It has been one year since the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door to unlimited campaign spending by corporations.
In the most recent election, estimates say 3 to 4 billion dollars were spent, making it the most expensive election ever. Spending by the parties was approximately even, with around $1.4billion each. Outside groups contributed around $400million, another record.
The 21st Century Democratic organization today said, “Because of this ruling, the insurance and pharmaceutical companies poured unlimited funds into the election process and look what happened.”
According to the democratic group, corporate money protects Wall Street at the expense of Main Street, and they say, the Tea Parties want to eliminate protections for American workers and families.
“We’ve seen what happens when there aren’t protections in place to keep the flood of corporate money out of politics. That’s why we’re supporting candidates who believe in strong campaign finance reform and we need your help to give our best effort.” – 21st Century Democrats
Conservatives are now preparing war chests to defeat President Obama. Democrats are building their own war chests.
Democratic organizations such as “21st Century Democrats” are stirring up their mailing lists to counter the republicans and the tea party groups. Their message is that the elections were won by corporate interests over “the people.” They ignore the fact that tea parties are a mixture of republicans, independents and democrats. Democrats ignore the fact that unions and corporations made major contributions to democrats.
The Supreme Court Ruling lifted limits on Corporations and Unions. Campaign finance reform is being promoted by multiple groups. Democrats see it as limiting corporate spending, but they say nothing about limiting union spending. Conservative groups that want to limit spending are targeting unions.
It seems that Democratic groups are making the most noise about contributions. Their motivation may be to limit republicans and at the same time save money for the unions.
Center For Responsive Politics
21st Century Democrats
