Civil Candor

As the political season heats up, Americans are already being inundated with the usual phone calls, mailings, and TV ads from campaigns all across the country.  But this summer, they’re also seeing a flood of attack ads run by shadowy groups with harmless-sounding names.  We don’t know who’s behind these ads and we don’t know who’s paying for them.

The reason this is happening is because of a decision by the Supreme Court in the Citizens United case – a decision that now allows big corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections.

President Barack Obama, Weekly Address, August 21, 2010

Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission unleashes corporations ready to spend big on campaign ads. The decision opens the door for a media blitz against Democrats and incumbents, and could spell the demise of the Democratic majority as news of the sagging economy manifests in political ads that need only tell the truth to be damaging.

President Obama only told half of the truth in his weekly address. Unions also benefit from the decision, no small thing in a Washington so enamored with organized labor that it recently gifted $26 billion to guarantee jobs in heavily unionized public sector professions, a risky move for Democrats that tells us which “shadowy groups” are wielding political might these days.

The president thought he could eviscerate Citizens United using legislation with the absurdist moniker “Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections” (DISCLOSE) Act. The bill passed the House in June, but fell to almost unanimous Republican opposition in the Senate, despite the president’s representation that this was a bipartisan effort:

We tried to fix this last month.  There was a proposal supported by Democrats and Republicans that would’ve required corporate political advertisers to reveal who’s funding their activities. [1]

The DISCLOSE Act outed corporate sponsors of campaign ads. The bill contained a loophole that exempted labor unions and some of the largest special interests, thwarting the intent of the legislation and the president’s plans to prevent businesses from telling the truth about the damage he has done to the economy. Complaining bitterly about corporate and foreign influence in our elections, the president did not once use the words “labor” or “union” in his address.

Organized labor loves politics, and takes credit for developing the use of “soft money” after a 1943 prohibition on union contributions in federal elections followed a 1907 ban on corporate funds. [2] Unions boast first and second place on the list of 2009’s top 50 contributing political action committees. [3] Despite the president’s condemnation of corporate influence in elections, organized labor has been coughing up the dollars:

PACs representing organized labor interests did very well in 2009 compared with corporate PACs. The 4,618 registered PACs spent $464.5 million, and made $174.4 million in contributions to political candidates. The largest jump in spending compared to 2007 did not come from the private sector. It came from organized labor. [4]

The president vows “… we cannot allow the corporate takeover of our democracy.” [5] If a corporate takeover would have been prevented by the DISCLOSE Act, then a labor union takeover is the president’s permissible alternative, given the exemptions that were inserted in the bill. The $26 billion union jobs bill and health care reform’s union-demanded deferral of the infamous “Cadillac Tax” are testaments to which groups hold sway in Washington.

Citizens United gives corporate America a unique opportunity. Rather than leading to the destruction of democracy predicted by the president, the decision will put the private sector’s integrity to the test. All campaign ads need to do this election season is tell the truth. Further negativity is unnecessary, because the truth is horrendous. Maybe that’s what has Mr. Obama so worried.

1..Weekly Address. No Corporate Takeover of Our Democracy. August 21, 2010.

2..Federal Election Commission.  Top 50 PACs by Contributions to Candidates and Other Committees. January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2009.  

3..Soft and Hard Money in Contemporary Elections: What Federal Law Does and Does Not Regulate. Joseph E. Cantor Specialist in American National Government and Finance Division. Congressional Research Service. March 15, 2002.

4..PAC Activity Remains Steady in 2009. Federal Election Commission. April 6, 2010.

5..Weekly Address. No Corporate Takeover of Our Democracy.  August 21, 2010.