In 2010, with the Citizens United decision that removed limits on how much money corporations could contribute to political campaigns, we saw the beginning of an era whereby wealthy corporations are pretty much able to buy elections. The ruling was the beginning of the end of election integrity. But this week, a small step was taken that may be a start toward returning a bit of integrity to the U.S. elections, and our friend Gronda has written an excellent, informative piece explaining it. Thank you, Gronda, for keeping us informed!
Could the Republican Party be in receipt for even more negative news? Yes, as many donors of dark monies, (monies they can donate for political purposes anonymously), will have the cloak of anonymity taken away. Again, the courts have stepped in to rule that many of these donors will have to reveal their names to the public, even before the November 2018 elections.
Here is the rest of the story…
On September 18, 2018, Paul Blumenthal of HuffPost penned the following report, “Dark Money Groups Will Have To Disclose Their Donors In Time For The Midterms” (“A court order invalidating a rule that kept some election spending secret is going into effect.”)
Excerpts:
“There may be a whole lot less dark money in federal elections after the Supreme Court allowed a lower court decision to go into effect on Tuesday invalidating a key regulation that created a loophole for…
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Thanks for the post. I missed that. Great news. I hope it sticks.
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It’s a start, but so much more is needed.
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Thanks for this post Jill. I’ve always said that $$$$ in politics is the biggest threat to our democracy. This is a small step, but an important one nonetheless. There has to be a better way to fund our elections. Some form of public funding has to be in the mix I feel. Of course anytime ‘public’ or ‘government’ is in the name the right-wingers go crazy. So, we’re a long way off from getting what we need but at least this puts disclosure at a premium. That’s something.
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That has always been my proposal. No private donations, give each candidate the same amount to spend, and make them account for every cent. The word ‘transparency’ is tossed about a lot today, but when it comes to elections, we need a whole lot more transparency … there is no equal playing field. It’s rather like that expression from a few decades ago, “He who has the most toys, wins.” This ruling is a plus, but we really need to rally hard to overturn Citizens United, for that is an open invitation to corruption.
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Yes. And it’s imperative that every Dem candidate this fall speaks loud and clear about Citizens United. We know R’s love the status quo. Dems must seize the issue. Period.
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