Now that the second anniversary (Jan. 21) of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling, Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, has come and gone, I felt compelled to write about what has been happening over the past year since the first anniversary. For those who have not heard about this ruling, Citizens United gives corporations the First Amendment right to free speech, thereby legally allowing them to spend unlimited amounts of money without disclosing the corporations or, in some cases, the wealthy individuals who are supplying this money to influence elections in the form of Super PACs.
Now that we are in the first presidential election cycle since this ruling, we are seeing the results in full force. Although Newt Gingrich has rebounded in South Carolina, thanks to a strong debate performance and a Super PAC supporting him worth $5 million, it appears that he was the first casualty during the Iowa caucus. A Super PAC that supported Mitt Romney, namely "Restore Our Future," relentlessly beat up Gingrich with negative advertising, which is perceived to have been the cause of Gingrich's downfall in Iowa. Romney was able to keep his hands clean and almost squeak out a win. Unfortunately for Mr. Romney's supporters, all the money they spent helped Rick Santorum to win. But, according to the Jan. 23 editions of The New York Times and LA Times, Gingrich's longtime friend and patron, Sheldon Adelson, has recently pumped another $5 million into the Super PAC for the Florida primary. This is in addition to the $5 million for South Carolina that he had already donated to this Super PAC, which is called ironically "Winning Our Future." I say ironically because Mr. Adelson made his fortune in the gambling business. In this case, it is one wealthy person influencing election results because there are no contribution limits.
Behind the mask of names like Winning Our Future and Restore Our Future, can be found political operatives that are well connected to a candidate. Here is a look inside Restore Our Future, hereafter ROF. It is run by Carl Forti, Romney's former "political director" from his 2008 presidential campaign. Forti was to Romney what Karl Rove was to George W. Bush and what Rahm Emanuel was to Bill Clinton. Romney's former lawyer during his 2008 campaign, Charles Spies, also works for ROF. Last but not least is Mr. Romney's chief fundraiser, Steve Roche, for both the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, who just recently left the 2012 campaign to join ROF. He did this after the Federal Election Commission lost its bid to limit contribution amounts to PACs. One can only surmise that it was a joint decision, since Mr. Roche would be able to raise unlimited amounts of money through ROF, but as chief campaign fundraiser, there would be limitations. This is what our democracy has come to, and granted, we were heading in that direction anyway, but this ruling has increased the speed of the crumbling of our political system to that of an avalanche. Although this example is focused on the Republican primary, this ruling has opened the floodgates for money to flow on both sides. The point is that it is poisoning our elections and, therefore, our democracy.
In a recent update from the watchdog group Public Citizen, I found that, so far, $27.5 million has been spent by Super PACs to influence the 2012 presidential election. ROF has spent $8.1 million. In South Carolina, Super PACs spent $6.9 million on TV ads, and the candidates spent $5.4 million. That's $12.3 million dollars for a primary race. As Public Citizen refers to them, these are "stunning statistics."
In my letter last year regarding the first anniversary of Citizens United, I urged readers to go to the Public Citizen website to sign the petition to amend the Constitution to reverse the Citizens United ruling. A lot has happened since then. In addition to concerned citizens signing this petition and others like it, city councils across the country have passed resolutions against "corporate personhood" and to amend the Constitution to reverse this ruling. Los Angeles, Oakland, Albany, Boulder and New York City are among the several that have taken a stand against this challenge to our democracy. Now, state legislatures are also looking to pass measures that would amend the Constitution to state that corporations are not entitled to the same rights as people. Among these, Vermont was the first state, and California is expected to be the next.
Vermont's senator, Bernie Sanders, has recently introduced the "Saving American Democracy Amendment" in Congress. If you are concerned about this ruling and how it empowers corporations rather than people, I urge you to go to Sen. Sanders' website, sanders.senate.gov, and sign on to support his effort to amend the Constitution to reverse this unfair ruling.
I would also like to see the Newburyport City Council and surrounding city councils join other concerned communities and pass a resolution for a Constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United ruling. Let's truly make this a "citizens" united effort rather than a "corporations" united triumph.
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Deborah Massa lives in Newburyport.
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