Volunteers unfurl a giant banner printed with the preamble to the U.S. Constitution during a demonstration against the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall Oct. 20, 2010, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
Across the U.S., including New Hampshire, political candidates attempting to run a fair campaign with grassroots fundraising are failing to compete against well-funded political machines bankrolled by billionaires.
As massive amounts of special interest and dark money continue to influence election outcomes, Granite Staters must work together to protect fairness in our state’s primary and general elections. But first, let me provide some contextual information.
In 2010, the courts ruled in favor of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) and SpeechNow v. FEC. These controversial decisions reversed campaign finance rules that had been in place for over 100 years, enabling the rise of politically active nonprofits, such as 501(c)(4)s and 501(c)(6)s, and super PACs: the ‘supercharged’ versions of political action committees (PACs).
Super PACs can receive and spend unlimited sums of money from wealthy donors, special interest groups, corporations, and unions to promote or attack political candidates, legislation, or ballot initiatives.
Super PACs are legally required to disclose their donors; however, opaque nonprofits, shell corporations, and limited liability companies (LLCs) that fund super PACs don’t have to reveal their sources, whether from U.S. or foreign entities. This lack of accountability and transparency is how “dark money” spending is increasingly influencing American elections, leaving American voters in the dark and unable to trace the source of the funds.
Based on data from the nonprofit OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign finance data, over 2,300 super PACs have raised $2.3 billion this year alone, including from untraceable dark money groups. Super PACs can influence election outcomes by funding TV ads, flyers, mailers, and door hangers to support or attack candidates.
Super PACs can also promote their donors’ interests by threatening to withhold financial support to elected officials and candidates.
A prime example of this culture of corruption is the 2017 House Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the ‘Trump tax cuts”). The law lowered income tax rates for the wealthiest earners and slashed the corporate tax rate. The bill was deeply unpopular with a majority of Americans despite repeated false claims by elected officials, including Donald Trump, who said, “The rich will not be gaining at all.”
Several billionaire donors pressured lawmakers using large donations funneled through groups such as the 501(c)(4) America First Policies aligned with Trump and the super PAC Senate Leadership Fund aligned with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.).
Several GOP lawmakers candidly admitted to the pressure from donors to pass the tax cuts. Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) said, “My donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.’” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) bluntly said, “The financial contributions will stop” if Republican lawmakers didn’t pass the tax reform.
Prominent GOP donors like Texas financier Doug Deason openly threatened to stop donations unless the tax bill was enacted, “It’s just disappointing when you help put people in office, and they don’t do anything.”
Let’s stop for a moment and think about the implications of those words. The campaign donations amount to bribery in exchange for corporate welfare!
The American public was correct in disapproving of the 2017 tax cuts. It has been estimated to cost an astounding $2 trillion over ten years and severely erode the national revenue base.
The wealthy GOP donors also correctly predicted the benefits of the tax cuts. From 2018 to 2021, Verizon’s effective tax rate dropped from 21 percent to 8 percent, saving the company $11 billion in federal income taxes. Walmart’s effective tax rate dropped from 31 percent to 17 percent, saving the company $9 billion. However, Verizon, Walmart, Walt Disney, AT&T, FedEx, and many more corporations did not use the savings to increase employee salaries to living wages or pass on the savings to consumers; instead, the income gains were diverted to raise the salaries of CEOs and executives and buy back company stocks to benefit shareholders and increase compensation packages to CEOs and executives.
The current pay ratio of CEOs to workers is estimated to be about 350 to 1 and, in some cases, 400 to 1. This difference can be elucidated using the 2022 earnings by General Motors CEO Mary Barra of $29 million (from salary, bonus, and stock awards) compared with a median salary of $80,000 earned by a GM worker.
The bottom line is that increasing corporate profits does not translate to economic prosperity for the employees or investments in the companies’ future growth.
Regardless of their motivations, wealthy billionaires can easily contribute millions to super PACs to influence lawmakers and support or attack candidates. On the other hand, Americans living on a budget make an average donation of less than $100 in a given election cycle. Such a blatant difference leads to unfair influences on elections by an extraordinarily wealthy and politically powerful group of Americans and a grotesquely unlevel playing field.
As Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-V.T.) said, “People running for office are taking money from very wealthy people and large corporations, and develop policies that benefit the wealthy people at the expense of the middle class and working people.”
Here’s a fun idea. As the current campaign finance rules continue to undermine the democratic process and promote political corruption, perhaps Granite Staters should hold open auctions and sell congressional seats to the highest bidder!
Satire aside, the U.S. Congress can take steps to help Americans regain control over elections.
If passed, the constitutional amendment bill Democracy for All Amendment (H.J.Res.13) will overturn the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United ruling. If passed, the election transparency bill DISCLOSE Act (S.512) will ban domestic corporations with significant foreign control from spending money in U.S. elections.
In the meantime, Republican and Democratic party leaders in New Hampshire can change the status quo by limiting or banning super PAC spending in primary and general elections.
As Democratic, Republican, and independent voters, Granite Staters can work together to support grassroots campaigning and reject the power of money to influence election outcomes.