I may have mentioned my recent road trip and getting to listen to some great radio that normally, I can't devote listening time to. And I caught a great piece on NPR about Super PAC's.
Many moderate politicians from all parties tend to agree that the 2010 Supreme Court ruling was by far the worst decision by individuals who seem clueless about campaigns.
I first became aware of PAC's and Super PAC's when I worked on a mid-term state legislator re-election campaign in 2010. Our campaign and candidate was able to fight back, but it was disheartening and a little disillusioning to watch this wrongful political loss. The better candidate, by far, did not win. The powerfully backed and heavily funded candidate did. And because of Super PAC's, they could say they had "no idea these smear ads they did not agree with were even going to be hitting the mailboxes or airwaves." Super PAC's are, ridiculously, not supposed to interact directly with the candidate. Ask Stephen Colbert.
Political campaigns haven't been this dirty since 1907 when Congress passed the Tillman Act. And since then we've only had 2 major pushes to reform campaign finance.
In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that campaign finance-limits violated Freedom of Speech. It also meant that corporations were free to spend as much as they wanted in an election. It invalidated a part of the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act that sought to limit corporate influence in campaigns. Gone. It may give value to why these Supreme Court Justice appointments come under such heavy scrutiny. Since the landscape of our political campaign structure was changed just like that.
So, why is this important? Super PAC's may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates. Super PAC's must, however, report their donors to the Federal Election Commission on a monthly or quarterly basis -- the Super PAC's choice -- as a traditional PAC would. Unlike traditional PAC's, Super PAC's are prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates.
Super PAC's swept the nation during the 2010 Mid-Term Elections and you didn't even hear about it. That corporate money went so far in those small elections because corporations and those with interests to unseat Democrats across the nation could dump as much money into Super PAC's as they wanted to get the candidates in the seats that would vote more sympathetically for their interests.
Democrats attacked the decision and Republicans praised it.
I think everyone was sick of the ads and their mailboxes stuffed full prior to the last week in October 2010. But, what sticks out is the fact that once the message is out there so late in the campaign, it makes it difficult to raise funds to combat that ad. So, even if the ad is filled chock full of lies and distortions, it is estimated that voters saw negative ads on average at least 15 times. Uninformed voters kept that messaging at the polls. And while America slept, their votes were being bought.
As I sit here in Nebraska, watching the Keystone XL Pipeline issue unfold, I can see a really clear picture of how this plays out. It's not that I'm a political activist or an environmentalist. But, I take real issue with just letting all these corporate interests dictate policy, rather than our legislators form policy around its constituents. It's not only disillusioning and disheartening, it's wrong. It's more about the principal than anything for me, but it is for all of the issues as well.
If you'd like to learn more about how this is already playing out with the 2012 Elections:
Check out PAC Track to find out what and where Super PAC's are spending.
OpenSecrets.org - Center for responsive politics, reports on campaign funding
Released hours ago about Karl Rove-linked Super PAC, American Crossroads: $99.8 Million financial report
Before heading to the polls this year, I hope you check your candidates out not only on issues that you appreciate their stance on, but who they are taking their money from. My wish for our generation is to simply do some secession planning, this is too big to expect the next generation to fix.
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