Flawed regulations let billionaires buy Senators
Published October 21, 2014
Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, October 20, 2014.
Regardless of the outcome of this year's U.S. Senate race between incumbent Kay Hagan and state House Speaker Thom Tillis, North Carolina voters can rest assured that they will have elected the nation's most expensive senator.
The billionaires have been anteing up, funneling money through a network of shadowy political organizations with unclear names to pedal their messages.
Patriot Majority USA has a great title, as does its main contributor, America Votes. But these groups' efforts to help Hagan by attacking Tillis are financed substantially by billionaire investor and convicted insider trader George Soros.
The same is happening on the other side. Billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have used organizations like Freedom Partners Action Fund to go after Hagan.
It's a long list of high rollers. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg contributed $2 million to pro-Hagan group Women Vote. Money from political action groups tied to Illinois media mogul Fred Eychaner and California billionaire Thomas Steyer is also backing the incumbent. Former state budget director and businessman Art Pope's $400,000 donation places him among the donors aiding the Kochs' effort for Tillis.
At least Pope is actually from North Carolina, unlike many of the others who've paid to light up your TV screens and inundate your mailboxes with attack ads. Observers say this election will set a record for spending by outside groups, mostly backed by out-of-state interests.
There was a time when campaign finance laws were too restrictive. Thanks to the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, the pendulum has swung to the opposite extreme. The court ruled that donations to political action committees were constitutionally protected free speech.
"A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold," warned Justice John Paul Stevens in a dissent. His fears were well-founded.
The Citizens United decision left a void in the law into which every form of mischief has flowed. What's happening in North Carolina's Senate race is just a symptom of the larger problem.
Lawmakers should pursue measures that will force PACs to identify their major donors in their campaign spots.
Corrective action can allow for reasonable limits on political spending. A constitutional amendment could be necessary.
We need to put the genie of unlimited spending back in the bottle.
