Today's Poll: Should wealthy individuals be able to donate as much as they want to political campaigns?

We can't stop it! The influence peddlers will always find a way.. As Jimmy falon says " everybody likes money" Look at the pie chart!! If the super pacs are stopped someone will find another way

I wonder what could be done with all the money our corrupt system spends on campaigns. You would think that more people would understand that this issue is the single most destructive to our democracy. Anyone who disagrees, just look what the Republican primary has turned into.

That primary has turned into a poorly staged reality show and cost just about the same.
Reporting on the rising costs of producing reality TV shows, The Wall Street Journal reveals the price per episode of a couple series: UPN’s Top Model costs “about $800,000 a show,” while The Apprentice runs “just below $2 million an episode.”

If they wanted to emulate a well written tv program that held the interest of many, they should have tried The West Wing.

As entertaining the current Republican primary campaign is, it is corrosive and simply discourages people who otherwise would get involved. Do we as a nation want the current crop of super-pac patrons choosing who will lead us? Would anyone actually vote for Sheldon Adelson, Foster Friese, or who ever Romney's deep pockest are? Would any one vote for one of the President's patrons after a close examination of who they are and what they demand in return?

I don't have any objection to an individual runnning for office using his or her own money if they choose to, it's their money, it's their right to spend it anyway they choose. I do object to the idea that nameless corporations can hide who is the source of the money poured into campaigns without disclosing who and what they represent or candidates who claim they are self-financing then solicit the funds for their campaigns. Our recent campaign for the House of Representitives is a good example of the influence money plays in elections. On the Republican side one candidate self-financed, one promised to self-finance keeping other candidates off the ballot then relying on outside money to finance her campaign loosing the actual election after poisoning the atmosphere with negative campaign ads, many from outside independent PACs. As Yogi Berra once observed it's "deja vous all over again".

article written for www.americansfirstnow.com

THE PLOT TO UNDERMINE THE U.S. ELECTORAL SYSTEM AND WHO IS SPONSORING IT
by C. M. Barons

A Florida poll indicates that a near-majority of respondents believe Republicans are sabotaging the economy for political purposes. Exploiting the recession is but one of the cynical acts part of the GOP game plan to secure control of our government. The Republican State Leadership Committee is taking aim at states where legislators map congressional districts. In a winner-take-all strategy, Republicans and their corporate sponsors are out for all the marbles.

Corporations and outside interest groups are financing voter data, mapping consultants and lobbyists to influence state redistricting. Grassroots sounding groups are being developed to abet the efforts. In Minnesota Republican efforts to influence redistricting are channeled through the innocuous sounding Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting. Leadership roles in the group mirror leaders of Freedom Foundation of Minnesota tied to billionaire industrialists and political empire builders David and Charles Koch AKA the Koch brothers. The New England version of Fair Redistricting is Fair Districts Mass under the guidance of Dan Winslow (former chief legal counsel to Governor Mitt Romney and current state representative) who cleverly dropped ‘Republican’ from Republican Redistricting Committee to obscure partisanship.

Making America’s Promise Secure is a GOP redistricting group headed by Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott." Gingrich’s take on redistricting, “I don't object to polarization if it achieves an objective."

A Maine campaign spending study reveals a marked increase in outside funding spent on state races since 2006. Total independent spending on campaign ads and mailers quadrupled from 2006 to 2010. Outside groups spent $629,271 on state legislative races in 2006. That figure rose to over $1.3 million in 2010. The Republican Leadership Committee share amounted to $400,000 targeting several state Senate races.

In an eleventh hour effort during the Maine November 2010 election, the Republican State Leadership Committee spent $400,000 on negative mailers targeting five Maine Senate districts hosting tight races. PACs and partisan committees are required by Maine law to report within 24 hours funding over $1,000 expended in the final days of an election. The state election ethics committee determined the expenditures were in violation, and the Republican State Leadership Committee was fined. In all five of the targeted races the Republican candidate won, and the Maine Senate switched hands, Democrat to GOP majority.

Following the 2008 elections, the RSLC dedicated efforts to keep or win Republican control of state legislatures empowered to craft Congressional districting. REDistricting MAjority Project (REDMAP) is the GOP plan to redraw the nation’s legislative district maps. The economic crisis and reactive tax increases became the GOP poster-child for ousting democrats and painting the national map red. The RSLC raised more than $30 million ahead of the 2009-2010 elections and invested $18 million after Labor Day. RSLC spent $1.4 million targeting four New York State Senate seats, winning two and control of the New York State Senate. …Spent nearly $1 million in Pennsylvania House races, winning three. …Spent nearly $1 million in Ohio House races, winning five. …Spent $1 million in Michigan, winning 20 seats. …Spent $750,000 in Texas, winning 22 House seats. …Spent $1.1 million in Wisconsin to take control of the Senate and Assembly, devoting $500,000 to unseat Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker.

The RSLC dedicated $3.2 million to Colorado, North Carolina and Alabama; $3 million to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Washington, Nevada, New Jersey and Oregon. The net-result, Republicans now hold majorities in 10 of the 15 states where the legislature plays a role in redrawing the map. REDMAP’s achievement: since 1980 the GOP has quadrupled its influence on national district-mapping.

The RSLC game-plan might strike some Americans as a well-conceived winning strategy. That would presume that elections are only about winning, and winning at all costs is acceptable campaign practice. Did Democrat Jim Schatz cancel a Fourth of July fireworks display? According to an ad sponsored by the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), Maine Senate-candidate Schatz did just that. In reality, Schatz was the only board-member who voted in favor of the fireworks display. Maine Senate campaign budgets run on average about $23,000. RSLC spent $70,000 to paint Jim Schatz as the killjoy who cancelled Independence Day.

Newt Gingrich has been complaining loudly about negative ads run by Mitt Romney and his supporters. Gingrich claims the attack ads depress voter enthusiasm and turnout. Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney super PAC has spent about $30 million on ads, many of which target Gingrich. Newt should consider that negative ads are the bread and butter of GOP campaign strategy.

In Kentucky’s District 30 race the RSLC has sponsored ads painting the Democratic candidate as a casino-proponent, while the Republican candidate knocks on church doors denouncing gambling. The Poarch Creeks, who operate a gambling casino in Atmore, Alabama donated $350,000 to the RSLC ahead of the November 2010 election and another $200,000 in January of 2011. In the California Attorney General race, the RSLC spent $1 million in last-minute TV attack ads against Kamala Harris, who prevailed with a razor thin advantage over Republican Steve Cooley. The RSLC ads (combined funding from Google, EBay, HP and Yahoo) juxtaposed Harris’ anti-death penalty stance against the funeral service for a policeman slain by a gang-member. RSLC President Chris Jankowski admits targeting two Wisconsin Democrats after polling data indicated they were vulnerable. “As of right now, we’re playing offense and targeting two of their incumbents,” Jankowski said. Ads against Democratic Senator Jim Holperin on cable, broadcast television and radio cost about $50,000 a week. Another campaign against Democratic Senator Dave Hansen is projected to run “six figures over several weeks.”

The GOP juggernaut is bankrolled by decidedly partisan U.S. Chamber of Commerce, corporate health care and tobacco firms and an array of top-shelf lobbying groups. Chief strategist for the red takeover is Republican Übermensch Karl Rove and his war-party, American Justice Partnership.

During the 1980s and ‘90s, redistricting strategy in southern states hinged on unlikely bedfellows. Republicans and black Democrats came to terms, creating select districts, suburban Republican enclaves and urban Democratic districts. By isolating Democratic majorities to a few urban areas and Republican majorities everywhere else, defeating Democrats in suburban districts was a cakewalk. The Republican 2010 election plan advanced the successful southern strategy, nationwide. With six- and seven-figure donations from corporate sponsors and Karl Rove and Tom Hofeller at the helm; the RSLC spent $30 million on state races in 2010, including $1.2 million in North Carolina.

Art Pope, a North Carolina businessman and conservative stalwart donated $36,500 to the RSLC in July 2010. The RSLC reciprocated, giving $1.25 million to a group called Real Jobs NC, who ran negative ads against Democrats. Pope and his affiliates inundated North Carolina election spending, pumping $2.2 million on twenty-two state legislative races. Winning eighteen seats, the state redistricting committees hired the RSLC's redistricting expert, Tom Hofeller, to redraw North Carolina's districts. Adding insult to injury, Hofeller was reimbursed through the General Assembly budget.

My recommendation: Boycott RSLC sponsors. Here is a list…

American Justice Partnership, Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, Genzyme Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis), Reynolds American (R J Reynolds tobacco), Devon Energy Corporation, Living Essentials (manufacturer 5-hour Energy), Exxon-Mobil, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Benefiber, Buckley's, Bufferin, Comtrex, Denavir/Vectavir, Desenex, Doan's, Ex-Lax, Excedrin, Fenistil, Gas-X, Habitrol, Keri, Lamisil, Lipactin, Maalox, Nicotinell, No-doz, Otrivine, Prevacid, 24HR, Tavist, Theraflu, Triaminic, Vagistat, Voltaren), Monsanto, UST Public Affairs Inc. (Tobacco Lobby), Verizon, AT & T.

General Electric Company, Ace Cash Express, Edison Electric Institute, Entertainment Software Association (Atari, Nintendo, SONY, Disney, Microsoft), Hewlett Packard, ServiceMaster, The Home Depot, Community Financial Services Association, Intuit, Allergan Inc, Allstate Insurance Company, Astra Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, eBay Inc, Fox Group (consultants to health care industry), Great Southern Wood Preserving Inc, Kraft Foods Global (Cadbury, Kraft, Nabisco, Maxwell House, Oreo, Oscar Mayer), Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co, National Restaurant Assoc (Herman Cain), Novartis Pharmaceutical Corp, Pfizer Inc, Purdue Pharma LP, Select Management Resources LLC, State Farm Automobile Insurance Co, VISA USA Inc.

WalMart Stores Inc, Yahoo! Inc, American Council of Life Insurers Political Activity Fund, Best Buy Purchasing LLC, Dominion Resources Services Inc (power & energy company), Pitney Bowes Inc, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, GGNSC Administrative Services Inc (nursing homes/services), Recording Industry Association of America, Waste Management, AFLAC American Family Life Assurance Co, Altria Corporate Services Inc (formerly Phillip Morris), American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, Anheuser Busch Cos Inc, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, ARDA ROC PAC (Resort Owners Coalition), Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings (Ohio-based investment company owned by convicted felon, Andy Martin).

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman (anti-trust/consumer fraud/class action litigators), Conoco Phillips Co, Diageo North American Inc (Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Crown Royal, Jose Cuervo), DIRECTV Inc, Dish Network, Duke Energy/Duke Power, E I DuPont De Nemours & Co, Hunton & Williams (legal firm specializing in transactional and intellectual property), International Game Technology (slot machines), Koch Industries Inc (Kansas conglomerate headed by Charles & Fred Koch who “dabble” in politics), NCO Group Inc (accounts receivable management, fined in 2004 for FTC violations), New Sunshine LLC (indoor tanning products), Pepsi-Cola Co, The Dow Chemical Co, Waite Schneider Bayless & Chelsea Co (civil litigators).

Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America Inc, Wyeth (Advil, ChapStick, Robitussin), Alticor Inc (Amway), American Gas Assoc, Comcast Cable Communications Inc, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, Troutman Sanders LLP (international law firm), OSI Restaurant Partners LLC (Outback Steakhouse), Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (Robert Strauss, John Sununu), CropLife America (agrichemical products), Dr. John M Templeton Jr (Physician, Philanthropist, Seeker, Republican contributor), Harrah’s Operating Co (casino entertainment services), Hoar Construction (commercial and industrial construction), Hubbard Broadcasting (national broadcast ownership, 24 radio stations, 15 television stations), J P Morgan Chase (investment bank).

LEADS Online (largest online investigation system), Merck & Co Inc (one of the largest drug companies in the world), Miller-Coors, National Cable & Telecommunications Assoc, Nissan North America, Publix Alabama LLC (medical supplies), Reed Elsevier Inc (American Legislative Exchange Council member, buyer of politicians, influence peddler), Service Employees International Union LLC, Symantec Corp, The NEA Fund for Children and Public Education, Time Inc, Time Warner Cable, UPSPAC New York (United Parcel Service), Valero Political Action Committee (oil & gas), Volkert & Associates Inc (engineers, architects, planners), American Health Care Association AHCA PAC, U S Steel Corp, 1-800 Contacts Inc (contact lenses), American Insurance Assoc.

Amerigroup Corp (health insurers), Apotex Corp (generic drug manufacturer), Archer Daniels Midland Co (food/food ingredients giant), Astellas Pharma US Inc (drug manufacturer), Biotechnology Industry Organization, Blue Cross Blue Shield Assoc, BNSF Railway Co (second-largest U S freight rail service), Bristol Myers Squibb Co, CarMax Auto Superstores Inc, Chevron Corp, Consumer Healthcare Products Assoc, Contran Corp (diverse company owned by Harold Simmons who invented the leveraged buyout concept), Corrections Corp of America (for-profit prisons, corrections centers), Daiichi Sankyo Inc, Dickstein Shapiro LLC (law firm and lobbying group), Distilled Spirits Council, Energy Futures Holding Corporate Services Co (electric utility).

Facebook, Fortune Brands (Moen, Thermo-Tru, Master Lock), Fritz Enterprises Inc (reclamation & recycling), George H Anderson, Google Inc, HCA for Good Government, InterActive Corp (online dating services, Ask.com, vimeo, etc), International Franchise Assoc (members include: Jiffy Lube, The UPS Store, Midas, Meineke), Johnson & Johnson Services Inc (health care products, pharmaceuticals), Mylan Laboratories Inc (pharmaceuticals, generics), National Association of Convenient Stores, National Paint & Coatings Assoc, National Rifle Assoc, NHS Management LLC (health services), Norfolk Southern Corp (railroad), Pernod Ricard USA (Absolut, Beefeaters, Chivas Regal), Pharmaceutical Care Management Assoc (pharmacy benefit managers).

Poker Players Alliance, Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc, Qwest Service Corp (local, long distance phone service), Rent-A-Center Inc, Smithfield Foods Inc (pork, pork products), Stateside Associates Inc (legislative monitoring, issue intelligence and issue management services), T-Mobile USA Inc, Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America Inc, The Century Council Inc (drunk driving advocacy operated by alcoholic beverage industry), The Coca-Cola Co, Ticketmaster, Tyson Foods Inc, Western Union Financial Services Inc, Cooper T Smith Stevedoring Co Inc (dock workers), Halstead Contractors LLC (Alabama engineering and construction), Direct Marketing Association, National Association of Home Builders.

Dell USA, USA Healthcare Alabama LLC, ACN Inc, Alabama Power Company Employees Federal PAC, American Electric Power Service Corp, AmeriSourceBergen Corp (drug wholesalers), Ameristar Casino (casino operations), AOL LLC, APX Alarm Security Solutions (AKA Vivint, residential security systems, Provo, Utah), Auto Zone, Bacardi Central AP, Barbour Griffith & Rogers Government Affairs LLC (AKA BGR, who’s who of Republican special interest groups, fund-raiser), Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc, Byrider Franchising Inc (personal credit), Capitol Blue Cross Blue Shield, CAN Continental Casualty Co, Eastman Chemical Co, EPCO Inc (natural gas), Federal Express PAC, Grocery Manufacturers Assoc, Highmark Inc (Medicare administrative contractor).

International Paper, J K Harris & Co LLC (tax resolution), Kaplan Fox & Kilscheimer LLP (litigation and arbitration), Kelley Foods of Alabama Inc (meat processor, distributor), Labuton Sucharow LLP (securities, antitrust class actions), Law Offices of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz (law firm & lobbying group), Mary Kay Inc, McGuire Woods (corporate law), McLane Co Inc (food service supplier), MedImmune Affairs Inc (pharmaceutical PAC), Monumental Life Insurance Co, Motion Picture Association of America, National Beer Wholesalers Assoc, Nu Skin International Inc (skin products), Nuclear Energy Institute (lobbying group), OnMessage Inc (marketing communications group), Premera Blue Cross.

Publix Supermarkets Inc (employee-owned grocery chain), Rescare Inc (for profit human services company), Securities Industry and Financial Markets Assoc Inc, Shell Oil Co, Swedish Match (tobacco products), Target Corp, Tennessee Independent Finance Assoc (Tennessee 501c, business league), The Carpet & Rag Institute Inc, US Oncology Inc (cancer treatment service provider, distributor), Steve Windom LLC (lobbyist, Alabama co-chair, Bush-Cheney campaign), American Legal Finance Assoc (Pre-Settlement Finance for Personal Injury Lawsuits), Econo-Med Inc (medical transportation services), Money Tree Inc (loans, check-cashing service), NFIB (small business lobbying firm), Piedmont Natural Gas Co, Theresa Jennings (Reed Elsevier’s representative on the corporate board of the American Legislative Exchange Council-ALEC. ALEC facilitates corporate influence, allowing direct access to state legislators and writing of law), Wellpoint (largest health plan company in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association).

Since this article does nothing to mention George Soros, (Last name not found in a search) I am going to assume its only part 1 of your investigation.....but I know its not.

If George Soros' investment in defeating Bush in 2004 had been successful, there would be case in point. Unless you're referring to the $35 million dollars he donated to New York's under-privileged children. I don't exempt Soros from scrutiny, nor do I condone a money-vulnerable election process. I believe there is a difference between organizations like MoveOn.org and American Justice Partnership.

Well stated Mr. Barons.

If you want to talk influence peddling, check out the chart on the attached link. Just to help, the blue donkeys represent Democrats and the red elephants represent Republicans, then notice that there is not a red elephant until no. 19. Please spare us the Republican big money influence peddling when they occupy one slot in the top 20.

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A

Jeff, then you have to wonder why Republicans support this type of funding. I wonder when there comes a point that the party understands how much it has devistated their own candidates. Mitt's negatives are so high you would think he was the guy who got us in those two wars and drove our economy into the ground.

This Republican doesn't support it. I just can't stand the continuous Republican "big money influence" B.S. when reality is to the contrary. Democrats are bought and paid for to far larger extent and then run around convincing people that their hands are clean and that they are the party of the little people. Gag me!

From that same site, but ignored because it didn't fit with the argument:
Super Pacs (O'bama comes in 10th)
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/superpacs.php?cycle=2012

Top PACS seem to favor the right as well
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/toppacs.php?cycle=2012&party=A

Money = Speech. There are very few ways around this fact. Public financing will lead to an inevitably corrupt system as people will start defrauding the public to make money off of running for office by selling what they bought during their campaigns. I have no problem with Super PACs, in fact, I think that they take the dishonesty out of the capacity to evade current campaign laws in regards to contribution limits. If you cannot stand the heat, exit the kitchen.

The point is being lost. It's not about who spends more, who's ideology is better, and not entirely about influence buying. First off, one should question the notion that politics is a game. ...And if it is a game, should rigging the game be tolerated? I don't think anyone can deny that the country is not served by political gamesmanship. ...Nor can anyone deny that the manipulation inherent to political campaigns has nothing to do with issues or candidate qualification. Our elections should not be decided by gerrymandering, eleventh hour character assassination and the skill-set of Madison Avenue advertisers. Furthermore, if we concede that corporate lobbyists and the Fortune 500 are better qualified to write our laws, why not hand over the whole affair to the U. S. Chamber of commerce and spare the expense of campaigns and elections!

That's because a two party system is the only practical solution given our system of government, a strong third party means that a candidate could win the Presidency with less than a third of the vote. That would be bizarre and ridiculous. A mainstream center-left and center-right party is the most sensible and realistic.

I also think that New York's policy of electoral fusion empowers third parties and should be a model for the nation.

Bea, I wasn't "ignoring" the other links, I was simply countering C.M. s one sided argument. Quite frankly, I find the whole process detestable and corrupt. Elections should be decided on ideas, not financial access. In this election cycle (and the last) we have been lied to so many times from both sides, that it is difficult for the average American to discern the truth. The problem lies in the thin line we walk between free speech and oppression. I believe the Constitution protects individual free speech, not representative free speech. You have the right to say what represents you and also be responsible for the consequences. This whole PAC thing and representative free speech simply provides cover for those who do not wish to air their ideas in an open forum while standing next to them.

And Bea, don't kid yourself on the Obama SuperPAC coming in 10th. After getting up in front of the cameras and wagging his finger at Republicans and SuperPacs, coming across as standing up for the voice of the working man he turned around around and greeenlighted his campaign to start soliciting money for his. Talk to us in a couple of months and see where his SuperPACs stand. He will have plenty of money from the 1%, corporations, banks, pharma, insurance companies, and Wall Street. All the entities he has convinced us have ruined this country yet not so much that he won't open his pockets for their cash.

Jeff is absolutely right. Freedom of speach is tied to a person. A person is accountable for their speech. That's not what's happening in this primary. PAC money is paying for lies and half truths to be spread, dirtying all the candidates. Liers are given shelter in our current system.