5 Years after Citizens
United, Democracy Is for Sale
By Brendan Fischer
January 21, 2015 "ICH"
- "CMD"
- This
week, Republican presidential hopefuls like
Gov. Scott Walker, Gov. Chris Christie, and
Sen. Rand Paul will travel to an exclusive
resort near Palm Springs, Florida to kiss
the rings of David and Charles Koch.
The New York Times calls it the "Koch
primary."
Over the last five years, the Koch political
network has evolved into what many have
described as a shadow political party. The
Kochs and their network of wealthy donors
spent $300 million in the 2014 elections,
after raising at least $400 million in the
2012 presidential races, with almost all of
the spending passing through an array of
political vehicles that are officially
"independent" from candidates and political
parties.
Today, candidates who receive the blessing
of Charles and David can watch their
political fortunes skyrocket, thanks to the
huge financial resources the Kochs and their
deep-pocketed allies can funnel into
elections. Joni Ernst, for example, was a
local elected official four years ago, yet
this year was sworn-in as a U.S. Senator and
delivered the Republican response to the
State of the Union address--a rapid
trajectory which she attributes to support
from the Koch political network.
If a "Koch primary"--where a handful of
wealthy donors can determine political
futures, regardless of political
party--sounds more like an oligarchy than a
democracy, you are probably right.
The level of political influence made
possible by such extravagant spending would
have been all but impossible five years ago,
before the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in
Citizens United v. FEC. In that decision, a
narrow majority of the Court struck down
limits on "independent" spending, paving the
way for Super PACs and dark money vehicles
that can now spend literally billions of
dollars influencing elections.
Citizens United turns five on January 21.
Citizens United Has Transformed Federal,
State, and Judicial Elections
In the five years since Citizens United,
Super PACs have spent one billion on federal
elections, according to a Brennan Center
analysis. Around 60 percent of that amount
came from fewer than 200 people. Hundreds of
millions more have been spent by so-called
"dark money" groups--organizations that
spend to influence elections but evade donor
disclosure laws--and in the 11 most
competitive U.S. Senate races in 2014, a
majority of outside spending came from
groups that keep their donors secret.
Although the Court's rationale in Citizens
United rested on the notion that groups
raising and spending unlimited funds would
be "independent" of candidates and political
parties, the reality is that around half of
all Super PACs were formed to support a
single candidate and are often led by the
candidate's former staff, Public Citizen has
found.
Besides the $1 billion-plus spent on federal
elections after Citizens United, hundreds of
millions more has been spent on increasingly
expensive state races. David Koch's
Americans for Prosperity, for example, spent
$10 million supporting Governor Scott Walker
in his 2012 recall election. In 2014, tens
of millions were spent by outside groups in
the Massachusetts governor's race, more than
double the amount spent four years earlier.
And, in the years since Citizens United,
judicial elections have increasingly been
dominated by outside spending. At least
$56.4 million was spent on state Supreme
Court races between 2011 and 2012, according
to Justice at Stake, raising serious
concerns that justice is truly for sale.
That concern is particularly pointed in
Wisconsin, where the Court will be deciding
a case potentially involving criminal
liability for the majority's biggest
supporters--and with it, ironically,
deciding the future of Wisconsin campaign
finance laws.
Although the unlimited spending made
possible by Citizens United has allowed the
Koch network to reshape U.S. politics and
the Republican Party to advance their
corporate and ideological interests, wealthy
Democratic donors are increasingly stepping
up their game. The political arena is
becoming a billionaire's playground.
Elected Officials Responsive to Tiny Sliver
of Ultra-Wealthy Donors, Rather than Average
Americans
As limits on money in elections continue to
deteriorate, candidates must increasingly
rely on big campaign spending from a tiny
sliver of wealthy individuals like the Kochs.
Elected officials, in turn, are far more
responsive to the preferences of the
wealthy--who bankroll their campaigns--than
to the average voter, and a large body of
research shows that the rich have different
policy priorities than the general public,
as Demos and Common Cause have documented.
For example, vast majorities of Americans
support raising the minimum wage and
enacting paid sick days, but these policies
are not a priority for the wealthy donor
class, and are actively opposed by
entrenched corporate interests (and big
political spenders) like the National
Restaurant Association. As a result, the
federal minimum wage has remained stalled at
$7.25 per hour, and the U.S. is the only
developed country on earth that doesn't
guarantee that workers can stay home sick
without losing pay or their job.
Even worse, when cities and counties have
tried to enact these laws in their
communities, they've been thwarted by
corporate-backed state legislators--most of
whom are members of the American Legislative
Exchange Council--passing "preemption" laws
at the state level to crush local efforts to
enact paid sick days or a higher minimum
wage. (ALEC has also demanded that state
legislators protect the "right" of corporate
interests to anonymously influence
elections.)
This big money politics means that elected
officials are primarily responsive to the
policy preferences of their financial
supporters rather than average people. And,
as Demos has described, this dynamic further
hinders a truly multiracial democracy: major
political donors, to both parties, are
almost entirely white. Which means that
policymakers are primarily responsive to the
preferences of a rich, white donor class,
and people of color and the poor have their
voices marginalized, even as the country
grows increasingly diverse.
Hope Is on the Horizon
Yet, there are flashes of hope.
This week, thousands of people across the
country are taking to the streets on this
fifth anniversary to raise their voices
against Citizens United. Five million people
have signed petitions calling for a
constitutional amendment to reverse the
decision. And 16 states and over 500 cities
have passed resolutions calling for an
amendment, including New York, Los Angeles,
and Chicago, thanks to the work of Public
Citizen, People for the American Way, Common
Cause, Move to Amend, Communications Workers
of America, American Sustainable Business
Council and others
And last September, a majority of the U.S.
Senate voted to advance a constitutional
amendment to overturn Citizens United and
restore the ability of Congress and states
to put limits on electoral spending.
There is much more work to be done. But
momentum--and popular support--is on the
side of democracy.
Get more information and find an event near
you at
www.GetMoneyOutAction.org ©
1993-2014 Center for Media and Democracy
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