Two weeks ago, I gave a broad overview of the problem with money in our politics. Money is one of the fundamental problems with our political system that will keep us from passing meaningful legislation to fix the issues America has struggled with for decades. In future blogs, I want to give outline who exactly floods our government with money and how their reactionary or radical views keeps congress from passing legislation that the vast majority of Americans agree on. Sadly, before I can callout those who corrupt our politics, we must discuss how some shelter their identities from making it out into the public.
You may have seen the term dark money thrown around on your retired aunt’s Facebook page and then scrolled past it with little thought. Dark money is actually just as dangerous as dark matter. The Center for Responsive Politics defines dark money as any donation made to a nonprofit organization classified as a 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), or 501(c)(6). For the normal folks out there, that do not understand the US Tax Code, those are social welfare, unions, or trade associations. The terms “social welfare” and “trade associations” are purposefully vague to allow for many types of organizations that have anything to do with the welfare of the people. The Red Cross can fall in the same category as the Freedom Panthers despite having very different impacts on the welfare of society. Since these are obviously not political campaigns, there are no regulations from the Federal Election Commission that limit how much these organizations can take in from donations. The only problem with this is that these organizations do not have to disclose who donates to these organizations nor how much an individual donates to that organization. This is where get the distinction between a normal political action committee and a SuperPAC. In a regular PAC, individuals can donate up to 5,000 dollars and money cannot come from corporations or unions. Also, a normal PAC can donate all funds directly to a politician or party and coordinate to an extent. Think of it as THON raising money for the Four Diamonds Fund. SuperPACS, (or Independent Expenditure- Only Committees as they are known in by the FEC) “represent spending by individuals, groups, political committees, corporations or unions expressly advocating the election or defeat of clearly identified federal candidates. These expenditures may not be made in concert or cooperation with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate, the candidate’s campaign or a political party.”
Dark money first came into politics with the Buckely v. Valeo Supreme Court case of 1976. In the ruling, the court defined the “Eight Magic Words” that changed the campaign trail. If the mission of the organization lacked the words outlined in the ruling, then the speech used in an event or advertisement is outside of the restrictions of campaign financing law. Those “Eight Magic Words” are: “vote for,” “elect,” “support”, “cast your ballot for”, “Smith for Congress”, “vote against”, “defeat”, and “reject.”
This led to more advertisements that were focused on issues. For example, “Hillary Clinton wants open borders that will allow murderers and rapist to flood our country and wreck American Democracy. Donald Trump will build a wall to keep America safe and great.” No where in this advertisement is there explicit support for Donald Trump, so the specific commercial falls outside of FEC regulations. As long as the organization keeps making promotions like this, the organization itself will fall outside of regulations.
Clearly the system is theoretically screwed up and skewed to benefit those who the court said have more money and more “speech.” This blog will now further explore how the wealthy use the system to benefit themselves and corrupt our political system.
“FindLaw’s United States Fifth Circuit Case and Opinions.” Findlaw,
caselaw.findlaw.com/search.html?search_type=docket&court=us-5th-circuit&text=00-60779.
“The Center for Responsive Politics.” OpenSecrets.org, www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/nonprof_summ.php.
So many things about how our government functions confuse me, and the idea of lobbying and campaign financing is one of the most confusing of all. You outlined the issue very clearly so that someone without the knowledge on the subject could understand (and consequently grow infuriated) at how it works. Ambiguity concerns me, and the fact that something with such far reaching impacts is so vague is a bit terrifying. Can’t wait to see what else is corrupting our government!
There is so much out there related to politics and elections and the people in charge but the vast majority knows only the tip of the iceberg (myself included). I found what you said about the eight magic words to be really interesting because seeing them explicitly stated brings flashbacks of so many ads and campaigns that say just that. I am looking forward to more of your posts!
This sounds really shady. I was not aware of dark money, but obviously something needs to be done about it. I knew that the campaigning business was a little sketchy, but the fact that they can change a few words can make an ad fall outside of regulations was shocking to me. I’ve found that I really like learning about corrupt things – this sounds cynical, but I like to know the truth about what may affect my future.
I really disagree with the Buckley v. Valeo ruling. It’s very sad that the Supreme Court left such a simple and glaring loophole by only banning the use of 8 words. Maybe I’m misunderstanding this, but it just seems so dumb! Thanks for bringing this up. I remember lots of “issue-based” ads during thr 2016 election that I now realize were simply tiptoeing around these words.