Inasmuch as the Supreme Court with the Citizens United case has codified the legality of virtually a limitless amount of money in our politics, some of our more ethical politicians are finding ways to make the best of it by at least making it as transparent as can be. In the New York Times story Inquiry Looks Into A Shield For Donors In Elections by Nicholas Confessore:
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York has begun investigating contributions to tax-exempt groups that are heavily involved in political campaigns, focusing on a case involving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been one of the largest outside groups seeking to influence recent elections but is not required to disclose its donors.
Mr. Schneiderman issued a wide-ranging subpoena on Tuesday to executives at a foundation affiliated with the chamber, seeking e-mails, bank records and other documents to determine whether the foundation illegally funneled $18 million to the chamber for political and lobbying activities, according to people with knowledge of the investigation.
What make these types of investigations difficult?
But the sources of that money are largely obscured from public view by mazes of transactions between allied groups and laws that allow tax-exempt organizations — unlike candidates and “super PACs” — to shield their donors.
Whenever we think Chamber Of Commerce we tend to think about a group of professionals looking out for the business interests of all businesses, large and small. Theoretically that is a good thing as long as they are not adopting policies that are detrimental to all Americans and specifically the working middle class (i.e. support for policies that pollute, support for policies that do not enhance a living wage, support for policies that affect our healthcare negatively, etc.). The following paragraphs from the article pretty much leads one to believe that is not the case.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is among Washington’s biggest political players. The group spent $66 million on lobbying in 2011, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and its officials have pledged to spend at least $50 million on issue ads during the 2012 election cycle.
While the chamber claims roughly 300,000 members, its political and lobbying activities are largely financed by a much smaller group of corporations, which can donate unlimited amounts to the chamber for issue ads against candidates without having to disclose the contributions publicly. During 2008, close to half of the chamber’s $140 million in contributions came from just 45 donors, often coinciding with lobbying or political campaigns of concern to the companies giving the money.
The article is not a bastion of excitement but it is a good read that illustrates that giving good leaders we can make a difference to mitigate the excessive amount of money in politics by forcing as much transparency as legally possible. Getting money out of politics will be difficult. It will be a constant fight. However if we support candidates that promise to work on this issue and hold them to their promise we will eventually get there.