Whoa whoa wait…you got some ‘splainin’ to do Mr. Heinzelman! Well indeed I do, so hold on to your hats!
Citizens United is the most devastating court ruling in my life time. It has tipped the balance of power from the ballot box to the wallet. Money isn’t free speech! But putting that genie back in the bottle may take decades or worse yet…generations…so let’s make the most of it and limit how and where those freedom of speech dollars are spent.
Here’s my official plank: Every individual who is eligible to vote has the right to make unlimited campaign contributions in any race they are eligible to vote in.
So let’s parse this out.
Individual…a unique person…a living breathing person…not a corporation, PAC, Super PAC, 501c3 front group, union, fraternal organizations…etc…a living breathing person.
Every eligible voter. Now I’d really like to say every registered voter but that wouldn’t last more than five minutes in a federal court. So let’s just try eligible voter. You actually have to be eligible to vote to actually contribute campaign funds.
Unlimited contributions – I don’t care how much money you contribute it…but it has to be to a campaign…not to a PAC, Super PAC, 501c3, or any other organization…it has to be to a campaign that records and publishes contributions…no more dark money…ever!
In a race they are eligible to vote in. So no more out of state contributions…I live in the city of Milwaukee, so I could contribute any amount to a candidates in state wide races like governor or US senator or state supreme court…any candidates running for county wide office in Milwaukee county…Milwaukee mayor, my legislators in Madison, my congress representative, my alderman, school board director, my county supervisor…etc…you get the picture. I couldn’t contribute to a candidate for mayor anywhere else, governor of Illinois for example, anyone running against Rep. James Sensenbrenner or Rep Paul Ryan, or a US senate race in Massachusetts. I only get to contribute to the home team so to speak.
So until Citizens United is overturned, let’s make sensible use of free speech as money! Accountable, Transparent, Directed.
I couldn’t agree more! The best part of your plan would be holding slimy politicians more accountable for HOW they are spending the contributions. PAC’s make it too easy to pay high salaries to yourself and buddies like Mr. Fiengold has done with his super PAC.
Heck Mr. Fiengold also used PAC money for rent! Weird, he used to fight against PAC’s and now he CREATES one to pay himself and his buddies and to rent his living quarters!
That is just not right.
@ Heinzelman, In a race they are eligible to vote in….so no more out of state contributions…, you say, and I agree.
Your diary posting last February is worthy of review, too, now that Mike Grebe <ifils has been appointed by Walker to UW board of regents: http://bloggingblue.com/2015/02/when-almost-300-million-is-a-lot-of-money-but-300-isnt/#comments
Especially right now, in the final week of June, 2015, as Walker “rump-walks” behind Trump and Bush in the polls, let’s remember to thank Wisconsin’s Pocan and Minnesota’s Rick Nolan for sponsoring in 2013 (when they were two freshmen Democrats in the House) legislation calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that freed up corporations to give money in elections.
http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2013/02/13/move-to-amend-leaders-thrilled-with-bill-to-overturn-citizens-united#.VYxCUEYxIdU
Wisconsin is a hornet’s nest of corruption & dark money thanks to Citizens United and other undemocratic political manipulations; e.g.,
“[See]…the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals’ unanimous decision authored by Judge Frank Easterbrook, a Ronald Reagan appointee and prominent conservative jurist, which held that Randa’s May 6 ruling halting the [John Doe] investigation was “imprudent,” “unnecessary,” and “an abuse of discretion” (to put it mildly).
“Randa regularly attended judicial junkets funded by the Koch and Bradley foundations, with financial interests tied to the groups under investigation, the Center for Media and Democracy discovered earlier this year.”
– See more at: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/09/12609/7th-circuit-smacks-down-judge-who-halted-walker-probe#sthash.rk9ybJYM.dpuf
Dark-Money-Mike-Grebe, a self-described “old friend of Walker,” funded those junkets attended by Judge Randa, et al and has been tied to the International Republican Institute (IRI), funded by Bradley Institute, among others.
So, our state is already being repugnantized into a third-world country by Walker, who positioned himself as the #1 henchman in WI way back in 2006, when Walker conceded the only political race he ever lost, to Green at an event in Waukesha:
“Green now serves as president of the International Republican Institute…In the months leading up to the election, Walker became one of Green’s most aggressive surrogates.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/the-crushing-defeat-that-shaped-scott-walker-116490.html#ixzz3e6YDx7mC