On the Citizens United front, it appears that even if large public corporations fearing backlash haven't put too much effort into influencing the elections, private corporations and other interests are more than filling the gap: Republican-favoring groups have paid for $23.6 million ads versus $4.8 million for independent groups supporting Democrats.
Yet, in the aftermath of the election, I'm willing to guess we'll be hearing a lot more about ideological shifts and anger in the electorate and very little about how special interests that don't even have to reveal themselves can spend millions of dollars to influence an election. Don't believe me? Look at the coverage of the defeats of the DISCLOSE Act, which would force corporations to take responsibility for their speech, which is a classic example of the on-one-hand-on-the-other style of bad political reporting, complete with quotes from Republicans arguing that the bill is "designed to silence the free speech of Congress's critics" even though the bill does no such thing. How does the article characterize the effects of Citizens United?
Interest groups and political parties have reported $87 million in independent spending so far in this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
No mention of where that money is coming from or whom it benefits. It's clear that Republicans are blocking this bill not just because they want to block all Democratic accomplishments but because they are happy to benefit from corporate largess and don't want the companies that support them spooked by disclosure requirements. Note that Democrats aren't even challenging the essence of the ruling; which assigns corporations the same speech rights as individuals. They're simply saying that, if that is the case, corporations should have the similar limits to people, who are usually required to disclose their political expenditures.
The headline on this story could have been, quite accurately, "Republicans Move To Hide Corporate Political Influence," instead of "Senate Democrats again fail to pass campaign disclosure law," as though Republicans play no part in the legislative process. You are not allowed to be so direct in important newspapers! Expect post-election analysis to be more focused on ideology and less on the structural features of our political system that allow business interests to push secretly for a sympathetic legislature.
Meanwhile, Kevin Drum rightly chides liberal donors for their failure to step into the gap.
-- Tim Fernholz
