Super PACs Make a Corrupt System Even More Corrupter
Senator Ted Kaufman writes in today’s Opinion pages about how the Super PACs corrupted the Republican primary this year. Kaufman begins with a brief history of the court cases that instituted Super PACs, remember that corporations are people too. (Thank you Mitt Romney for that line, thank you.) Kaufman then gives some pertinent examples of how Super PACs turned events in Iowa, South Carolina and Florida.
Super PACs’ impact was demonstrated immediately in the Iowa caucuses. On Dec. 5, 2011, one month before caucus night, Newt Gingrich was gaining popularity nationally and was beating Romney in Iowa by 31 percent to 17 percent in the CBS/New York Times poll. Then the Romney Super PAC struck. It spent $335,000 the next week attacking Gingrich, and Gingrich’s support fell to 27 percent. The next week, it spent $779,000 and Gingrich fell to 25 percent. The next week, $663,000 and Gingrich fell to 14 percent.
By caucus night, Romney’s Super PAC had spent $3.4 million and Gingrich’s Super PAC less than $800,000. The Iowa Republican Party announced that Romney was the winner, but the real news was that Romney’s Super PAC money had reduced Gingrich from 33 percent of the vote to 13 percent in just one month of negative ads.
Tags: Ted Kaufman
Super pacs are a riduculous answer to campaign finance reform. Only our government could come up with this stupid of system. There are at least two critical flaws in the system. First, the unlimited donation amount, and second, that fact that the actual canidate cannot control the pacs action. I think the best thing to do is just get rid of the super pacs and start over with campaign finance reform
I actually completely agree with you, rusty. The very idea that the richer candidate always gets an edge is fundamentally undemocratic. Someone who makes 50k a year should have the exact same shot (real, not theoretical) as someone who makes 50m.
John McCain may well be senile but he got it right when he stated that “huge scadels” are coming, I suspect we will not have to wait very long. The overturning of Citizens United, either by constitutional amendment or the removal of one of the gang of five justices, will be the work of a generation. In the mean time we get to see the super rich pumping the pockets of the Newts, Mitts and others full of “I want this” money. And they’ll get what they want. Brace yourself for the coming barrage of attack ads as november approaches, I suspect more than a few channel switch buttons will be worn out in the process.
“even more corrupter”, (double comparative)