A Lot of Corporate Money, and Very Little Honesty

[ProSense]

A Lot of Corporate Money, and Very Little Honesty

Submitted by Brendan Fischer

The latest demonstration of the impact that Citizens United is having on this election season is a $50 million corporate-funded ad blitz to support Republican House congressional candidates. While some Republican leaders are finally acknowledging the role of anonymous corporate money in buying influence, the ads funded by those dollars remain misleading.

The $50 million “House Surge Strategy” is being carried out by a coordinated alliance of right-wing “outside interest groups” largely funded by anonymous corporate donors, including the billionaire-managed American Action Network, the Karl Rove-affiliated American Crossroads, and a relative newcomer, the Commission on Hope, Growth, and Opportunity.

Each of these groups is less than a year old, and each formed after Citizens United made it permissible for corporations to spend unlimited funds influencing the outcome of elections. While many of these outside interest groups have defended their activities under the patriotic guise of “free speech,” few have been as candid as Scott Reed, the Republican operative in charge of the Commission on Hope, Growth, and Opportunity. Reed hails the fact that “Citizens United opened the door for the unparalleled participation by corporations at the financial level.” And participate they have-- spending by outside interest groups is up at least 500% since the last midterm election, with pro-Republican groups outspending those favoring Democrats by seven-to-one.

Reed is also particularly forthcoming about why these groups are arguably skirting regulations to hide the sources of their funds. Each group participating in the “House Surge Strategy” is organized under the 501(c) section of the IRS tax code, which does not require that the names of donors be publicly disclosed. This procedural trick acts to prohibit voters from discerning the motivations behind the messages funded by these astronomical donations.

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Anonymity is breeding inaccuracies and acridity. According to former FEC counsel and election lawyer Larry Noble “those groups that don’t disclose are getting more money and getting more aggressive with their ads,” because wealthy companies are shielded from fear of accountability for funding misleading or inflammatory messages.

Under these new campaign rules, there is clearly an ability to spin and mislead without reprisal. A great number of ads funded by these right-wing "outside interest groups" have been deemed misleading. For example, American Crossroads' ads have been deemed "barely true" and "seriously misleading" by Politifact, "badly misleading" and wildly exaggerated by FactCheck.Org, and "incomplete" and "mucked up with distortions" by the Cleveland Plain Dealer (to name a few).

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[bemildred]

1. We have two weeks to go, it's going to get worse. nt

[ProSense]

2. No other comments? n/t

[LatteLibertine]

3. They're doing

all they can to place the GOP in the majority because the overwhelming majority of them are puppets to large corporate special interests. In addition to deceiving people into supporting them they seek to depress morale among Democrats to lower our voter turn out.

Unfortunately, since 1983 the infotainment we consume has been reduced to being owned by about six large corporations.

The GOP must be kept in the minority because most politicians vote with their party despite their rhetoric. Crony capitalism and serving the most wealthy at the expense of the rest of us is pretty much the core of the GOP.

So talk to all folks you can. Stay active. Build party morale. Get out and vote Nov 2 no matter what you hear from the media.