far, failed to exercise its oversight responsibilities. Corporations, in particular, like the secrecy.

The DISCLOSE Act in Congress would require disclosure of contributors of over $10,000 by all organizations. Senate Republicans have filibustered it (including a watered down version) multiple times. We need to demand that our elected officials require disclosure of campaign contributors. And we need a Constitutional Amendment that will reverse the Citizens United decision and allow limitations on contributions to political campaigns. Otherwise, the voices of we the people are drowned out by the purchased – not free but purchased – speech of wealthy individuals and corporations.

FULL POST: The unprecedented spending in the current election campaigns and the unprecedented secrecy about who’s contributing to the campaigns are creating the perfect storm and it’s battering our democracy. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, “we can have a democracy or we can have great wealth in the hands of a comparatively few, but we cannot have both.” This perfect storm is the result of three factors:

• The greatest concentration of wealth in more than a century,
• Unlimited campaign contributions (thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that allows unlimited spending by corporations, unions, and other groups), and
• Secrecy for many of the contributors, especially corporations, through weakly regulated non-profit organizations. [1]

In addition to the Super PACs, which have to disclose contributors, there arenon-profit trade associations (such as the US Chamber of Commerce) and non-profit “social welfare” organizations [501(c)(4)s] that don’t have to report contributors. Politics is not supposed to be the primary purpose of these organizations. However, the US Chamber of Commerce is spending tens of millions of dollars on political activity, while refusing to disclose its contributors. Republican strategist Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, for example, is a 501(c)(4) that is raising and spending tens of millions of dollars on political activity in close alliance with his Super PAC, while refusing to disclose its contributors. [2]

So far in the 2012 election, these non-profit organizations have accounted for two-thirds of the outside spending – close to $100 million spent primarily on advertising. Back in 2010, they spent $130 million, outspending Super PACs 3-to-2. The Internal Revenue Service has, so far, failed to exercise its oversight responsibilities for these non-profit entities. It has no clear test for what constitutes excessive political activity and these tax-exempt groups are permitted to raise and spend money before being officially reviewed and approved. The tax exempt status of Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS is still pending more than two years after being created and after having spent tens of millions back in the 2010 elections. [3]

Corporations, in particular, like the secrecy these non-profit groups provide. For example, insurance giant Aetna secretly gave $3 million to a non-profit running ads attacking Obama’s health care plan, while publicly supporting the President. Not a single Fortune 500 company has been reported as contributing to a Super PAC, but they are giving millions to non-profit organizations where their contributions can be kept secret. [4]

At the time of the Citizens United decision, eight of the nine justices made it clear that transparency on contributions for political activity was important and that it was Congress’s responsibility to require appropriate disclosure. The DISCLOSE Act in Congress would require disclosure of contributors of over $10,000 by all organizations, Super PACs, trade associations, unions, and 501(c)(4)s. However, Senate Republicans have filibustered it (including a watered down version) multiple times. Many of the Republicans filibustering the DISCLOSE Act previously supported disclosure, including Senator McCain and Senate Minority Leader McConnell, and 14 Republicans who supported it just a couple of years ago. [5]  “[T]he essence of free speech, and democracy, is openness and accountability. … but Republican leaders remain adamantly opposed, and for an obvious reason. Republicans raise far more secret money than the Democrats and have far more to hide.” [6]

We the people are going to have to weather this perfect storm as best we can in this election. And then we will need to demand that our elected officials require disclosure of campaign contributors so we know who is trying to influence our elections. Ultimately, we need a Constitutional Amendment that will reverse the Citizens United decision and allow limitations on contributions to political campaigns. Otherwise, the voices of we the people are drowned out by the purchased – not free but purchased – speech of wealthy individuals and corporations who have amounts of money that far exceed that of everyone else.