Public Citizen Explains Campaign Finance After Citizen United

Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen explains campaign finance after Citizen United.

Public Citizen serves as the people’s voice in the nation’s capital. Since their founding in 1971, their work on each issue shares an overarching goal: To ensure that all citizens are represented in the halls of power.

For four decades, they have championed citizen interests before Congress, the executive branch agencies and the courts. they have successfully challenged the abusive practices of the pharmaceutical, nuclear and automobile industries, and many others. they are leading the charge against undemocratic trade agreements that advance the interests of mega-corporations at the expense of citizens worldwide.

Public Citizen is a nonprofit organization that does not participate in partisan political activities or endorse any candidates for elected office. They accept no government or corporate money and rely solely on foundation grants, publication sales and assistance from 400,000 members and supporters.

The “maximum” any one person can contribute to a candidate in an election is $2,700.

Except ...

There are so many ways for the mega-rich to spend money on politicians that the word loophole is laughably insufficient.

Let’s say you’re an aspiring plutocrat who wants to spend every dollar our insane system allows you to spend so that no politician, Democrat or Republican, gets elected to federal office in 2016 who won’t feel beholden to you.

For starters, there’s that $2,700 “limit.” Five Democrats and 17 Republicans are officially running for president. You want each and every one of them to keep your best interests in mind if elected, so you’re going to cover your bases and give the maximum to each one. That’s $59,400.

When the primaries are over, you can give another $2,700 to each party’s chosen candidate in the general election. So that’s $5,400 more.

Of course, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs every two years. Some will attract numerous candidates from one or both parties, others may only see one challenger to an incumbent, some won’t be contested at all. To keep this manageable, let’s just figure that at some point in a primary or the general election, you’ll need to support one Democrat and one Republican, to hedge your bets, in every congressional district in America. So that’s $2,700 times 2 times 435, or $2,349,000.

In the Senate, there are 34 open seats. Assuming, again, that you’ll end up supporting one Democrat and one Republican in each of those races, that’s $2,700 times 2 times 34, or $183,600, a veritable bargain compared to the House!

In each two-year election cycle, in each of the 50 states, you can give $20,000 to local, district and state party committees combined. To cover both major parties, that’s $40,000 per state, so $2,000,000 total.

You can also give $1,603,200 per cycle to assorted national party committees. Again, you don’t want to play favorites, so you’ll give that much to the Democrats and the Republicans, for $3,206,400.

Then we get to so-called leadership PACs, political action committees created by members of the House and Senate that are separate from their campaign committees. In 2014, there were 507 leadership PACs. Virtually every one of the 535 members of the House and Senate will have a leadership PAC this time around, too. And you can give $5,000 per year each to as many as you want. Since you don’t want to leave anyone out, that’s $5,000 a year for two years times 535, or a cool $5,350,000.

Congratulations, you’ve guaranteed that every person elected to the White House and Congress next year is indebted to you, and it’s all perfectly legal, for just $13,153,800.

Let’s put that in perspective, because remember, in this scenario, you’re a billionaire.

So think about this: The notorious Koch Brothers’ net worth ballooned by MORE THAN THAT EVERY DAY from March 2014 to March 2015.

Now, nobody is donating to every candidate in every race, Democrat AND Republican, plus every party committee and leadership PAC. Yet.

But you know what? It doesn’t even matter. In fact, just take all those numbers above and hurl them right out the nearest open window.

Because the real answer to how much a budding plutocrat like you can spend to corrupt, I mean “influence”, our democracy is FAR more stunning.

And you know why.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United abomination allows you to spend literally as much as you want, as long as you give it to super PACs (the 800-pound gorillas of plutocracy the court unleashed that, wink-wink, don’t “coordinate” with candidates) and dark money “social welfare” nonprofits (like the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity).

Not $2,700. Not $13,153,800. LITERALLY. AS. MUCH. AS. YOU. WANT.

This is not democracy.

But it is the results of Citizens United and McCutcheon vs The United States of America.

Indeed, more than half of the money supporting the current crop of presidential candidates so far has come from just 474 super-wealthy individuals.

How can we call this a democracy if fewer than 500 are responsible for the majority of the money that is fueling our dysfunctional elections and to which our politicians are ever more bound?

How can we solve any of the problems facing us as a society or leave a better world for our children?

We can’t.

So our only choice is to overturn Citizens United.

Public Citizen called for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United the very day the Supreme Court issued its heinous ruling.

It’s not a question of IF we win an amendment.

It’s a question of how soon.

And our democracy can’t wait.

CLICK HERE to help overturn Citizen United.











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